Do Sunak’s sums add up?

He’s a former chancellor of the exchequer so Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should know what he’s talking about when it comes to adding up the numbers. Sunak has made it a “personal” policy pledge to introduce a plan that ensures all school pupils study maths in some form until the age of eighteen. He says he wants people “to feel confident” when it comes to finances and things like mortgage deals. But critics reckon millions around the UK are about as likely to be able to afford a mortgage as they are to pass A-level Maths. Sunak says we must “reimagine ou approach to numeracy” and that letting our children out into the world without the appropriate skills is letting them down. But adding extra maths to every student’s timetable is not as simple as it might seem. For example, there’s no mention in the Sunak plan as to how more maths would impact on those students who want to focus on humanities or arts subjects. And although the Autumn Statement unveiled an extra £2.3bn in core school funding for five to 16-year-olds over the next two years – reversing real-terms cuts of the last decade – no extra funding was given to colleges of further education, which teach many of the most disadvantaged sixteen to 18-year-olds, nor to sixth form colleges. Additionally, the Association of School and College Leaders says that there is a “severe shortage of maths teachers” so the plan is “therefore currently unachievable”. So far then, Primer Minister, your sums don’t add up.