I want every child in the UK to have the opportunity to fulfil their potential, no matter where they live or their circumstances. Providing educational excellence everywhere is at the heart of this Government's plans and I am pleased to see per pupil funding in the dedicated schools grant and pupil premium rates protected for the duration of this Parliament.
The Government will invest £23 billion to open 500 free schools, provide over 600,000 additional school places, rebuild and refurbish over 500 schools and address essential maintenance needs. It will also support 800 more national leaders of education to continue driving up performance in schools, while increasing funding for teacher training and recruitment to deliver the English Baccalaureate and more specialist STEM teaching.
In addition to this, sixth form colleges will be able to become academies to ensure they no longer have to pay VAT on their non-business costs. They will have the option of joining a multi-academy trust if they choose to, which will help drive up standards and improve efficiency of 16 to 19 education by enabling further collaboration between schools and sixth-form colleges.
This is alongside the national base rate per student for 16 to 19 year olds in England being protected in cash terms. This means that total financial support for education - including childcare - will increase by £10 billion, demonstrating that this Government will ensure all young people leave education with the skills they need to thrive in modern Britain. The Government has also taken the historic step of introducing a new national funding formula to end the unfair school funding by postcode. There will be a detailed consultation in 2016, and I look forward to seeing the proposals. Further to this announcement, I will be asking all schools in Bath for their views on how these changes will benefit them and will continue to ask schools what we can do to support them.