EDUCATION Secretary Nicky Morgan visited Worcester today - pledging to finally solve the fairer funding conundrum once and for all.

The Conservative, who toured the city's impressive New College before talks at Christopher Whitehead Language College this afternoon, told your Worcester News she was determined to deliver a "clear manifesto commitment" by handing the county more cash.

Mrs Morgan also urged county parents to stop taking their children out for holidays at term-time, admitting she was concerned at figures showing 526 were fined last year.

During a city stay which also saw her visit The Hive, she said she expected some schools to use their reserves while the funding issues can be resolved, a remark echoed by Councillor Adrian Hardman, the county council's leader in October.

The basic per-pupil funding in Worcestershire is £4,231 compared to £5,218 in Birmingham - a startling £987 difference.

After years of fierce lobbying from schools, parents and county MPs Worcestershire got an extra £6.7 million this year as part of a £390 million boost to the worst-funded areas - but campaigners want more.

Mrs Morgan said: "There's a clear manifesto commitment to deliver fairer funding and that's what we will do.

"We know it's something which the Government needs to act on, we've already found another £7 million for Worcestershire and £390 million across the country to help address this but we will go further.

"Schools already know what they'll get for 2016/17 so the earliest would be 2017/18(to start to see more change) but we've made that clear commitment so it's there for us to do."

She also said the recent data on school fines for parents taking out children, which are up 25 per cent nationally and last year hit 526 in the county, does not mean the policy is wrong.

"All the evidence shows children benefit from being in school as much as they possibly can, when they miss out it isn't good for their education," she said.

"I know there are issues around the cost of holidays for parents but head teachers do have some discretion around the policy, and children are only at school 190 days out of 365 a year."

On school reserves, which are around £19 million in Worcestershire, she said some should consider eating into them.

"We appreciate school budgets are under pressure, we've made a commitment on fairer funding but if for some it means looking at the reserves, that's what they could do," she said.

During her stay she also insisted David Cameron's aim of trying to make all schools academies or free schools by 2020 is right, saying "brilliant headteachers" and not councils could help education flourish.

At Christopher Whitehead she had sit-down talks with headteacher Neil Morris, who said "school budgets are under serious pressure".

She was accompanied by Worcester MP Robin Walker, who now works under Mrs Morgan as parliamentary private secretary and is pushing the fairer funding campaign himself.

Her remarks today follow some comments about the funding problems in the Commons last week, where she admitted Mr Walker had been "campaigning tirelessly" to get Worcestershire a better deal.

She highlighted the extra £6.7 million handed to the county in that debate, a figure bumped up from an original £5 million, and said she looked forward to "working on this further".

Mrs Morgan revealed last month that she was considering throwing her hat into the ring to become the next Conservative Party leader once David Cameron steps down.

* Some of our coverage on fairer funding, school reserves and Government policy on education recently can be viewed HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.