Browse content similar to 22/11/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Minute Rule motion. We were in a moment do so. Colleagues leaving the | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
chamber... If you can do so quickly and quietly. We can proceed with the | :00:00. | :00:10. | |
Ten Minute Rule motion which the honourable lady has been patiently | :00:11. | :00:21. | |
waiting. Louise Hague. Thank you, Mr Speaker, I beg leave to introduce a | :00:22. | :00:25. | |
bill to amend the employment rights act but in that sector make | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
provision for leave of persons donating body organs for transplant. | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
Can I start Mr Speaker by sending my thanks and I'm sure the thanks of | :00:35. | :00:37. | |
the whole house to the nurses and medical staff who make up the NHS | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
Blood and Transplant service and the staff who run the NHS organ donation | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
register. It is relatively small team in the grand scheme of things | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
but it is thanks to their effort and their utter brilliance that | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
thousands of lives are saved each year might otherwise have been lost. | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
And it is thanks to the ingenuity and dedication that lasted organ | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
donations in the UK reached a record high. The difference they are making | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
the families whose loved ones have been given a new chance at life | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
often goes unsaid. I would also like to take this opportunity to note the | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
work of honourable members including the member for Burton and Uttoxeter | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
and the member for Montgomeryshire who have put the issue of organ | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
donation firmly on the Parliamentary agenda. Organ donation is improving | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
year on year. In part due to small changes such as the option to sign | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
up every time you renew your driving licence. Last year alone that method | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
saw an extra half million people register to become potentially | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
life-saving donors. These are small changes making a huge difference. | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
But as the NHS Blood and Transplant service has said, there is an awful | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
lot of work to be done. Not only to raise and sent figures, currently at | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
62% despite evidence which suggests that over 90% of the public would | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
give their organs in death, but also to encourage families to have a | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
difficult conversation about what we'd you do if the unthinkable | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
happened. Because family refusal after the death of a loved one is | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
sadly the single biggest barrier to organ donation. Of course it is | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
completely understandable and natural that in the aftermath of a | :02:15. | :02:17. | |
life changing was all we want to do was preserve that left behind. But | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
if 80% of families consented 1000 more lives a year could be saved and | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
1000 more families kept together. I would like to take this opportunity | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
to gently urged families today to have that conversation, find out | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
their wishes, tell them yours, because the chances are if the | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
unthinkable happened your loved one would want to save a life. But Mr | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
Speaker while much of the focus is rightly delegated to those brave | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
families who have made that difficult decision it is living | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
donors who should also be hailed for the selflessness. To give a kidney, | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
part of the liver or bone marrow in order to save the life of someone | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
they may never even have met. And it is living donors to whom my bill | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
would guarantee legal rights that so far they have not enjoyed. 6000 | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
people nationwide currently are going through the utter agony of | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
waiting for the call that could save their lives. But their availability | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
year in, year out for those organs never matches need. Living organ | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
donors are playing a very significant part in bridging the | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
heartbreaking gap. Last year alone over 1000 of that part of the liver | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
or kidney and many more donated bone marrow. Because of their | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
requirements and criteria for organ donors many are often of working age | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
and in work. Now it hardly needs saying that giving an organ is an | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
enormous commitment and if you are an employee the time needed off work | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
may give you pause for four. The NHS advises that living donors can | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
expect up period of up to 12 weeks recovery time. This will vary from | :03:50. | :03:52. | |
person-to-person and depending on what job you do but the point is it | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
is a very serious commitment for any would-be donor. You had to weigh up | :03:57. | :04:00. | |
whether you can afford to take the time off, if your boss insists you | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
take leave unpaid, and you have to wait for any compensation to come | :04:05. | :04:08. | |
through from the relevant NHS Trust. You have to weigh up whether you can | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
make the commitment to be out of work for that length of time. And | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
you are all the way is worrying in case your positional terms and | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
conditions are not quite the same on your return. That uncertainty is | :04:22. | :04:24. | |
unacceptable. It is putting barriers in the path of people becoming | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
life-saving donors and currently the law has nothing to say. This issue | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
was brought to my attention by a man who told me he had donated bone | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
marrow to an anonymous blood cancer patient. He was allowed just three | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
days off work and paid to cover the time in hospital. He felt pressured | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
to return and he was accused of making himself sick by his employer. | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
It is just one the full that it tells us of the pressures faced by | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
workers who may want to donate. Any and all barriers standing in the way | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
of living donors must be dismantled. And a lack of legal employment | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
protection is holding these potential life-savers are | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
significant and can be easily corrected by government. For young | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
people in particular who have the highest likelihood of donating | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
high-quality bone marrow, that time out of the work may completely | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
determines that is why my bill would guarantee living organ donors to | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
