The UK’s Education Funding Council has been accused of creating “a massive misinformation campaign” to undermine the Government’s “core values”.
A report from the watchdog found the Government had made “significant, but misleading, representations” about the impact of Brexit on education.
The Government has now set out its “core” values, which it says are “about protecting and supporting children, students, families and communities”.
Its report said the Government “has repeatedly argued that the core values are about protecting and helping students, teachers and parents”.
It also accused the council of “falsely representing the impact that Brexit would have on the UK”.
The report’s findings follow a series of public hearings into the impact Brexit has had on the education system.
On Monday, the Government set out a series at a conference about the “future of education”.
Education Secretary Tristram Hunt said the report showed that the Government was “taking a comprehensive view of the impacts of Brexit” and was “confident” it would be successful.
“We have taken a comprehensive look at what the UK will look like in the future,” he said.
However, the report has drawn sharp criticism from some in the education sector.
Former education secretary Nicky Morgan has said the council is “wasting taxpayers’ money”.
“This is a political attack on the Government, it is a campaign by the Government to undermine and undermine our core values and it is also an attack on education funding, which is the heart and soul of the Government,” she said.
“This attack on schools is an attack that will make the Government look like it is just as out of touch as the Tory government that it has been.”
The Education Funding Commission, which was set up to ensure that funding was available for schools and universities, has already criticised the Government for the report.
Its chairman, Professor Paul Kelly, said it was “not an impartial assessment” and he warned it could “damage confidence in the Government”.
He said it could also “undermine the Government on the future of the UK education system”.
Mr Hunt said he was “disappointed” with the report and that he had asked his staff to review it “to ensure the Government takes a more informed view”.
On Wednesday, the Education Minister, Chris Grayling, said the government was “committed to ensuring we can deliver our Brexit plan and deliver it as well as it can”.
In a statement, he said the “fundamental values” of the council were “not just about protecting children and students but also families and students and communities.”
“These values will be a vital part of the future success of our schools and the UK as a whole, and I believe that they will be reflected in the decisions we take to fund them.”
Mr Grayling said he wanted to “make sure that schools and our universities continue to provide the high quality education and skills we all need”.
But the education secretary, Chris Evans, told Sky News that “it is very important” the Government got its education funding right.
He also said the department’s report was “very critical” of a recent report from a group of experts on the impact the Brexit could have on education and training.
Mr Evans said the minister “was not entirely clear” what the report said and called on the council to “correct that”.
However he also called on Mr Hunt to explain how it had “misrepresented” the impacts that Brexit could bring to the UK.
‘Rising costs’The Government says it is investing £20 billion in education in 2019-20 to make sure the system works as well for future generations as it did for the present.
It has also committed to investing £15 billion over the next four years to improve schools, including the National School of Education and Training.
But critics have said the money has not gone far enough.
They have said that the Council has not provided an “adequate response” to the cost of running schools and that the government is not being clear about how much it spends on teaching and learning.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also criticised the council for its role in Brexit.
A spokesperson for the Education Secretary said the Conservative Government “does not support any cuts in education funding” and that “our commitment to delivering a Brexit plan that works for children and communities is the same as it was in the Brexit referendum.”
But Labour leader Andy Burnham has accused the Conservatives of “attacking education” and “misleading” the public.
And the Education Spokesman, who was previously a member of the committee, said Mr Hunt was “clearly misinformed” about what Brexit meant for the future funding of education.