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- guardian.co.uk, Friday 3 November 2000 17.50 GMT
Nick Davies claims that he undertook an "in-depth study" into my department, when he did no such thing. He was given plenty of facts, yet simply distorted them. Let me take his charges in turn.
First, money. The £19bn was a cumulative sum. The press release on July 14 1998, when the money was announced, quoted me as saying: "In 2002, we will be spending £11bn more on education than the last administration planned to spend this year." It didn't take much detective work to find that out. The release also gave real terms figures.
This was money that the Tories were not prepared to spend, as is the money in the second spending review, which the Tories will cut. It means that on average, £300 more per pupil in real terms is being spent in schools this year than in 1997. That was after a £60 per pupil cut over the previous three years. Three times as much money is being spent on school capital this year than in 1996-97. We have direct grants worth up to £70,000 each next year for schools to spend as they choose. There is more needed - and it will come as a result of the spending review, where real term spending will rise by £370 more per pupil. It is absurd to pretend that there has not been a substantial increase in funding.
Second, standards. In primary schools, I set two main objectives - to cut infant class sizes and improve literacy and numeracy. The numbers in classes over 30 are down to 30,000 now (it was nearly 480,000 in 1997). Literacy and numeracy standards are rising. Davies may think it unimportant that children are taught the 3Rs effectively. I don't. Learning to read, to spell, to write and to count cannot wait until we sort out the disadvantages that have bedevilled generation after generation of youngsters.
Third, failing schools. Fresh Start is one part of our approach. It was not imported from the US, but first announced at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference in 1995 for schools which persist in failing and would otherwise have to close. Fresh Start is a last resort by education authorities in just 25 of the most difficult schools in the country. It takes time and determination to succeed. Most such schools have improved discipline and pupils' willingness to work, the first step towards better results.
Our main strategy on failing schools has seen over 500 come out of special measures since the election and a further 100 closed, with pupils transferred to better local schools. The time it takes to turn around such schools has fallen from 25 to 18 months. We are beginning to improve schools in areas that have been neglected for so long that the eulogies to equality of opportunity rang rather hollow in parents' ears. These are important achievements, the result of work by dedicated people of whom Davies is contemptuous.
Finally, of course we must improve secondary schools - and we have started to do so. Inner city secondaries have dedicated staff to deal with truancy and disaffection. Davies dismisses these learning mentors, yet schools with mentors see them as a way to free teachers to teach and to re-engage with families cut off from education. There are programmes to stretch gifted pupils. And there is much more support both inside and outside the school to deal with disruptive pupils. We are also improving vocational alternatives for young people. This programme - Excellence in Cities - will, by next September, cover as many as a third of all secondary schools.
Our approach doesn't patronise those of us who know poverty but it is already beginning to give schools the wherewithal to overcome that poverty. I know Excellence in Cities is having an effect because I talk to heads and teachers who benefit from it. But it isn't compulsory.
We are also moving towards free universal nursery education for all three- and four-year-olds. Sure Start is giving help and support to young mums living in poverty. Further and higher education are getting the funding they deserve. There is more money for substantially improved teacher pay, salaries for trainee teachers and teachers' professional development than ever before.
Mr Davies may regard all these as "dinky little schemes". He may want us to forget about improving our schools until we solve world poverty. To do so would be wholly wrong. I went into politics to represent the people I grew up with in Sheffield - to make a real difference to their life chances. I have no intention of forgetting my roots - and that means children on estates in my constituency learning to read and write and schools having the backing they need to deal with their day-to-day problems. They didn't get that support with the Conservatives. They are beginning to get it under Labour - and frankly, that matters a lot more to me and to my constituents than refighting the theological battles of the 1980s.
• David Blunkett MP is secretary of state for education and employment