paid time off to allow them to recover and they will have their job | :05:31. | :05:37. | |
guaranteed. So the employees not checking their phone, worried they | :05:38. | :05:39. | |
might get a call from the boss of rushing back because they are where | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
they should be that this can have the time off to take the time to get | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
better which they so deserve. This bill will also guarantee that their | :05:48. | :05:50. | |
terms and conditions on rights are the same on their return as when | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
they left. In an age when workers feel increasingly insecure in their | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
job and where at the sharp end of the economy unscrupulous employment | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
practices and rights are rife, these legal garages can make the | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
difference between donating and not. We are already chronically short of | :06:08. | :06:10. | |
donors and we should be clearing every conceivable barrier put in the | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
way of these potential life-savers. I'm delighted that major businesses | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
like my own former employer, Aviva, and the DIY retailer Wickes back | :06:19. | :06:26. | |
Michael. It is fantastic cross-party group of MPs supporting it as. Each | :06:27. | :06:33. | |
donation is an astonishing story of bravery in its right and a life | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
changing moment for the individuals and families who benefit the | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
generosity. As work gets increasingly precarious employs must | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
rely on the protections in law which guaranteed their rights. These | :06:46. | :06:47. | |
counties will not only bring peace of mind but will help increase the | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
number of living donors from 1000, and bridge the gap between | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
availability and need. And crucially it will send a clear signal from | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
government and from this house that if you are prepared to give an organ | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
to save a life, then we will back you every step of the way. | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
As many as are of the opinion, say "aye". | :07:10. | :07:19. | |
To the contrary, "no". I think the ayes that, the ayes it. Who will | :07:20. | :07:29. | |
prepare and bring in the build? Cavern west, Greg Mulholland, Sarah | :07:30. | :07:31. | |
Wollaston and myself, sir. Second reading, what day? Friday | :07:32. | :08:10. | |
20th January. Thank you. Order. We now come to the opposition Day | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
motion in the name of the Leader of the Opposition on education and | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
social mobility. I informed the howls that I have selected the | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
amendment in the name of the Prime Minister. I should advise the howls | :08:26. | :08:33. | |
that a very substantial number of backbench members have applied to | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
speak. If memory serves me correctly, no fewer than 28. The | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
debate, realistically, I imagine, will not run beyond 4pm, or at the | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
latest 4:30pm. Of course, there is no limit on front bench speeches. | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
The frontbenchers tend to take significant numbers of | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
interventions, privately properly, that is favoured by the howls, but | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
I'm sure at that those ventures will wish to tailor their contributions | :09:04. | :09:06. | |
in the light of what I have just said. To move the motion, I called | :09:07. | :09:14. | |
this secretary -- Shadow Secretary of State for Education. | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
I hope to try and be brief, but substantive in my comments today. I | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
would like to start by saying thanks to the emergency services across the | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
UK who have helped many of our constituents during the floods | :09:29. | :09:31. | |
yesterday, in particular those held my constituents and businesses. It | :09:32. | :09:38. | |
should be the duty of all governments to provide the best | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
education for every child. Today we will be calling on the whole House | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
to show that they share with this commitment. Because only last | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
Wednesday, we heard that Britain has a deep social mobility problem, and | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
for this generation of young people in particular, it is getting worse | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
and not better. And that this was in result of an unfair education | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
system, a two tier labour markets, and an balance labour economy, and | :10:04. | :10:12. | |
an unaffordable housing market. Not to not accusations from -- are not | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
an accusation from the opposition, but the conclusion of the governed's | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
own mobility commission. How can we offer the best art and life every | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
child, but and crucially new academic solution -- site and was | :10:29. | :10:37. | |
not one of them. Happy to give way. Can you inform the House precisely | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
how many grammar schools she has visited before opposing the paper | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
today? At I say, as a parent and school | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
governor and someone who represented trade union members, I have visited | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
many grammar schools. My contribution to this debate will be | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
on fact and evidence. I hope the honourable member will look the | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
facts and evidence vote accordingly. In fact, they offered social | :11:09. | :11:16. | |
mobility is a clear recommendation to abandon any such plans. They said | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
that because they know social mobility is facing a crisis. And | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
that further academic selection is simply not the answer. In fact, it | :11:27. | :11:29. | |
will only entrench the problem. I give way. | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
I thank the honourable lady. Which explain why it's all right for my | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
constituents to be able to go to a grammar school and Birmingham, but | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
not to go to a grammar school and Brierley Hill, because is no | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
provision that? I will explain exactly why we need | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
to be moving away from selection and having improvement within our | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
education system. Those conclusions from that commission will find much | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
support in this House, not just on these benches, but, I hoping, an | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
opposition benches as well. But we still haven't heard from the Prime | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
Minister as any of these recommendations will be adopted. I | :12:14. | :12:16. | |
give way. Before we have to listen to the | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
sixth form debating points from the party opposite, dishes agree with me | :12:22. | :12:25. | |
that what they ought to do is to be setting out the evidence for this | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
policy, setting out where these schools will be, what the war costs, | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
where the resources will come from, what the pupils will learn that, and | :12:35. | :12:37. | |
even how they would offer from existing schools? | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
I agree with the honourable member, and there is clearly many questions | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
to be answered on where the evidence is for this type of policy. I would | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
