Young People’s Social Mobility: Student Finance Rules: Patricia
Gibson (North Ayrshire and Arran) (SNP) 1. What assessment she has
made of the potential effect of changes to student finance rules on
young people’s social mobility. (902426) The Secretary of State for
Education (Gillian Keegan) We have always believed that anyone who
wants to, and can benefit from it, should get access to a
world-class higher education. Since we took over from
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Young People’s Social Mobility: Student Finance Rules:
(North Ayrshire and Arran)
(SNP)
1. What assessment she has made of the potential effect of
changes to student finance rules on young people’s social
mobility. (902426)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
We have always believed that anyone who wants to, and can benefit
from it, should get access to a world-class higher education.
Since we took over from Labour, 18-year-olds from disadvantaged
backgrounds are 82% more likely to enter full-time higher
education—that is for 2021 compared with 2010. Our reforms will
make student loans more sustainable and fairer for graduates and
taxpayers, and will help to boost learning across a lifetime, not
just in universities. A full equality impact assessment of the
changes has been conducted and was published on 24 February.
(North Ayrshire and Arran)
(SNP)
In his autumn statement, the Chancellor spoke for nearly an hour
but failed to mention students once. The Office for National
Statistics reports that three in 10 students are skipping
lectures to save money and a quarter have taken on new debt
because of the dire economic situation. Why are the Government
neglecting students who are buckling under the pressure of the
cost of living crisis?
I assure the hon. Lady that the Chancellor did mention teaching
and all our teaching staff, which of course includes university
teaching staff. My Department continues to work with the Office
for Students to ensure that universities support students in
hardship by drawing on the £261 million student premium. Any
student who is struggling should speak to their university about
the support it offers. Many universities are doing a fantastic
job to provide further support: the University of Leeds has
increased its student financial assistance fund almost fivefold
to £1.9 million; Queen Mary University of London has a bursary
scheme for lower-income families; and Buckinghamshire New
University has kept its accommodation rates for halls of
residence at pre-pandemic levels, so a lot of support is on hand
for students.
(Bexleyheath and Crayford)
(Con)
I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to
her new role and wish her all success. I strongly support the
reforms to make the student loan repayment system fairer for
students so that graduates will no longer repay more than they
have borrowed in real terms. That is good news. Does she agree
that Conservative Governments have delivered on our commitment to
address student loan interest rates?
I thank my right hon. Friend for his welcome. We did commit to
address student interest rates and we have delivered on that,
which I am sure all hon. Members on both sides of the House will
welcome.
Cost of Living: Government Support for Schools and Parents
(Easington) (Lab)
2. What support the Government are providing to help (a) schools
and (b) parents with the cost of living. (902428)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
I recognise the current challenges faced by families and public
services. We know that things are tough out there, which is why
we are acting in the national interest and why we have secured
funding to increase the schools budget by £2 billion next year
and the year after. All education settings are benefiting from
the energy bill relief scheme, which will protect them from
excessively high energy bills over the winter. In addition, we
are committed to supporting the most vulnerable households
through the toughest part of the year with additional direct
support, and we are supporting schools and parents to make sure
that we can all get through this.
I, too, welcome the Education Secretary and her team to the Front
Bench. I thank her for that response, but I point out that due to
runaway costs, schools can barely stay open for five days a week,
let alone provide transport. Home-to-school transport is being
pared back and public transport, certainly in east Durham, is
unreliable and deteriorating. Can she give us some good news and
tell us what she is doing to ensure that schools can afford to
pay their heating bills and stay open? How will she guarantee
access to education during the cost of living crisis?
I can give the hon. Gentleman good news, because we heard in the
autumn statement that education will be funded by an extra £2
billion next year and the year after. We will be working through
how that will affect schools; each school will get its individual
allocation. School funding is £4 billion higher this year
compared with last year, and the autumn statement has confirmed
that increase, which takes the core schools budget to an historic
high of £58.8 billion. That will deliver significant additional
support to pupils and teachers and will, I am sure, be welcomed
by the sector.
(North West Leicestershire)
(Con)
What steps is my right hon. Friend taking to promote the
Government’s Healthy Start scheme, and to ensure that eligible
families receive the vouchers to which they are entitled?
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. The Healthy Start
scheme, on which we are working with the Department of Health and
Social Care, delivers healthy foods and milk for women over 10
weeks’ pregnant or anyone with a child under four. Beyond this,
our investment in families is very important, and we are also
investing £300 million in the Start for Life family hubs, which
will complement all of the others. We will of course make sure
that people are aware of all the schemes in those family
hubs.
Mr Speaker
I call the SNP spokesperson.
(Glasgow North West)
(SNP)
I welcome the Secretary of State to her new position, and indeed
her team.
It was deplorable that the Chancellor failed to expand free
school meals in his autumn statement. It means that at least
100,000 schoolchildren in poverty in England will continue to be
denied a nutritious meal at school, which puts additional
pressure on parents trying to provide for them. Will the
Secretary of State urge the Chancellor to replicate the work of
the Scottish Government, who have committed to providing
universal free school meals to all primary children?
We understand the pressures that many households are under, and
that is why we are spending more than £1.6 billion per year so
that children have access to nutritious meals during the school
day and in holidays. The Government have indeed expanded free
school meals more than any other Government in recent decades. We
have put in place generous protection that means families on
universal credit will also retain their free school meal
eligibility. We now have a third of children in this country on
free school meals, and I know that is very welcome for the
families. We will have extended free school meals, and we will
continue to support further education students with them as
well.
Accessible and Affordable Childcare
(Slough) (Lab)
3. What steps he is taking to help ensure childcare is (a)
accessible and (b) affordable.(902429)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
We are committed to improving the cost, choice and accessibility
of childcare, and have spent more than £20 billion over the last
five years supporting families with the cost of childcare.
Mr Dhesi
The Government are knowingly underfunding the entitlement to 15
or 30 hours of childcare by over £2 per hour, thereby forcing
providers to cross-subsidise and leading to astronomical costs
for parents. New Ofsted data shows that 4,000 childcare providers
closed within the year to March 2022, thereby further limiting
access to childcare. When parents are having to pay more for
their childcare than on their rent or mortgage, and adults
without children are saying that childcare costs are forcing them
out of parenting and precluding them from that, does she agree
that she and the Government are presiding over a broken childcare
system?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. Childcare is of
course enormously important, and it is this Conservative
Government who have expanded the childcare offer successively
over a number of years. Last year in the spending review, we set
out an additional £500 million to come into the sector, and we
are also supporting private providers with their energy bills
this year.
