THE Evening Advertiser is still waiting to hear from Education Secretary Estelle Morris following her promise of a full interview last Thursday.

The minister launched into a diatribe against our education reporter Ian Fannon last week when he stopped her to ask why she had refused to speak to us about Swindon's schools being so poorly funded.

She was in town for the Local Government Association's autumn education conference, which was at the Hilton Hotel. She insisted that she had no time to speak to the local media.

We castigated her for that in an open letter on the front page of that day's newspaper and handed out free copies to more than 250 delegates, including Ms Morris.

The Adver wanted to speak to her about the town's funding crisis, in which Swindon Council is the worst funded unitary authority in the country, receiving about £6.5m less than the average each year.

We were particularly keen to raise the issue last Thursday, as it was the day the GCSE performance tables were published, which showed that the town's average pass rate is still way below the national average.

And it was not the first time we had requested an interview.

When we stopped her, she gave a list of excuses as to why she was too busy.

But she added: "I would be happy to agree another time over the next week when we can speak properly about this."

Despite three calls to her department's press office this week, we have not received any response.