like to get the Education Secretary the chance to end this uncertainty | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
with an assistant today. Can she tell us which of the commission's | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
recommendations she will be accepting, and whether they have | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
rejected the recommendation on schools in particular? The | :13:10. | :13:11. | |
challenges we face go much further than this one misguided policy. I | :13:12. | :13:19. | |
give way. Last year in Ashfield, 66% of | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
children from disadvantaged backgrounds did not get their five | :13:24. | :13:34. | |
GCSEs. This is the real scandal, not the grammar school system? | :13:35. | :13:40. | |
I thank her for her splendid intervention, because we know that | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
increasing selection is not the answer to the current crisis that is | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
facing our school system. I give way. | :13:49. | :13:51. | |
Isn't it a fact that the demand for a grammar schools is coming from | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
those wealthy parents who are seeing private education more and more | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
priced out of their reach? With over ?21,000 fees now. It is a fact that | :14:03. | :14:11. | |
there are four times more children who are going to privately paid prep | :14:12. | :14:16. | |
schools getting into grammar schools than there are from other state | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
schools. Surely we shouldn't let people get an elite education on the | :14:21. | :14:26. | |
cheap paid for by the taxpayer? I think the honourable member for | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
his contribution. Of course, the commission that was out last week, | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
said that those finding it hard to progress are not just the most | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
disadvantaged, but those earning around ?22,000 Bojan. Those of a | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
hard-working families that people that are just getting by, that this | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
Prime Minister pledged to support on the steps of ten Downing St. So I | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
want to find common cause with members from all sides and all | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
parties in making Britain a country in which every child gets an | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
excellent education and the best start in life. | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
When she goes to watch one of our best sports teams in the country, | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
does she problem that they were selected and given an elite | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
education? I mean, the honourable member knows | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
that this is a completely different issue. And as Italy on member, as I | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
say to all across this House, follow the evidence. | :15:23. | :15:30. | |
I thank my honourable friend forgiving way. Talking of excellence | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
in sports, would she agree with me that we should celebrate the fact | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
that Mo Farah and went to a state school in my Anderson Dame | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
constituency, that school is now suffering from cuts, and is... | :15:47. | :15:56. | |
He is also a staunch Arsenal fan which makes an even greater man. | :15:57. | :16:04. | |
I thank my honourable friend the making that point. We need to ensure | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
every child makes the best progress in life, and we know that selection | :16:09. | :16:12. | |
is not the way forward. I will make progress before take more | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
interventions. I want to find common cause. I know there are many on the | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
Government benches were agree with me that expanding academic selection | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
is hardly the best way to do that. For instance, members of all parties | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
will note that all the evidence tells us that providing an excellent | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
education starts at the earliest point. Access to childcare and early | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
years education is absolutely vital. Not just in helping children, but | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
and helping every family fulfil their potential. Indeed, by the time | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
that they will take the 11-plus, children from the most disadvantaged | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
backgrounds are already, on average, ten months behind. The evidence | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
shows that investment in early years is the best way to close the | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
attainment gap between the most disadvantaged children and their | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
affluent peers. I give way. Does the honourable lady agree with | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
David Cameron who said, there's a hopelessness and the demand to bring | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
back grammar is, an assumption that this country will only ever be able | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
to offer decent education to a select few? | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
I think the honourable member for her contribution, and I find myself | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
agreeing with the former Prime Minister, who was obviously elected | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
to make those contributions within this debate. That is the platform | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
and manifesto at the Conservative Government stood on, that they are | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
currently rejecting. I know from own personal experience, as parents | :17:47. | :17:49. | |
across the chamber well, the incredible impact childcare can | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
have, not just on children and their education, but on their entire | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
families. Leaving school at 16, with no qualifications, and a newborn | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
son, it was Labour's sure start centres that help me be a better | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
parent for my son. I know that I would not be speaking in this House | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
today without those programmes. And they have helped offer my son the | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
opportunities that I never had growing up. | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
What with the honourable lady say to parents and my constituency in | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
Croydon where there are no grammar schools, have to travel for miles | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
and miles to an adjacent grammar school? She is seeking to deny them | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
choice, issue not? I say to the honourable member, I | :18:37. | :18:42. | |
want to ensure that every child has the best start and opportunities in | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
life. Not that they had to travel miles away from his constituency. I | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
want his constituents to have the best education possible, and that is | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
why selection does not provide that every child. | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
My friend is making an outstanding opening speech in this debate. On | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
that point of choice, it did she agree with me that, in this debate, | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
the issue of choice is a nonstarter? Because the choice is not with the | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
parents, the choices with this school. The skill gets to choose the | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
kids, the parents don't get to choose the school. Invariably, the | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
school choose the children on a financial and social well being | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