SEND Delivery: Rural Areas
(North Devon) (Con)
4. What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness
of SEND delivery in rural areas.(902430)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
All local authorities, including those in rural areas, are
subject to robust special educational needs and disabilities
inspections, and Ofsted will shortly be announcing plans for a
strengthened inspection framework. This is an area that both the
Education Secretary and I are incredibly passionate about, and
one which she knows from her time as a Health Minister and I know
from my time as the Minister for disabled people. Today, my right
hon. Friend has sent letters to those in the sector confirming
that we will publish a full response to the SEND and alternative
provision Green Paper, with an improvement plan, early in the new
year.
Many of my secondary school heads believe that, with the further
devolvement of responsibility away from local education
authorities, they could significantly enhance provision in their
rural area. Would my hon. Friend agree to meet my school heads to
discuss their ideas?
I would like to thank my hon. Friend for a productive discussion
last week. I absolutely agree with her—I know she is a former
teacher—that empowering schools is crucial to ensure we have the
right provision for SEND children in rural areas. The SEND and AP
Green Paper proposed new standards based on the evidence of what
works to make sure that local schools feel the sense of
empowerment she so rightly talks about. Of course, if her heads
write to me, I would be happy to respond.
(Exeter) (Lab)
The excellent community-run Ted Wragg Trust, which runs all the
secondary schools in my constituency of Exeter, recently wanted
to take over a failing local school—it started as a Steiner
school, was then pushed on to another provider, which failed, and
it has now been pushed on to another one—but the Government have
decided not to allow that to happen. Could she explain—if not
now, then perhaps in writing to me—why the Government did not
listen to this very good idea to expand and improve local special
educational needs provision in my constituency, but stuck to
their ideological obsession with privately-run academies?
I will be happy to look into that in detail and write to the
right hon. Gentleman further about it, but I would say that the
Department is working to improve all schools in terms of SEND
needs across different sectors and we are working with all of
them.
Mr Speaker
I call the Opposition spokesperson.
(Dulwich and West Norwood)
(Lab)
While this Government have been preoccupied with their own
internal disputes, the trashing of the UK economy and an endless
merry-go-round of ministerial reshuffles, children with special
educational needs and disabilities and their families are left to
suffer. It is now eight months since the publication of the SEND
and alternative provision Green Paper and more than four months
since the consultation closed. The Minister’s predecessor had
promised a response to the consultation by the end of the year.
Can the new Minister confirm when the full results of the
consultation and the Government response will be published,
because children with SEND and their families have already been
waiting for far too long?
If the hon. Lady had been listening, she would know that I just
said we will be publishing early in the new year; if she was not
just reading out a scripted question, she might have cottoned on
to that point. This is an important area. I have many affected
constituents so have seen all of this first hand, as I have in
previous roles and from talking to parents across the country. We
want to make sure that we are delivering for parents and children
with SEND. We will set out that paper early in the new year
addressing many of the challenges they are currently facing.
School Places: Pupils with Special Educational Needs and
Disabilities
(Devizes) (Con)
5. What steps her Department is taking to increase the number of
school places for pupils with (a) special educational needs and
(b) disabilities. (902431)
(Bosworth) (Con)
7. What steps her Department is taking to increase the number of
school places for pupils with (a) special educational needs and
(b) disabilities. (902433)
(Ipswich) (Con)
21. What steps her Department is taking to increase the number of
school places for pupils with (a) special educational needs and
(b) disabilities. (902448)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
We are making a transformational investment in SEND places by
investing £2.6 billion between 2022 and 2025 to help deliver new
places and improve existing provision for children and young
people with SEND or who require alternative provision as well as
up to 60 new special and AP free schools.
I welcome that news and investment. Wiltshire Council has a
policy of investing, particularly in mainstream places for
children with special needs, and I applaud that. Does the
Minister agree that that means parents need proper accountability
for the performance of the schools their children are going to,
and will she encourage Ofsted to do more to appraise mainstream
schools on the support they give to children with special
needs?
My hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for Wiltshire and I
applaud the council on the work it is doing. Ofsted is revising
its framework on this area, which was set out in the Green Paper
earlier this year. My hon. Friend might be interested to know
that we are also looking at better local and national dashboards
to improve local accountability.
Dr Evans
I thank the Minister, who has already said that the consultation
results will come out in January, but day in, day out in
Leicestershire we hear cases involving parents who have had to
struggle and fight to get SEND support, which is one of the
biggest problems they face. Will that be put at the heart of the
review? Secondly, the Minister talked about the £2.6 billion. How
can the likes of Leicestershire get hold of some of that cash to
improve one of the biggest areas of struggle in SEND
provision?
My hon. Friend is right that many parents find the system
adversarial. That is one of the key things we are seeking to
address by making what parents can expect much clearer and by
simplifying and digitising their EHCP—education, health and care
plan—application process, among our other measures. Meanwhile,
Leicestershire will continue to be supported through its
delivering better value programme, among other things.
Since I was elected in Ipswich we have had two new special
schools, the Sir Bobby Robson School, which now has 60 pupils,
and the Woodbridge Road Academy, currently in temporary buildings
and moving into permanent buildings in 2023, with 16 pupils going
up to 60 pupils. However, the Sir Bobby Robson School is already
very over-subscribed and I imagine the same will be the case for
the Woodbridge Road Academy. Will the Minister visit Ipswich to
meet me and the heads of both schools to discuss how the funding
formula could be tweaked to ensure that Suffolk SEND is fairly
funded and that we have more top-quality places in special
schools for the wonderful neuro-diverse thinkers in Ipswich?
My hon. Friend has spoken to me multiple times about the
excellent school provision in his area, and I would be delighted
to visit and see more for myself.
(Barnsley Central) (Lab)
I welcome the Minister and the whole Front-Bench team to their
new roles. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says that children from
low-income backgrounds are more likely to have a special
educational need but less likely to receive support or
interventions that address their needs. I note the comments the
Minister has just made, but given that Barnsley has one of the
highest numbers of EHCPs in the country, can she guarantee that
she will move heaven and earth to make sure schools have the
resources they need for this specialist provision?
