Schools, colleges and universities are to be the big winners when the government announces its future spending plans in July, the Chancellor has said.

Gordon Brown has promised education will get its slice of the cake during the rest of this parliament.

In a speech at the University of Glamorgan, he said the extra cash would provide for "substantial" improvements in schools, colleges and universities.

Just how much money education will receive will be announced in the government's spending review in July.

Manifesto

People involved in education have been looking to the spending review following what they regarded as a disappointing budget.

In his speech, Gordon Brown said: "We said in our manifesto that we would put schools and hospitals first.

"This summer, in the spending review, we will honour our commitments not just to health but to education.

Equality of opportunity is an economic necessity

Gordon Brown

"Education will receive the priority it requires to deliver further substantial improvements in our schools, colleges and universities.

"Having raised the share of education in our national income during the last parliament, we are pledged to increase significantly the share of national income devoted to education over the course of this parliament."

The announcement will be welcomed from all sides.

Teachers' unions want the government to fund a cut in workload - the most important issue causing teachers to leave the profession they say.

Student grants

The body which represents the chief executives of universities - Universities UK - has been calling for an extra �10bn for higher education.

It says the money is needed to fund the increase in student numbers which the government wants, for teaching and for research.

And students are pressing the government for money to be used to bring back some form of student grant.

The government has been considering various ways of reforming the student support system since last autumn.

Mr Brown told his audience that the Welsh Assembly's new grant for poorer students was being "watched closely" in London.

Under the scheme, which starts this autumn, �41m has been set aside to help poorer families.

This is expected to mean grants averaging about �750 for some 43,000 students a year, with the maximum grant being �1,500.

Mr Brown also said investing in education was crucial for social justice and for Britain's economy.

"Because economies that work only for the few and do not bring out the best in all its people will ossify and be left behind, equality of opportunity is an economic necessity," he said.

"The old walls of privilege for some must be replaced with new paths of opportunity for all."