rather than anything else. Absolutely. And I absolutely agree | :19:26. | :19:30. | |
with the honourable member for Manchester Central, and pay tribute | :19:31. | :19:32. | |
to her head standing work that she did on the front bench. I will make | :19:33. | :19:40. | |
more progress. The social mobility commission talked about treadmill | :19:41. | :19:43. | |
families, who are running faster but I stuck in the same place. There are | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
working hard, but don't have anything to show for it at the end | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
of the week. Childcare and early years intervention would do far more | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
to address these problems than would a focus on new academic selection at | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
11. Yet, we have seen the closure of over 800 sure start centres since | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
2010. And the loss of around 45,000 childcare places, and the closure of | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
1000 childcare providers in the last five years. And there are similar | :20:16. | :20:17. | |
challenges facing our existing schools. The Institute for Fiscal | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
Studies has shown that our schools are facing a real terms cut in their | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
budgets for the first time in nearly two decades, just as the demand for | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
school places is growing. We already know the consequences - | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
was staff leaving, more schools in disrepair, more courses being | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
caught. The Department education has ready method is teacher training | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
targets four years in a road, while more inexperienced teachers are | :20:48. | :20:53. | |
leaving the profession in record numbers, and 500,000 pupils are now | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
taught in super-sized classes. It should be our mission to provide an | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
excellent education for all children, and we know what is needed | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
to provide that. It is a high-quality, early years education. | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
The best heads and teachers teaching the right curriculum and manageable | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
classes in decent school buildings with high standards and good | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
behaviour. Mr Speaker, let me say to the Education Secretary, and all | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
those on Government benches, that if they do take serious action to make | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
the changes our education system needs, then I will be the first to | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
support them. Because education policy should not be about | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
ideological dogma, but about looking at third of the evidence and | :21:42. | :21:44. | |
bridging policies that will improve the lives of all children. | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
Would she agree with me that the academy programme has delivered | :21:50. | :21:55. | |
considerable success and could she give her unequivocal support to the | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
Academy programme and could then members of the NUJ that picketed the | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
Kimberley school in my constituency when it had the temerity to break | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
free from the local authority and established an excellent Academy? | :22:08. | :22:14. | |
What I would say and what I hope we can agree on is actually we know it | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
is not about the vehicle, it is about the drivers in education and | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
focusing on vehicles is not actually dealing with the fundamental issue | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
of our dealing with collaboration, leadership and good teaching. And | :22:27. | :22:34. | |
then to make some more progress. The purpose of today's debate, Mr | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
Speaker, is to send a message that members of all parties are committed | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
to an evidence -based approach to education policy. And not pursuing | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
the failed policy of academic selection. Because we know that this | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
policy is not the answer to Britain's social mobility crisis. | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
And the government knew that can be in. Until very recently. Indeed the | :22:55. | :23:03. | |
Conservative Party, the one who won an election has explicitly promised | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
not to do so. Only just gone but so quickly forgotten. And why has that | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
pledge being ripped up by the new Prime Minister? The Education | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
Secretary has said it is to help solve Britain's mobility crisis. But | :23:19. | :23:25. | |
the evidence is scanned, and without reciting it at length I think the | :23:26. | :23:28. | |
recent backbench business debate focusing precisely on the evidence | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
by my honourable friend for the member for Wigan demonstrated that | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
this is conclusive. That is why I'm not to take individuals on that | :23:42. | :23:43. | |
point, I am going to make some progress. We know that those from | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
disadvantaged backgrounds are far less likely to get into selective | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
schools, even if they are just as bright as they're better off ears, | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
and we know that even if they do get in the impact on their attainment is | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
minimal at best. It is not just those of us on this side of the | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
house and know that. Dozens of others know it and Mr Speaker it is | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
a mistake and priority that this policy shows that as of the greatest | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
concern. I want to wrap up shortly. Already in the consultation document | :24:17. | :24:21. | |
launched in November the government pledged ?50 million to help existing | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
grammar schools expand. The same green paper made a series of | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
substantial unposted pledges to those schools that want to become | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
grammars. Or the Academy chains that want to open them. And now just this | :24:34. | :24:38. | |
weekend government sources have briefed the Sunday Times that there | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
will be tens of millions more to help run the schools expand. The | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
idea that this is the way the government should spend taxpayers | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
money is simply baffling. When nurseries across the country are | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
facing closure because the government will not deliver the | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
investment needed to deliver on their manifesto pledge to deliver 30 | :24:58. | :25:00. | |
hours of free childcare awake when our schools are facing deeper cuts | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
in their budgets van and any time since the 1970s, why is this money | :25:08. | :25:15. | |
being taken away from them? My honourable friend has made an | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
outstanding speech this afternoon and haven't we seen the problem with | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
Tory education thinking this afternoon? They think that some | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
types of school are better than others, and some children deserve | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
better opportunities than others. That is what is so entirely wrong | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
with what they are arguing today. I thank the honourable member and that | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
is the real rub, that is the difference between the size and the | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