We absolutely need to address the plight of low-income families
struggling with the system when their children have SEND. The
amount of funding that has gone into the SEND high needs block
has risen by 40% over the last three years, so we are putting the
funding in, but we absolutely need to ensure that it is going to
the right families.
(Rutherglen and Hamilton
West) (Ind)
Teaching assistants providing one-to-one support are vital for
children with additional needs to succeed in the classroom, but
many are leaving because the pay is too low for them to survive
during the economic crisis. What steps are Ministers taking to
improve both recruitment and retention rates for SEND teaching
assistants?
I point to the £2 billion extra funding that is going into the
schools system next year and the year after as well as the huge
increase of funding that I just mentioned going into the SEND
sector.
(Barnsley East) (Lab)
I welcome the Secretary of State to her place and indeed the
whole ministerial team. I acknowledge the extra money going in
from the autumn statement, but when I met the Hoyland Common
Academy Trust, I was told that its energy bills are going up by
400% and that budgetary pressures mean that support for all
pupils—including those with SEND—will be affected. I have written
to the Secretary of State along with my hon. Friend the Member
for Barnsley Central (), so will she meet us to discuss that further?
As I have mentioned, there is extra money going into the schools
system, which was set out in the autumn statement. The energy
relief scheme, which is helping schools with their energy bills,
will also last throughout the winter.
Mr Speaker
I call the Chair of the Education Committee. Congratulations.
(Worcester) (Con)
Thank you, Mr Speaker. High needs pupils need
“the right support in the right place at the right time”.
Those are not my words but those of the Government’s Green Paper,
and yet BBC local radio in Worcestershire is reporting today that
a nine-year-old with autism missed a year of education because
our specialist schools are full and he could not get the support
that he needed in mainstream. Instead, he was offered a placement
110 miles away, but that fell through. What progress has been
made in spending the billions of extra high needs capital
announced at the spending review? When can we expect more
provision in Worcestershire?
It is absolutely tragic that anyone might spend that amount of
time outside of school. In March 2020, we announced £1.4 billion
of high needs provision capital allocations, of which
Worcestershire is receiving just over £10.7 million between 2022
and 2024 to help create new places in both mainstream and special
schools. It is up to the local authority to determine how best to
use that funding. However, the practice of sending children very
far away is one thing that we would like to address in our
response to the Green Paper.
Students: Cost of Living Support
(Liverpool, Wavertree)
(Lab)
6. What steps she is taking to help support students with the
cost of living. (902432)
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
I pay tribute to my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for
Morley and Outwood (), for her authenticity and
passion for skills. My Department continues to work with the
Office for Students to ensure that universities support students
in hardship by drawing on the £261 million student premium. The
Government have also introduced the Energy Prices Act 2022, which
ensures that landlords pass energy bill discounts on to tenants,
including students.
The Office for National Statistics has reported that more than
half of students are facing financial difficulties and a quarter
are taking on extra debts. Indeed, I recently met student union
reps who confirmed that. Students must not be the forgotten
victims of the cost of living crisis. The Government claim that
they support learning for life, yet part-time, often mature
students face particular challenges in the cost of living crisis.
Will the Minister look at the Open University’s recommendations
calling for the extension of maintenance loans to undergraduate
students studying part time, an extension to parents’ living
allowance and childcare grant for all part-time undergraduate
students and the introduction of maintenance bursaries for
undergraduate students who are in most need?
I have great admiration for the Open University and will of
course look at those recommendations carefully. However, I
reiterate that we are doing everything possible to help students
with financial hardship. I mentioned the £261 million student
premium and the help with energy bills meaning that students who
are tenants of landlords will get up to £400. The student loan
has been frozen for the past few years. Students facing hardship
can apply for special hardship funds and can also have their
living costs support reassessed. The hon. Member will know that,
as has been highlighted, interest rates over the next couple of
years will increase only in line with the retail price index.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
(Warwick and Leamington)
(Lab)
I welcome the new Secretary of State and the rest of her team to
the Front Bench. On 19 October, in a written parliamentary
question, I asked the previous universities Minister, the hon.
Member for Morley and Outwood (), whether she had conducted
an equalities analysis of the impact of rising prices on
students. In short, the Government had not, so do they have any
idea of how the cost of living is affecting students from
disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds?
We know that the cost of living is affecting students from all
backgrounds, and especially disadvantaged backgrounds. That is
why, as I mentioned, students can draw on the £261 million
student premium; why students facing hardship can access their
university’s hardship fund; why students from disadvantaged
backgrounds, who find that their living costs have increased
significantly, can apply to have their costs reassessed; and why
we have increased the maximum loans and grants by 2.3% this
academic year to try to help students. In every possible way we
are trying to help students who face financial hardship.
Education Recovery: Support for Pupils
(Dudley North) (Con)
8. What steps her Department is taking to support school pupils
with their education recovery.(902434)
Mr Speaker
Welcome back, Minister.
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
It is a pleasure to be back, Mr Speaker. The Government are
spending £5 billion to help children recover from missed
education as a result of covid lockdown periods. That includes up
to 100 million tutor hours for five to 19-year-olds and a
catch-up and recovery premium paid directly to schools to provide
evidence-based approaches to help pupils catch up, and all 16 to
19-year-olds in education will receive an extra 40 hours of
teaching a year.
Students in my Dudley North constituency need and deserve the
best possible education. As they are our future workforce,
businesses and public services depend on that. Will my right hon.
Friend ensure that all Dudley schools have access to the best
facilities, the best funds and the best teachers as they recover
from time lost during covid and, moreover, historically poor
access to the best lifetime opportunities?
Fifty-five educational investment areas, including Dudley, are
being prioritised for funding to help strong multi-academy trusts
to grow and to help improve underperforming schools. Nearly all
secondary schools in Dudley are eligible for the levelling-up
premium, which is a £3,000 tax-free bonus for maths, physics,
chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their
careers who work in schools where they are needed most. The
Government are using every tool available, including funding, to
help ensure that every child can catch up on lost education due
to the pandemic.
(Pontypridd) (Lab)
Will the Minister join me in welcoming pupils and teachers from
Pontypridd High School who are in the Public Gallery? The
teachers do fantastic work in trying to catch up from covid, but
one of the increased pressures on time is the rise and threat of
harmful incel culture in our schools. None of the past four
Education Secretaries has made any public comment on the rise of
misogynistic ideology in our schools, so will the Secretary of
State outline her plans to support teachers, who deal with that
day in, day out, in their efforts to tackle incel culture, which
poses a unique threat for women and girls across society?
