BURY North MP James Frith took to the floor of the House of Commons on Monday to challenge education secretary Justine Greening on school funding, citing challenges at Derby High School, in Bury, as a result of government cuts.

Mr Frith questioned the minister during an announcement about increased school funding.

He said: "I welcome more funding. Schools such as Derby High in my constituency cannot recruit teaching talent because they face the rising costs of national insurance, an ageing teaching population, the apprenticeship levy and increasing class sizes, and they need new school buildings.

"Will this new money be enough to address these complicated problems? Will it go far enough to provide the enrichment activities that have all but disappeared in schools, with a whole generation of children from 2010 missing out on such activities because of the imposition of austerity by her government?"

In her response, Ms Greening made an assurance that raising school standards in Bury are important to her.

She added: “We are trying to set out a way of ensuring that funding is fair for all schools, including the one he mentioned, but it will be complemented by additional funding, which I think he welcomes.

"That is part of our strategy for improving educational standards, but by no means is it all of it.

"It is not just about the amount of money we put into schools; it is about what we then do with it and the strategy behind it.”

Schools in England are being promised an extra £1.3bn over two years, as the government responded to pressure from campaigns over funding shortages.

But the cash for schools will be taken from elsewhere in the education budget, such as spending on free schools.

Mr Frith was elected last week to the Education Select Committee, a position he said he intends to use to hold the government to account and ensure a better deal for schools and young people in Bury and across the country.

Mr Frith was also due to make his debut speech in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.