benches opposite. We believe that teachers are invaluable to making | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
sure that our schools are the best they possibly can be rather than the | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
vehicle in which those vehicles and drivers take their admission | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
forward. We know that there are members across this house agree that | :25:54. | :25:56. | |
this is not the way we should spend school budgets. Members in the | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
devolved nations will want to know the implications on their own school | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
budgets as well and I know there are many members on the government | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
benches who share the view of those on the Labour benches that education | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
is the key to social mobility and that for all our differences on | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
policy they would not want to see the government wasting the | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
Department for Education's budget on an ineffective vanity project. That | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
must be the key test of every spending commitment made by the | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
Secretary of State. I will give way. I'm very grateful. Perhaps she could | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
clarify, we have heard her position in relation to grammar schools, is | :26:35. | :26:37. | |
her position that the government should close all grammar schools | :26:38. | :26:49. | |
that already exist? Was it worth it? Again I would reiterate my point is | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
that the members across all sides of this house have the absolute | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
responsibility to make sure that policies that they'd use in this | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
house for the education of all our children are in the best interest | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
and our evidence based. It must be the key test of every spending | :27:09. | :27:10. | |
commitment made by the Secretary of State. Will this money be spent on | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
something that we know will improve the lives of children across this | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
country? Whatever their background? This is the point of our motion | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
today, Mr Speaker, and I urge all members across this house to ensure | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
that our collective endeavour is always for the best education for | :27:32. | :27:40. | |
every child. The question is to move the amendment in the names of the | :27:41. | :27:48. | |
finest air. I call the Secretary of State for Education, Justine | :27:49. | :27:50. | |
Greening. Thank you and I beg to move the amendment standing in my | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
name and in my right honourable friend's. Social mobility is | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
something that matters usually to discover that and of course to | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
members across this house. It is easy first to say that where | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
somebody starts shouldn't dictate where they finish. But the greatest | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
challenge will face is that in reality it still does make a | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
difference and it has for generations. And as the social | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
mobility Commissioner's report last week tells us, just 5% of children | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
on free school meals gained five good GCSEs, they are 29% less likely | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
to take two or more of the facilitating A-levels that can help | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
keep their options open. The 34% more likely to drop out of post-16 | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
education altogether. It is no surprise there for that they are 19% | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
less likely to go to university. And 47% less likely to attend a top | :28:42. | :28:49. | |
Russell group institution. Given the excellent case she is laying out, | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
how is it that these statistics can be changed by grammar schools when | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
currently only 3% of kids on free school meals go to grammar schools? | :28:58. | :29:04. | |
I will come onto that in my speech but I would also say to her that we | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
do have grammar schools and I think it is quite right for us as a | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
government to set out the case for how it can make sure that grammar | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
schools play their full role in driving social mobility. Mr Speaker | :29:18. | :29:22. | |
want to set up the number of facts in relation to the prospects for too | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and none of these facts | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
should be acceptable to us. They certainly are not to me all this | :29:31. | :29:33. | |
government. I believe social mobility matters. I will give way in | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
a minute. Social mobility matters for several key reasons, firstly it | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
matters for individuals, I believe the innate desire for people to do | :29:45. | :29:47. | |
well is one of the most powerful forces of change in our country and | :29:48. | :29:51. | |
social mobility is about our country working with the grain of human | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
nature. Secondly, social mobility matters for communities, because | :29:56. | :30:01. | |
fundamentally feeling like we all have an equal shot at success, | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
having equal opportunity, is the glue that binds us together. And | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
social mobility matters for economy. Because investing in people is a | :30:12. | :30:13. | |
core part of how we raise productivity. Yes we need to build | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
roads and railways but we're determined to build up people. I | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
will give way. I grateful. How can the government claim to be the party | :30:24. | :30:30. | |
of social mobility when 800 children centres were closed, 29 nursery | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
schools closed in the last year alone? Letting down a whole | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
generation of kids of two, three and four years old because if they fall | :30:39. | :30:41. | |
behind at that age you never catch up. And, of course early years does | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
matter which is one of the reasons why are investing in not only in | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
improved but more childcare for parents around this country. For | :30:51. | :30:53. | |
working parents in particular because we do think having a strong | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
start subsidy vital. As I was saying, this isn't just about | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
improving the prospects of individual people and communities, | :31:04. | :31:06. | |
it is about improving the prospects of our country and its economy. We | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
have to build our country's economy by building our people. Canyon of a | :31:11. | :31:18. | |
lady explained to the house how having additional secondary modern | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
schools in this country is going to do anything she aspires to? Of | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
course this isn't about additional secondary modern schools, and this | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
isn't about a return to a binary system. Reforms of the last six | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
years have really enabled children and parents to have a more diverse | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
offer and set of choices for education have ever seen before. But | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
it is now time that we look and see how grammar schools can play a | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
stronger role in our education system in the 21st-century. I know | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