I join the hon. Lady in welcoming the school pupils in the Public
Gallery today—it is very good to have children visiting the
Houses of Parliament, and I welcome all children who love to come
to our House. I also agree with her about having a respectful
culture in our schools. It is hugely important, both online and
offline, that pupils and staff feel safe and respected in our
schools.
(Stoke-on-Trent North)
(Con)
Headteachers across Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke see
the importance of the national tutoring programme, but they were
concerned when Schools Week reported that £150 million could be
clawed back from the scheme through the Treasury. Will the
Minister back the plan that I was hoping to initiate when I was
in the Department—albeit briefly—and make sure that we reinvest
that in the third year of the national tutoring programme to
increase the grant to nearly 50%?
I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the passionate way in which
he conducted the role of Schools Minister in the Department and
for bringing to that role all his experience as a schoolteacher.
We have allocated almost £5 billion to catch-up programmes,
including £1.5 billion to tutoring. My hon. Friend is right:
because the evidence about the effectiveness of one-to-one and
small-group tuition is so strong, we want schools to use the
money we have given them for that. We have been clear that the
national tutoring programme funding can be used only for tutoring
and that the Department will recover any unspent NTP funding.
(Tiverton and Honiton)
(LD)
Helping children to catch up after the pandemic is partly about
providing fit-for-purpose facilities, but the Government’s plan
to cut education capital spending by £1 billion in real terms
puts that at risk. Tiverton High School has been waiting for more
than a decade to be rebuilt. Can the Minister guarantee that my
constituents will not have to wait another decade? Will they
finally see the rebuild approved in the next funding
allocation?
We have been spending £13 billion on capital since 2015. The
Department has met representatives from Tiverton High School to
discuss its buildings. We are currently in the process of
assessing nominations for the school rebuilding programme; we
expect to prioritise up to 300 schools in the financial year to
2023. An announcement of the successful bids under that programme
will be made before the end of the year.
Financial Education in Secondary Schools
(Delyn) (Ind)
9. What steps she is taking to promote financial education in
secondary schools.(902435)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
I am a passionate champion of an education that gives children
the real-world knowledge and skills that they need for later
life. A good grounding in maths for children is essential for
understanding things like interest rates, compound interest and
the changing landscape of financial products. On Thursday, I was
pleased to visit Chesterton Primary School in Battersea with the
Schools Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bognor
Regis and Littlehampton (), to mark the first ever set of
national data on children’s times tables, alongside announcing up
to £59.3 million of investment to continue to increase the
quality of maths teaching.
In conversation with my local Jobcentre Plus team earlier this
year, I was told that the No. 1 thing missing for school leavers
is employability skills, which are partly about understanding
finances, bank accounts, loans, credit cards and taxes—all the
stodgy, boring, grown-up stuff. Does my right hon. Friend agree
that making sure that school leavers are equipped with
information about those things will stop them getting into
financial difficulty as young adults and will set them up well
for the future?
I agree that understanding finances is essential; I learned that
myself in my Saturday job at St John’s market, where I worked in
a shop from the age of 13. Education on financial matters also
provides an opportunity to teach about fraud. Pupils receive
financial education throughout the national curriculum in
mathematics and citizenship; for pupils of secondary school age,
that includes compulsory content covering the functions and uses
of money, financial products and services, and the need to
understand financial risk.
Degree Apprenticeships
(Southend West) (Con)
10. What steps her Department is taking to promote degree
apprenticeships.(902436)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
I am currently the only degree apprentice in this House, but I am
determined to ensure that I am the first of many. We have seen
year-on-year growth in degree-level apprenticeships, with more
than 148,000 starts since their reintroduction in 2014, including
apprenticeships in law, accounting and clinical science. We are
working in schools and colleges and with UCAS to ensure that more
young people are aware of the benefits of apprenticeships. We are
making £8 million available to higher education providers to
expand their degree apprenticeship offers.
In Southend West, 830 young people are undertaking degree
apprenticeships, including many at our outstanding South Essex
College. Does my right hon. Friend agree that if local businesses
that require mechanics, bricklayers, lawyers and so on could be
incentivised to connect with the college and help to train
apprentices, rather than just providing work placements, it would
be a brilliant way for local employers not only to headhunt the
best students for good jobs, but to provide better-quality
apprenticeships, boost opportunities and boost our local
economy?
I completely agree with my hon. Friend, who continues to champion
students and businesses in Southend West. The local skills
improvement plans that we have introduced under the Skills and
Post-16 Education Act 2022 will place employers at the heart of
local skills systems and will facilitate more dynamic working
arrangements among employers, colleges and other skills
providers. Essex Chambers of Commerce has recently been chosen to
lead on the development of an LSIP for the Essex, Southend-on-Sea
and Thurrock area. It is good to see that South Essex College is
working with Essex Chambers of Commerce to achieve that.
Dame (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
I welcome the Secretary of State and her team to their new
positions, or back to their old ones. From her work on the Public
Accounts Committee, among other things, she will know of the
desperate need in this country for digital and cyber skills. At
the recent Silicon Milkroundabout, a special day called Next Gen
was set up to encourage companies to take on new graduates or
people with lower qualifications, but companies said that they
would only really take people with three years’ postgraduate
experience. Does she think that there is an opportunity in the
sector to boost apprenticeships? Would she be willing to work
with businesses in Shoreditch to promote them?
I thank the hon. Lady for her welcome. I would be very happy to
work with businesses in Shoreditch. When I was the skills and
apprenticeships Minister, I worked with Ada, the National College
for Digital Skills, and I know that it is vital for digital and
cyber offers to be made across the landscape. I recently visited
Aston University, which is working with a local college to
develop an institute of technology to provide, for instance,
much-needed digital apprenticeships and full-time courses, and I
would be happy to work with anyone who wants to ensure that that
vital provision continues.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
(Chesterfield) (Lab)
I welcome the Secretary of State to her latest position—she has
had a dizzying array of jobs recently, so it is great to see her
in this post, as I know that she has a real commitment to skills
and apprenticeships.
