The days of counting the education pennies are back, despite the announcement of extra money for one-to-one learning and school buildings.

Spending on education in England will rise by a real-term average of only 2.8 per cent a year over the five-year life of the comprehensive spending review. This is in line with normal economic growth, and in sharp contrast to the largesse of recent years – by comparison, there were average real-term increases of about 7.5 per cent each year in 2000-03.