that in her opening speech she is citing much of the evidence from the | :31:59. | :32:00. | |
social mobility commission report published last week about the | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
challenge that our country faces, so why, they're four, when she adopt in | :32:06. | :32:10. | |
full the recommendations of that report as to how we will actually | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
tackle some of these are inequalities rather than cherry | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
picking the little bits of it she wants? Thereupon I think quite | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
quietly set out that what we need to pull together is a much longer term, | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
our government talked about a 10-year programme, of social reform. | :32:32. | :32:34. | |
And actually they also pointed towards our focus on improving | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
attainment in schools. And the bottom line is that I don't think we | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
are really going to make significant progress on this issue of social | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
mobility until we can start focusing on the areas of commonality and | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
common ground rather than spending our entire time focusing from the | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
opposition on areas where they don't agree. Let me make some progress, Mr | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
Speaker. I was setting out why this government believes that driving | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
social mobility matters so much. But I also wanted to set out that in | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
reality, as challenging as it is for our country, there is no country in | :33:14. | :33:16. | |
this world that has managed to crack the issue of social mobility, yet, | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
that is because it is highly complex. It has many factors that | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
feed into it, and it is because improving social mobility is as the | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
social mobility commission says, a long-term issue which needs a | :33:30. | :33:33. | |
long-term approach and not to be simply treated like a political | :33:34. | :33:39. | |
football for short-term political gain. If we are going to make a | :33:40. | :33:44. | |
difference, social mobility is a generational challenge that we must | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
tackle together on behalf of the next generation. The difference I | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
think Mr Speaker may be that fundamentally focused social | :33:55. | :33:56. | |
mobility is an agenda of levelling up opportunity, to those who don't | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
have it, something I hope we can all agree is the right thing to do and | :34:03. | :34:06. | |
education of course is that the heart of how we do that. That point | :34:07. | :34:15. | |
can I congratulate my writable friend on this success of the pupil | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
premium? I am grateful for that intervention and of course not only | :34:22. | :34:24. | |
is that spending protected through the course of this Parliament but we | :34:25. | :34:30. | |
are also now working with the education endowment fund to make | :34:31. | :34:32. | |
sure we can really understand how we can get the best and biggest impact | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
in that investment for disadvantaged children and indeed I went to see a | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
grammar school last week where a high proportion of free school | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
children and people eligible for the pupil premium and we are looking at | :34:47. | :34:49. | |
what we can do to improve attainment for those people. The Secretary of | :34:50. | :34:56. | |
State for giving way. Maybe to help build consensus we could hear one | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
piece of evidence that suggests grammar schools would improve | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
educational outcomes and social ability. One piece of evidence. We | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
know the education gap between free school meals children is closed | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
throughout the course of that. We know that disadvantaged children who | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
go to grammars have a higher proportion chance of getting at | :35:21. | :35:23. | |
university. We know they have got a higher chance of getting into | :35:24. | :35:27. | |
Russell group universities, that is because their attainment is | :35:28. | :35:29. | |
improved. And, Mr Speaker, education is at the heart of how we drive | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
social mobility in our country. It is why as a government we have had | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
such a radical reform of the last six years. The academies and free | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
schools programme which I know the shadow secretary of state was not | :35:45. | :35:47. | |
willing to support, have given schools the freedom to run their | :35:48. | :35:51. | |
schools in the best interest of their children and local committees. | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
And the introduction of the EBAC has given more children access to a core | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
committee making sure they keep their options open as they make | :36:02. | :36:03. | |
decisions about the future. And thanks to the hard work of teachers | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
all over the country we now have 1.4 million more people being taught in | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
schools that are good or outstanding compared to 2010. That means 1.4 | :36:14. | :36:16. | |
million more children getting access to the education that will allow | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
them to make the most of their talents. And of course this does | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
start with early years. And children going into school arriving at school | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
ready to be able to learn if they're going to be up to take full | :36:28. | :36:31. | |
advantage of the education on offer is why we are introducing 30 hours | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
of free childcare for the working parents of three and four-year-olds. | :36:36. | :36:38. | |
That is why we are looking at how we can improve the quality of the early | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
years workforce even further. And it also means teachers are absolutely | :36:45. | :36:47. | |
crucial to improving attainment outcomes for our young people. | :36:48. | :36:54. | |
Verhofstadt what's Doggrell friend think about the independent study | :36:55. | :37:04. | |
which concluded that, in the second most deprived borough in the | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
country, a grammar school would provide much-needed incentive and | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
improve standards of education in that area and throughout the | :37:12. | :37:14. | |
country? I've Sina report, and I think what | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
it shows is that when people look at the evidence, and are prepared to | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
step away from political ideology, the reality is that grammars can | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
have intentionally transformational impact in some of the most deprived | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
communities, where we want to see the biggest changes. I'll make some | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
progress, I've given away to a lot of members already. I was speaking | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
about how we are improving and want to see more at teacher training. | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
That is also why we started the Teaching And Innovation Fund. So | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
more schools can build the capacity to have excellent teachers and | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
leaders. And more broadly than academic roots, our education | :38:00. | :38:03. | |
standards and quality of technical education in this country mirrors | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
the excellence that we have been embedding an academic route. We | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