I do not know whether the Secretary of State has had an
opportunity to speak at length with the new Minister for Skills,
Apprenticeships and Higher Education, the right hon. Member for
Harlow (), but when he chaired the
Education Committee he stressed the need for greater flexibility
in the apprenticeship levy. He spoke powerfully about too much of
it being spent on managerial apprenticeships, and the Committee
agreed entirely, so it was a considerable disappointment to hear
last week that the Government now appear to be ruling out reform
of the levy. Labour’s plan to increase its flexibility has been
widely welcomed by employers. Do the Government recognise that
the levy is not working, and that we need to give businesses and
employers the flexibility they are demanding?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comments, and for welcoming me
and referring to the variety of jobs that I have had—in fact, I
did 30 years’ worth of jobs before I came here, so I am used to a
lot of change.
The apprenticeship levy was created to support the uptake and
delivery of high-quality apprenticeships, and has been set at a
level to fund this employer demand. We are making apprenticeships
more flexible, providing new flexi-job and accelerated
apprenticeships that are accessible to employers in all
sectors—something I was working on when I was last in the
Department. We have also improved the levy transfer system so
that employers can make greater use of their levy funds. More
than 215 employers, including Asda, HomeServe and BT Group, have
pledged to transfer £14.62 million to support apprenticeships in
businesses of all sizes.
West Dorset Constituency: Replacement of Temporary Classrooms
(West Dorset) (Con)
11. What recent steps her Department has taken to ensure that
dilapidated temporary classrooms in the West Dorset constituency
are being replaced.(902437)
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
The Department provides annual funding to improve the condition
of school buildings, and has committed £1.8 billion this
financial year, including £2.3 million for Dorset Council. The
Government’s school rebuilding programme will transform buildings
in 500 schools over the next decade, prioritising those in the
poorest condition and those with safety issues.
I thank my right hon. Friend for his kind answer. He will
remember that I asked him this question when he was last at the
Dispatch Box, and indeed I have asked the Chair of the Select
Committee the same question many a time. My former secondary
school, the Gryphon School in Sherborne, has reached a point at
which the temporary classrooms are so bad that there has been a
request for severe needs funding to sort them out. These are
temporary classrooms in which I was schooled 25 years ago, and we
have been asking about this matter for a very long time. Will my
right hon. Friend kindly prioritise our request, so that the
school can bring about the vital improvements that are required?
I would be delighted to hear when that might happen.
My hon. Friend has meticulously, passionately and repeatedly made
the case to Government for investment in the replacement of
temporary buildings at the Gryphon School. Bids for the school
rebuilding programme are being assessed by officials, and we
expect to confirm the selection of up to 300 schools during the
current financial year—in fact, we hope to make an announcement
by the end of December.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Minister.
(Portsmouth South) (Lab)
The issue of school buildings is as relevant in West Dorset as it
is in the rest of the country, not least because we do not know
how many buildings may pose a risk to life. Given that more than
one in six schools in England are in need of urgent repair, will
the Minister commit himself immediately to publishing the
underlying data from the Condition of School Buildings Survey—or
is he happy to sweep it under the carpet?
It was this Government who started the national surveys of the
condition of the school estate, and we continually keep that data
up to date. Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority
for the Government, which is why we have allocated more than £13
billion since 2015 to keeping schools safe and operational. That
includes £1.8 billion in this financial year.
STEM Subjects: Uptake
(Ynys Môn) (Con)
12. What steps her Department is taking to increase uptake of
STEM subjects.(902438)
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
At every stage, from STEM in schools to STEM in skills, we are
boosting careers advice and quality qualifications, through our
boot camps, our free level-3 courses, our 350-plus
apprenticeships and higher technical qualifications and, of
course, our 21 institutes of technology.
I thank the Minister for his answer and welcome him to his
place.
Great British Nuclear is soon to announce plans to get behind
gigawatt-scale and small modular reactor nuclear power stations.
This massive and exciting clean energy programme is bringing our
country back as a global leader in nuclear. The scale of the
programme will require tens of thousands of highly skilled people
in communities across Wales and England. What is the Minister
doing to ensure that we have a skilled workforce to deliver this
programme at pace and to create career opportunities for our
young people, such as those on Ynys Môn?
My hon. Friend is a human dynamo and a champion of new nuclear. I
agree it is essential that we have a workforce to support the
nuclear industry and the development of gigawatt-scale and small
modular reactor nuclear power stations. She will know that our
reforms across the skills system will ensure that we build the
highly skilled workforce we need to meet our net zero targets by
2050. If she wants to see at first hand the commitment of this
Government and the Department for Education to net zero, both the
Schools Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bognor
Regis and Littlehampton (), and I are recycled
Ministers.
Early Years Teacher Training
(Birmingham, Northfield)
(Con)
13. What steps her Department is taking to improve early years
teacher training.(902439)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
The Department has significantly expanded the number of fully
funded initial teacher training places in early years for the
next academic year, and it is reviewing the level-3 qualification
criterion for early years, both of which make up our package of
£180 million-worth of support.
I recently visited Jelly Babies nursery at Longbridge Methodist
church. [Interruption.] I did not eat any jelly babies on my
visit, but I met the fantastic team who do so much to equip young
children with new life skills. The Early Years Alliance is
running its “We Are Educators” campaign, which I hope the
Minister will support by recognising its work and the benefits
for young children across the UK in general, and in Birmingham,
Northfield in particular.
I know that my hon. Friend is a huge supporter of Jelly Babies,
both the nursery and otherwise. The Government are supporting
early years professionals with £180 million for qualifications
and specific training, such as on dealing with challenging
behaviour following the pandemic and on early communication.
(Twickenham) (LD)
High-quality early years education is vital, and it is the best
possible investment in our future—that includes both training and
provision for all. Given that school budgets were protected in
the autumn statement, where will the two years of real-terms
funding cuts set for the Department for Education fall? Can the
Minister confirm they will not fall on early years education?
As I said in answer to earlier questions, we put an extra £0.5
billion into the early years sector in the 2021 spending review
to increase the hourly rate. We are also spending money on
qualifications and training for teachers. This sector is very
important to us, and we continue to consider all the ways we can
support it.
