Leading article: Two cheers for Estelle Morris

Estelle Morris deserves two cheers for the increased spending announced for schools and further education in the comprehensive spending review. The third cheer for higher education will not be forthcoming yet, however, because Gordon Brown was almost completely silent on the topic in the House of Commons on Monday. No one can deny that the increase in capital spending on school buildings – which will double in the next three years to £4.5bn – and in direct payments from Whitehall for both secondary and primary schools are welcome. As Graham Lane, the chairman of the Local Government Association's education committee, says, those who fail to applaud the figures remind one of the left-wing fringe groups in Monty Python's Life of Brian who kept on asking "What have the Romans done for us?" when they had improved spending on roads, health services and so on.

More modest applause is in order for the further education element of the package. A promise of a real increase in spending in the further education sector of 1 per cent is modest. But, compared with the past two decades of underfunding, it is a welcome change. The extension of education maintenance allowances for 16 to 19-year-olds, worth up to £1,500 a year for each young person, will also help the United Kingdom to improve on its appallingly low rate of 16-year-olds staying on in education. Our record is abysmal. Only Albania, Turkey, Greece and Mexico have fewer 17-year-olds in full-time education or training, according to the latest OECD survey.

The Government is, however, in danger of coming unstuck on higher education. First, we have delay after delay to the review of student finance that was ordered by Tony Blair when he addressed last year's Labour party conference. Then we have the absence of any detail of increased funding for universities in the Chancellor's statement. Universities UK, the voice of the vice-chancellors, was very restrained in its reaction, saying that it was "disappointed" by the spending review. The official line is that we shall have to wait for the Government's strategy document for the future of higher education in October (which will include the review of student finance). One interpretation, however, is that ministers haven't a clue yet what to put in it.