Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what outcomes they expect from
the Global Education Summit being co-hosted by the United Kingdom
and Kenya on 28 and 29 July.
(Lab)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on
the Order Paper. In doing so, I draw attention to my entry in the
Lords register: my additional honorary ambassadorial role with
the Global Partnership for Education.
(Con)
My Lords, at the Global Education Summit we will set the Global
Partnership for Education on a path to secure its five-year
funding target of $5 billion, providing the single biggest-ever
boost to children’s education opportunities around the world. We
will also diversify GPE’s donor base, work with our co-host to
ensure that eligible developing countries sign a political
declaration on education and secure further support for the
girls’ education objectives endorsed by the G7.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Global Partnership for Education works in 76
different countries around the world to build the efficiency,
equity and volume of education systems in those countries. It is
in those low-income countries—where, for example, two-thirds of
girls do not complete primary school—that education is most
required, and we know how important it is. Given that the
Government have become probably the first country in history to
host a global summit to refinance education at the same time as
cutting the budget, what will the Government’s strategy be to
ensure that that gap is filled by others but also that we achieve
that $5 billion target that will see so much more education
available throughout the world?
(Con)
The noble Lord is right to draw attention to the importance of
the $5 billion target. With that money, the GPE could support 175
million girls and boys to learn, reach 140 million more students
with professionally trained teachers, enrol 88 million more
children in school, and help Governments save $16 billion through
more efficient spending. The UK is leading the way in the run-up
to the summit. We have pledged £430 million, an uplift of 15% on
our largest ever pledge to the global partnership. With our
co-host, President Kenyatta, we are urging other nations to step
up, as well as the private sector and charitable and
philanthropic foundations such as the LEGO Foundation, which
recently pledged $23 million, which is very welcome indeed.
(Lab)
My Lords, it is estimated that there has been a $210 billion
reduction in domestic financing for education caused by falling
GDP and tax revenues triggered by Covid. To pick up my noble
friend’s point, it is really important that the voices of
low-income countries are heard. What is the Government’s
assessment of President Kenyatta’s call for broader and bolder
action on debt relief, and for addressing long-term global
liquidity needs through a meaningful new allocation of special
drawing rights by the IMF and the redistribution of these to
lower-income countries?
(Con)
My Lords, of course, the pandemic has threatened education
finance at a time when it is needed most. We are very glad that
President Kenyatta has written to partner countries calling for
them all to protect pre-pandemic levels of education spending. We
are looking forward to working with him at the summit to address
exactly these points.
(CB)
[V]
My Lords, does the Minister agree with the Global Education
Coalition that children who are victims of the pandemic should be
prioritised through remote learning? There are also other
deserving groups. What about teaching children who are injured or
who cannot attend the school because they live close to
minefields? Surely this is hardly the time to cut UK aid to
organisations such as the Mines Advisory Group by almost 50%.
(Con)
My Lords, investing in education is the key to solving many of
the world’s problems. It can improve global health and save lives
and is vital to levelling up society, boosting incomes and ending
poverty. As the noble Earl points out, this is about more than
simply teaching. That is why education is a major priority for
the Government and why we are spending more and pledging our
largest ever sum to the global partnership.
(Con) [V]
I congratulate the Minister on co-hosting this very important
meeting. I am sure he will agree that we should set an example by
addressing our own educational challenges in the first instance.
A recent report by Onward drew attention to 200,000 primary
school students who have no alternative but to attend a school
rated by Ofsted as inadequate or requiring improvement. Most of
those correspond to areas in need of investment. Does the
Minister agree that levelling up must start with education and
that more should be done to improve these schools by
incentivising the best managers and teachers in the country to
take them on?
(Con)
My noble friend is right. Levelling up in education is important,
domestically as well as globally. Thanks to the education reforms
that began when she was in government, more children are
attending good or outstanding schools. We want to see that
commitment to high-quality education continue throughout people’s
lives, which is why the lifelong learning entitlement will make
it easier for adults and young people to study more flexibly
throughout their lives.