focused on academic roots, it is now important for us states Emily focus | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
on improving technical education for young people. And we are going to | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
make sure that technical education is put on the same footing as | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
academic education that young people already take. And through this Bill | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
dies slimming down the system qualifications, butting employers in | :38:32. | :38:39. | |
the dining set of how these are designed. So there is a smaller | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
number, but more easy to understand roots that read directly to career | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
pathways for young people. We also put a real focus on apprenticeships, | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
so that young people get direct work experience as they learn. We are | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
planning to create 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020, with | :39:00. | :39:02. | |
British business, for the first time, butting investment into making | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
sure that those apprenticeships are high quality through the | :39:07. | :39:13. | |
apprenticeship levy. We also had the third reading of the higher | :39:14. | :39:15. | |
education and research bill in this House, warrior putting in place a | :39:16. | :39:18. | |
new framework to drive up teaching quality, making universities more | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
transparent than ever in terms of their outcomes, and making sure we | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
remote equality of opportunity browse our universities. We have to | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
recognise though, that one of the biggest challenges we face in the | :39:33. | :39:36. | |
education system right now is the growing need for more good school | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
places. Because too many children, in spite of the progress we have | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
made, don't have a place at a good school. We have 1.2 million children | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
that are in schools that Ofsted says aren't good enough. That is why we | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
published the Schools That Were Everyone Consultation, to pose | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
questions about how we can use the education expertise that already | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
exist in this country, independent schools, faith schools, universities | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
and selective schools too, because we cannot afford to leave a single | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
Stone unturned. I am grateful to the secretary of | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
state, I would put it to her that that is more likely to happen if the | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
Government sticks to its mandate in terms of education. Then she now | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
read out the precise section in the Conservative Party manifesto from | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
the last election that gives her at the mandate to lift the bar on the | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
Grayson of new grammar schools? We talked about excellent school | :40:41. | :40:47. | |
places, and the best schools in our country, including grammar schools. | :40:48. | :40:51. | |
I say that it is not viable for the party opposite to say that we've got | :40:52. | :40:58. | |
grammars, we don't like them, to be apparently in equivocal about | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
whether or not it is still Labour Party policy to shut the grammars | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
that we do have. I'm willing to give way to the honourable lady she wants | :41:06. | :41:15. | |
to confirm that? So we have a gaping hole in the opposition party's | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
policy in relation to grammars. What I don't think is tenable as that we | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
have a country where we have grammars and selection, but an | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
opposition that says they don't like that, but want to take those steps | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
whatsoever to see how we can deliver more strongly on social mobility | :41:34. | :41:36. | |
through the schools which are already in place. I give way. | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
I'm grateful. She must surely be aware that we have had 18 years of | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
Labour policies in Wales, and as a result we have lower education | :41:48. | :41:54. | |
standards, according to three separate bodies. Does she think we | :41:55. | :41:57. | |
should take any notice whatsoever of what they have to say on education? | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
No, I don't. And I think the legacy that was left after 13 years of | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
labour for our youngest people was a disastrous one. Not just in terms of | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
grade inflation, which gave millions of young people a sense of achieving | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
grades which were not, in fact, at a level they needed to be. But I say | :42:23. | :42:29. | |
as well that under the last government, youth unemployment | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
nearly went up by 15 present. And of opportunity is about anything, for | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
any people in our country, it surely starts with the dignity of being | :42:40. | :42:44. | |
able to have a job and a career. I was at Handsworth Grammar School | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
last week. This is a school where around 25 present of pupils are | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
eligible for the deprivation premium. These young people talk to | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
me about how much they value the education they are getting. When | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
students, who is planning to go to Oxford, and I can hear the | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
opposition bench, and I think they'd is young man, I've not sure | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
precisely he would say do the chattering from the opposition | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
bench, Mr Speaker, I think he would be dismayed to see the school which | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
is giving him a transformational opportunity in his life being talked | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
down. But his family, just two generations before him, had arrived, | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
his grandparents with nothing more than the clothes on their back, and | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
within two generations, he is hoping to be able to go to Oxford. He | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
talked to me about what the chance to go to a grammar school in | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
Handsworth has made for him, his family and his prospects for the | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
future. And it's levelling up. This is what we want to do. I hope we | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
should all be able to agree that the agenda on social mobility is about | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
having more young people with opportunity, not fewer. It's about | :44:02. | :44:04. | |
having more young people aiming higher, not fewer. So in setting out | :44:05. | :44:11. | |
our consultation, how we can make grammars more open to disadvantaged | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
children, that is exactly what we should be doing. | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
She is speaking very powerfully about the opportunities that grammar | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
schools give to children from very ordinary backgrounds. Tissue grew | :44:24. | :44:26. | |
with me that it is a real tragedy we haven't invested more in grammar | :44:27. | :44:33. | |
schools. Those are my constituency around massive pressure from parents | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
living around my constituency, restricting places for their | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
children that live in rugby players. He is right, and I think it is | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