Undergraduate Degrees: Equal Standards
(Weston-super-Mare) (Con)
14. What plans her Department has to ensure that the grades of
undergraduate degrees in similar subjects on all higher education
courses are of an equal standard.(902441)
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
Our important sector-recognised standards are agreed by the UK
Standing Committee for Quality Assessment to ensure that degrees
equip students with the skills and knowledge required for them to
succeed. Provider autonomy on what and how they teach is vital,
and we must avoid driving standardisation over innovation. The
Office for Students regulates to these agreed standards and
investigates any concerns.
For every other serious qualification, any particular grade is
worth the same whether a person studied in Truro or in Tadcaster.
Even though universities accept the principle of moderating their
standards, no employer or student thinks a 2:1 in English or
chemistry is worth the same from every university. Does the
Minister agree that equally valuable degrees would give a second
chance to anyone who does not get into their first-choice
university, would wipe out some of the snobbery that still
infects parts of our higher-education system, and would level up
life chances across the country?
Of course I will consider what my hon. Friend has said, but my
priority for higher education was set out in a recent speech—it
is skills, jobs and social justice, by which I mean ensuring that
disadvantaged people can climb the higher education ladder of
opportunity. He will know that the sector regional standards set
out the terms of grading and content, but we should judge
students on the outcomes: are they getting good skills and are
they getting good jobs?
School Attendance
(Rugby) (Con)
15. What assessment her Department has made of trends in the
level of school attendance. (902442)
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
Attendance in all state-funded schools in the period 12 September
to 21 October was 93.6%. Broken down by school type, attendance
was at 94.9% in primary schools, 92.2% in state secondary schools
and 88.1% in special schools. Our focus now is to help and
support those pupils who face barriers to returning to school
following the covid lockdown.
I thank the Minister for his answer. We know that following the
pandemic there was an increase in persistently absent pupils, but
there has also been a recent increase in the number of children
being home educated. I know from meeting constituents in Rugby
that that can often arise as a consequence of a breakdown between
parents and the school, and it also disproportionately affects
children with special educational needs. So what steps is the
Department taking to encourage that group of pupils back into the
classroom?
My hon. Friend is right; attendance at school is key to a child’s
life chances, but the pandemic has affected some children,
particularly some with special educational needs and
disabilities. We are working with headteachers, teachers and
children’s social care to help to overcome the barriers that
those children face in returning to school, be they mental health
issues, driven in part by the lockdown, or having fallen further
behind in their studies. As I have said, we have committed £5
billion on catch-up programmes and one-to-one tutoring, focused
on the children who have fallen furthest behind.
(Rhondda) (Lab)
I am not sure I do welcome the Secretary of State to her new
post, because she was such a good co-chair of the acquired brain
injuries programme board in her previous job. The Minister will
know very well, as will the Secretary of State, that one thing
that sometimes affects attendance at school is kids who have had
brain injuries. For the first few months, everybody understands
in the school but perhaps a year later their executive function
is not as well developed as it might be, they have problems with
attendance, they end up being treated like a naughty child and
they end up in the criminal justice system. Will the Secretary of
State make sure that her Department plays as strong a part as she
previously did in making sure that we have a national strategy on
acquired brain injury, so that we do not let our kids down?
The hon. Gentleman is right: we need to make sure that every
child, no matter what injuries they have suffered, and what
cognitive problems or mental health problems they face, are able
to thrive in our schools system, and we will do precisely what he
suggests.
Topical Questions
(Worcester) (Con)
T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental
responsibilities.(902451)
The Secretary of State for Education ()
I, too, pay tribute to my predecessor and the ministerial team.
Last week’s national teaching awards celebrated the inspiring
work our brilliant teachers do, and I am sure the whole House
will join me in congratulating this year’s winners and saying a
massive thank you to incredible teachers such as Angela Williams,
who won the lifetime achievement award, after 37 years of
inspiring young minds in the Huddersfield and Kirklees area.
During her career, she has helped more than 18,000 young people
to achieve their dreams.
This Government recognise that a good education is the closest
thing we have to a silver bullet when it comes to making people’s
lives better. That is why we are investing an extra £2 billion in
our schools next year and the year after, and that will be the
highest real-time spending on schools in history. That is what
was asked for by teachers, heads and unions. Given that, I very
much hope that both sides of the House will be united in calling
on the unions to end the threat of strike action as our children
work hard to catch up on lost learning.
Mr Walker
I welcome this ministerial team, especially my right hon. Friend
the Member for Harlow (), who did such a brilliant
job as Chair of the Select Committee on Education. I look forward
to working with them all and seeking to hold them to account. I
have heard concerns from both sides of the House, including today
from the hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), about the
affordability of childcare, and I am keen that the Select
Committee urgently looks into that matter. Does my right hon.
Friend agree that, if we are to meet the Prime Minister’s
objective of education being a silver bullet and helping more
people into work, affordable childcare is essential?
Yes, I very much agree with my hon. Friend and I would like to
take a moment to welcome him to his place. I congratulate him on
becoming the Chair of the Education Committee. I am sure he will
do a fantastic job and I look forward to working with him.
The early years are a vital part of every child’s education,
helping to set them up for life. We are committed to improving
the affordability, choice and accessibility of childcare, and
have spent more than £20 billion over the past five years
supporting families with their childcare costs.
Mr Speaker
I call the shadow Secretary of State.
(Houghton and Sunderland
South) (Lab)
I welcome the new Secretary of State to her position and, I am
sure she will agree, to the best job in Government.
Parents in key worker jobs—care workers and teaching
assistants—are spending more than a quarter of their pay on
childcare. Parents across our country are being forced to give up
jobs that they love because of the cost of childcare. Yet, in the
last two fiscal statements from the right hon. Lady’s Government,
there has been no action to support families. Why not?
I thank the hon. Lady for her comments and for welcoming me to my
place. It is indeed the best job in Government.
We have taken a lot of action in this area. The last Labour
Government had 12.5 hours of free childcare. That is now up to 30
hours. We have spent more than £3.5 billion in each of the past
three years on early education entitlements and more than £20
billion over the past five years supporting families with the
cost of childcare. Thousands of parents are benefiting from
Government childcare support, but we will also work to improve
the cost, choice and affordability of childcare.
On schools, Labour is committed to ending the tax breaks that
private schools enjoy and to investing in driving up standards
for every child. Why should we continue to provide such
“egregious state support to the already wealthy”—
the children of plutocrats and oligarchs—
“so that they might buy advantage for their own children”?
Those are not my words, Mr Speaker, but those of the Secretary of
State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Does the
Secretary of State agree with him?