(CB) [V]
My Lords, grateful as we are for the Government’s commitment of
£430 million to the replenishment fund, is it not likely that
other Governments will also use the impact of Covid to cut aid
and investment in girls’ education? What practical promises of
commitment in hard-cash terms have been made to date by the G7
countries and G20 countries? Assuming a shortfall, how will Her
Majesty’s Government make up the gap and close the deal, ensuring
that the Global Partnership for Education has the promised
resources to educate girls? We said we must, so will we?
(Con)
At the recent G7 summit, the Prime Minister secured a landmark
commitment from all the G7 partners to pledge at least $2.75
billion to the Global Partnership for Education ahead of the
summit. We look forward to receiving more from this group, and
call on others to make similarly ambitious pledges.
(Non-Afl)
As the noble Lord, Lord Collins, referenced, the impact of the
pandemic on learning creates a greater need for countries to
increase their investment in education just at the moment when
their economies have shrunk. Will the UK ask the summit to set a
goal for nations to increase the proportion of GDP that they
spend on education year on year?
(Con)
As I say, one of the cruellest aspects of the pandemic is that it
threatens education finance at a time when it is needed most.
That is why President Kenyatta has written to partner countries
calling for them to protect pre-pandemic levels of spending and
to work towards increasing it towards the global benchmark of 20%
of total public expenditure. The Government support that call to
action and hope that the summit will be an opportunity for our
partners to make commitments not only to mobilise financing for
education but to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of that
spending.
(LD)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the link between good
family planning and girls being in education is exceptionally
strong? Good access to family planning means smaller families,
with more of those children in schools, and families and
communities becoming more prosperous. Can he assure us that the
cuts to family planning will be reversed in time for the Kenya
meeting?
(Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness is right to point out the many
factors that have an impact on people’s access to education. In
May the Prime Minister set out the girls’ education action plan,
which sets out the steps that we will take to deliver our global
objectives on girls’ education.
(Con) [V]
My Lords, the UK has secured—within the G7 communiqué, at
least—$2.75 billion for the GPE. Will the UK Government consider
expanding their pledge to encourage other countries to do the
same to ensure that we genuinely reach the $5 billion GPE target?
(Con)
As my noble friend may know, we are the GPE’s largest donor,
having contributed more $1.6 billion since it was set up in 2002,
and our new pledge will take our contributions to over $2
billion. Our contributions are currently around 13% of the GPE’s
income and we encourage other nations, the private sector and
philanthropic organisations to step up and do the same.
(CB)
[V]
Apart from encouraging ambitious pledges to reach the $5 billion
target to replenish the GPE, what other steps will the Government
take to ensure that other resources are leveraged to improve
literacy, given that, even before the pandemic, nine in 10
schoolchildren in lower-income countries were unable to read
proficiently by the age of 10?
(Con)
My Lords, the UK’s contribution to the GPE is only one of our
tools in achieving our ambitions. Between 2015 and 2020 the UK
supported over 15 million children in gaining a decent education,
of whom 8 million were girls.
(LD)
I draw attention to my interests in the register. The Covid
pandemic has highlighted the significance of good health and
hygiene practices in schools. Hygiene-related diseases are
closely linked to increased student absenteeism, and poor hygiene
facilities often lead to the exclusion of girls from school. At
this important summit, will the UK Government be supporting
resources going into water, sanitation and health projects in
schools, or will they be too embarrassed by the cuts in support
for those programmes that they are making?
(Con)
My Lords, the noble Lord is right to point to health being an
important factor. Through the GPE’s Covid-19 response grants, we
have been able to support the Government of Tanzania in building
1,000 new classrooms to help with overcrowding and social
distancing when schools return there. Similarly, in Rwanda, GPE
funds are supporting handwashing facilities for 2,500 schools. So
through this work we are tackling health outcomes as well.
