The announcement was made as the coalition government also cancelled much of the country’s school re-building programme.

Education cuts in spending form part of the Governments total cuts across all departments totaling £1.54bn.

Reductions will affect spending plans which had relied on funding from an under spend at the end of the financial year.

Not all of the £1bn to be cut from education will have been allocated, some of it is in reserve and the education department, plan to achieve savings through “better financial management and tighter controls”.  However, £169.5m of the funding has already been ear-marked for projects which will now be cancelled, including £50m from a technology improvement fund, £50m for diploma provision, £24m for co-location projects for schools and £15m for school swimming pools.

Government decisions are never easy and the new Government is insisting that the nation can live within its means.