I agree that the most important thing is to ensure that we focus
on every child who goes to a state school getting a brilliant
education. That is about 90% of all children in this country. The
policy that the hon. Lady has been talking about and that Labour
is developing is ill-thought through. Indeed, it could cost money
and lead to disruption, as young people move from the private to
the state sector. It is the politics of envy. We have fought for
an extra £2 billion in the autumn statement, the highest per
pupil spend in history, and I am sure that the hon. Lady—
Mr Speaker
Order. I remind Members that these are topicals and we want to
get all the Back Benchers in. We do not want Front Benchers to
take up all the time.
(Harrogate and Knaresborough)
(Con)
T2. The further education capital transformation fund is seeing
colleges across the country replan their estates and modernise
their facilities. In my constituency, Harrogate College has
secured £16 million and is replanning its estate around
delivering T-levels and the skills for growth sectors. Is the
Minister ensuring that these FE construction projects are all
focused on creating estates to deliver the skills needed in the
growth sectors of the future and their local
economies?(902452)
Yes, and I am delighted to return to the Department as Secretary
of State to find that T-levels, which I launched as a Minister,
are off to a great start. They are rigorous courses for young
people. It is a fantastic achievement that, for the first cohorts
of students, the pass rate was 92%. I urge all Members to visit
their local college or institute of technology to see what the
future of technical education looks like.
Mr Speaker
I call the SNP spokesperson.
(Glasgow North West)
(SNP)
Reports that this Government could cause monumental damage to
higher education by restricting international students to
so-called elite universities have been described by former
Universities Minister as a “mindless crackdown”.
Can the Secretary of State confirm that this Government will not
implement such a mindless policy?
I can confirm that we have a world-class education system and we
will attract the brightest students from around the world. That
is good for our universities and delivers growth at home. We were
proud to meet our international student ambition earlier this
year to attract 600,000 international students per year by 2030.
Today that is worth £29.5 billion and we are now focused on
bringing in £35 billion from our education exports, which are the
best in the world.
(Aylesbury) (Con)
T3. Like many parts of the country, Aylesbury has too many people
who are economically inactive despite the overall unemployment
rate being extremely low. We also have many job vacancies where
we need people with new or different skills. How can my right
hon. Friend’s Department ensure that courses in schools,
university technical colleges and colleges equip young people
with the right skills for today’s job market?(902454)
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
The first thing we need to do is invest, and we are investing an
extra £3.8 billion over this Parliament in skills. We have
introduced the T-levels and higher technical qualifications. We
are strengthening careers advice and, of course, championing
apprenticeships. I am pleased to say that apprenticeship starts
have increased by 8.9% over the past year.
(Bedford) (Lab)
Schools such as King’s Oak primary in Bedford are experiencing
significantly increased demand for support around special
educational needs and disabilities and social, emotional and
mental health needs, due to the cost of living crisis. While
additional funding is a relief, the Government need to urgently
make clear what the overall funding announcement will mean, to
ensure that essential support can be sustained for the most
vulnerable children. When will the details be announced?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
We have set out the announcements on funding for SEND, which, as
I said, has increased by 40% over the past three years for the
high needs block funding. We have also set out spending on
capital grants. We are setting out early next year our proposals
for the SEND and alternative provision Green Paper to make sure
that that money is spent well.
(Stoke-on-Trent South)
(Con)
Trentham Academy has recently received a very good Ofsted rating,
with a number of outstanding features, following significant
improvement. But the school building is in a very serious
condition, with rat infestations, a number of areas of safety
concerns and more than one third of classrooms below 40 square
metres. Will my right hon. Friend agree to support Trentham’s
being in the school rebuilding programme?
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
Thanks to my hon. Friend, I am very aware of the serious issues
affecting the condition of the Trentham Academy building, and as
always he continues to make representations on behalf of the
schools in his constituency. We plan to confirm further schools
for the school rebuilding programme later this year.
(North Ayrshire and Arran)
(SNP)
Children growing up in poverty have poorer school outcomes and
disadvantage, which often blights lives into adulthood. The
autumn statement funding announcements, much vaunted today, will
only restore real-terms per pupil funding to what it was in 2010,
at a time when experts are urgently calling for a new child
poverty strategy to tackle that widening gap. Given the
Government’s so-called commitment to levelling up and social
mobility, when will they announce that new strategy?
The hon. Lady should know that the Institute for Fiscal Studies
has said that the additional schools funding announced in the
autumn statement— some £2 billion extra on top of the money
already announced in the White Paper—and £3.5 billion in the
spending review will fully cover expected school costs up to
2024. As she rightly says, it will take spending per pupil back
to at least 2010 levels in real terms, which she will recall was
the highest ever level of funding.
(Clacton) (Con)
One pledge in our 2019 manifesto was the introduction of an arts
premium. The British arts are central to our soft power
projection across the globe and they start in the classroom. I
will be teaching an acting class in Clacton very soon; in case
the question is raised, can the Minister tell me that there will
be a commitment to an arts premium or an arts-specific
package?
I would love to see my hon. Friend’s acting class at some stage.
The arts and music are an essential part of a broad and balanced
curriculum. That is why we have published, for example, a
detailed model music curriculum based on best practice. Given the
significant impact of covid-19 on children’s education,
priorities were necessarily focused on education recovery in the
last spending review, but we—
Mr Speaker
Order. I will just say once again, Minister, please stop taking
advantage of these poor Back Benchers, who are desperate to get
their questions in.
Sir (East Ham) (Lab)
It is estimated that 4,000 Muslim young people every year choose,
with a heavy heart, not to enter higher education because their
faith bars them from paying interest on a student loan. said nine years ago that he
would fix that. Will the new ministerial team, whom I welcome,
commit to introducing alternative student finance and give us
some indication of when that will be?
The Minister of State, Department for Education ()
I am strongly committed to introducing alternative student
finance, something my Harlow constituents have also lobbied me
about. The issue is that we want, as the right hon. Gentleman
knows, to introduce the lifelong learning entitlement, and we
will introduce alternative student finance in conjunction with
that.
(Chelmsford) (Con)
In Chelmsford, we are very proud that Anglia Ruskin University
has more students graduating in health and social care-related
subjects than any other university in the country, but the
university would not be able to provide such high-quality courses
to students from the UK if it did not have the income from
overseas students. Can my right hon. Friend categorically confirm
that the UK will continue to welcome students from across the
word to all our universities?
