THE headteacher of a Bolton secondary school has called for a fair tax system to ensure multinational companies pay "due taxes".

Phil Hart, head of Westhoughton High School, was one of 13 school leaders who took part in a pre-General Election vox pop conducted by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

ASCL asked them to give their views on what the Government should do on the educational front when elected in May.

They were asked three questions:

What actions should the Government elected in May take on education and why?

What is the top priority and why?

What constraints will the Government face and how can these be overcome?

Mr Hart said there needed to be a "freeze" on further curriculum and qualification changes for the next full Parliament to allow schools and the system to "adapt to those already signposted, or enacted".

He said: "The constant changes and shifts to the Ofsted framework must cease and the body must return to be an independent arm overseeing the quality of education within England."

Mr Hart said that the top priority needs to be funding.

"Schools and colleges are dealing with a significant real-terms cut in funding and without rebalance, schools will face difficult decisions which will compromise the quality of education offered to our young people," he said.

Mr Hart concluded: "The main constraints will clearly be available funding for all public services.

"The Government needs to address this in a variety of ways but I would offer that one priority would be to ensure a fair and transparent tax system which ensures that today's multinational companies are paying appropriate and due taxes to the countries that they trade in."

Overall, the vox pop revealed that "a looming crisis" in education funding is the top concern of headteachers.

The ASCL said a recent report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that this could mean schools facing real-terms cuts of up to 12 per cent over the next five years.