I have good news for my right hon. Friend: we were proud to meet
our international target of 600,000 students by 2030; we have
actually met that target already. It is currently worth £25.9
billion to the economy and it will be £35 billion by 2030.
(Gordon) (SNP)
In his autumn statement, the Chancellor said that he wanted to
make the United Kingdom a science superpower, yet academic
researchers and scientists are being hamstrung by the continued
failure to reassociate the UK with the Horizon programme. What
discussions are Ministers having with EU counterparts to
re-engage the UK in the Horizon programme?
Our preference remains for an association to Horizon Europe. The
hon. Gentleman will know that the Government have committed £20
billion to R&D by 2024-25, and we have just announced the
Horizon Europe guarantee, a grant offer with a total value of
£500 million issued by UK Research and Innovation.
(Weston-super-Mare) (Con)
T9. Good career guidance gives everyone—particularly those from
less advantaged backgrounds—the ambition, self-belief and work
ethic to take life chances whenever they appear and to level up
our country. Will the Secretary of State consider making it
impossible for a school to get an overall Ofsted inspection grade
of good or better if its career guidance is not up to standard,
in the same way as already happens if its safeguarding regime is
not up to scratch?(902460)
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: careers advice is central to
getting young people on the skills ladder of opportunity. We have
strengthened careers advice with the Baker clause. Ofsted is
carrying out a review of careers training in schools and
colleges. We are investing £30 million to support schools and
colleges in careers, and setting up careers hubs in secondary
schools and colleges.
(Sheffield Central)
(Lab)
I welcome the Secretary of State and her team to their roles. May
I start by congratulating the Government on their international
education strategy, which has already been mentioned? The
Secretary of State knows that international students contribute
£30 billion a year to the UK economy—much of it in areas
identified by the Government for levelling up—and that they are
vital to the viability of our universities, enrich learning for
UK students and strengthen our role in the world. Does she
therefore share the concern of Members on both sides of the House
about reports that consideration is being given to returning to
the failed policy of restricting numbers, and will she raise that
concern with the Home Secretary?
On the first part of the hon. Gentleman’s question, I could not
have put it better myself. International students add enormous
value. As I mentioned in my previous answer and in the
Westminster Hall debate we had a couple of weeks ago, we have met
our target of 600,000 students a year early—before 2030—and that
remains our target. By 2030, that will mean £35 billion-plus in
exports.
(North Norfolk) (Con)
I am concerned about the provision of music in state schools. A
report by the British Phonographic Industry states that the
provision has decreased dramatically in recent years. It
estimates that
“30% of state schools have seen a decrease in curriculum time for
music, or a reduction in the number of qualified music
teachers.”
Can my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State assure me that
the Government recognise that, and update me on the steps that
her Department is taking?
The 2021-22 academic year saw more than 86,000 hours of music
teaching in secondary schools—the highest number since 2014. They
were taught by more than 7,000 music teachers in secondary
schools—the highest number since 2015. Schools should provide
timetabled curriculum music of at least one hour a week. We have
published an excellent model music curriculum that schools can
lean on to help to deliver that.
(Twickenham) (LD)
Why will the Secretary of State not listen to her Cabinet
colleague the Secretary of State for Levelling Up and the
Government’s own food adviser by expanding the eligibility for
free school meals? Hungry children cannot learn and tend to
behave badly, too.
I think we have already discussed this to some degree, but we
have extended free school meal availability. Now, more than one
third of children in school settings have access to a free
nutritious meal. We are spending £1.9 billion on that
facility.
(Great Grimsby) (Con)
I met a 12-year-old constituent a couple of weeks ago. He has
been excluded from school and is now being home tutored, but he
is struggling to see where his home tutoring will get him in his
aspiration to become a mechanical engineer. Will my right hon.
Friend meet me to discuss getting some provision that will suit
my constituent and people like him in my constituency?
I would be very happy to meet my hon. Friend. I thoroughly
enjoyed working with her on many things vocational and technical
education when I was last in the Department. We very much need
more mechanical engineers, so I encourage that young student and
very much look forward to working with my hon. Friend.
(Rutherglen and Hamilton
West) (Ind)
What steps are Ministers taking to achieve the target of
delivering 20,000 defibrillators in schools by 2023?
We have been delivering defibrillators in schools up and down the
country—it is a successful programme. I will write to the hon.
Member with the precise figures that she is seeking.
(Sedgefield) (Con)
First, I congratulate all the staff and pupils of Ferryhill
Station Primary School, where I was once a governor. Led by the
head, Joanne Sones, it has now achieved an Ofsted rating of
good.
I am sure the Minister would like all pupils everywhere to
develop their sports skills and improve their mental health
through sport. What is being done to focus the sports premium on
schools in challenging areas such as Ferryhill? I would also
encourage the Minister to come and—
Mr Speaker
I call the Minister.
—meet our outstanding ambassadors.
Mr Speaker
Order. I am sorry, Mr Howell, but you are taking complete
advantage. That is totally not fair to others. I call the
Minister.
Improving school sport and PE is a key priority, and we recognise
the important role that they play. We are considering
arrangements for the primary PE and sports premium for the
2023-24 academic year. I pay tribute to the headteacher of
Ferryhill Station Primary School for achieving “good” in the
Ofsted inspection.
Dame (Basingstoke) (Con)
The Government funded 128 new special educational needs places at
the Austen Academy in Basingstoke, which opened about a year ago,
but a new, permanent academy trust is needed to operate the
school. Will my hon. Friend meet me to discuss the importance of
making that appointment swiftly?
I would be delighted to meet my right hon. Friend. She is an
incredible campaigner on these issues, which are also important
to the Government.
Sir (Rochford and Southend
East) (Con)
King Edmund School, in the constituency of my right hon. Friend
the Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mr Francois), is currently
closed while building materials containing asbestos are removed
from the site. Will the ministerial team look into this situation
with a view to getting kids safely back to school as quickly as
possible?
Yes, I certainly will look into that. The school was initially
closed as a precaution while we carried out enhanced testing.
Testing is now complete, and the school buildings are safe, but
asbestos remains on the site of a previously demolished building,
so the school will remain closed while that is removed. However,
we are doing everything possible to ensure that the school site
reopens by 3 January.
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