untenable to say to parents who want more choice and two children who | :44:48. | :44:50. | |
would otherwise have had a place in those schools that they can't have | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
one, they are simply wrong. We certainly at least be allowing local | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
communities to decide. Simply an approach are saying, you can't have | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
them, we know better, your parents, your child, you have the grades ago, | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
but you're not allowed to go, I don't think that is a terrible | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
approach. I will make more progress, because I think there are more | :45:15. | :45:17. | |
members who want to come into this important debate. We are asking in | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
this consultation how we can make more grammars open to disadvantaged | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
children. How we can make sure that excellence which exists within a | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
grammar schools can play a stronger role in a school improvement | :45:31. | :45:33. | |
throughout the system. That is also part of what we should be doing. And | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
asking as we have seen elsewhere, how grammars can play a role in | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
lifting the schools around them and doing a stronger job. Many are | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
working extremely hard, we want to see that become the norm. Finally, | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
selective and grammar schools are often hugely oversubscribed. So | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
consulting on how we respond to the demand that's there from parents and | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
pupils is exactly what we should be doing. We can't just simply say that | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
those parents and students are wrong. In reality, it is now time | :46:07. | :46:09. | |
that we should be looking at how we can use grammar schools to open up | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
for opportunity to more people. Grammars close the attainment gap | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
between pupils from deprived backgrounds and are more advantaged | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
peers. For the top performing 25 present of primary schools, the gap | :46:24. | :46:31. | |
in results for pupils on a free meals is significantly smaller than | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
in non-selective schools. Children an selective schools are more likely | :46:36. | :46:43. | |
to attaining GCSEs. Also twice as likely to secure a place and attend | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
one of the top Russell group your rest is than their wealthier peers. | :46:50. | :46:56. | |
You don't fix the challenges of social mobility and opportunity | :46:57. | :46:58. | |
simply by just complaining about it. You have to take radical action. | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
That is why a unique to give local communities choice, which is exactly | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
what our consultation is proposing and asking about, and we are | :47:10. | :47:12. | |
improving our school system standards. Those communities that | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
want to keep the status quo of their existing good and outstanding | :47:19. | :47:21. | |
schools will be able to do that. There's much more to do alongside | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
this consultation to ensure that every child has the education they | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
need and deserve. We had to recognise that some challenges we | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
face inside schools also require solutions outside schools too. That | :47:35. | :47:40. | |
is why I have announced the first six opportunity areas dashed as | :47:41. | :47:43. | |
those parts of the country where social mobility is really stalling, | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
but young people have huge potential we want to unlock, and we need to | :47:49. | :47:51. | |
work to make sure that happens. I give way. | :47:52. | :47:58. | |
As comprehensively educated lad from Wellingborough, it is music to my | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
ears to hear this current is committed not just the academic, but | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
also the technical side of things. With my right honourable friend | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
agree with me that it's so important in our education policy to recognise | :48:11. | :48:13. | |
that different things work in different areas. | :48:14. | :48:19. | |
That is quite right. The first six opportunity areas that we picked our | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
very different places. Some are present coastal communities, some | :48:25. | :48:27. | |
more grasslike amenities, some more arrogant. That is because they face | :48:28. | :48:39. | |
different challenges in how we raise challenges. We need to work inside | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
schools, working with head teachers at leading those schools, but also | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
outside schools will stop will have better careers advice, men touring, | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
working with the CBI and Federation of Small Businesses so that we can | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
work on work experiences, apprenticeships, of course. I will | :48:58. | :49:04. | |
give way. I'm delighted the secretary of state | :49:05. | :49:09. | |
is giving away on that point. London challenge, and at the last Labour | :49:10. | :49:12. | |
Government, achieved something very similar by doing something similar | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
to what she suggested. A huge transformation in terms of funding | :49:19. | :49:21. | |
for teaching, school buildings, freedom for schools and teachers - | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
is she sure she has nothing to learn from the last Labour Government? | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
I certainly don't think, in relation to the outcomes that were achieved | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
for young people who left the education system. All too often | :49:35. | :49:42. | |
haven't taken exams that suffered from grade inflation, and also, | :49:43. | :49:45. | |
critically, when you look at the reporter done by Alison will | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
surname, by taking altercations that the employers simply didn't value. | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
We were told this was because it was an easier route for the institution | :49:56. | :49:59. | |
they were in. We have lots to learn from, but it is ostensibly what is | :50:00. | :50:06. | |
not to do rather than what to do. As I can finally make some progress, Mr | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
Speaker, and include. Opportunity areas on just about the need to | :50:12. | :50:14. | |
address the need for school places in all parts of the country. We want | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
them to act in the vanguard of helping us ensure that we can learn | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
how to best drive social mud at a in a different places so it can spread | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
what throughout England. -- social mobility in different places. We | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
have seen further and higher education, schools and | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
apprenticeships put back into one department within the Department for | :50:38. | :50:39. | |
Education. I think this means we have never had a better chance to | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
make sure that education and opportunity as a whole work to drive | :50:44. | :50:50. | |
social throughout our country. In conclusion, improving social | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
mobility as our country's greatest generational challenge. As | :50:56. | :50:58. | |
complexity means that change won't happen overnight. As I say, no | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
country has cracked how to drive great social mobility. But making | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
the best possible success of Brexit, as is Government and party is | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
committed to do, is why social model to matters, and is why education is | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
at the heart of that agenda. Because in the end, it will be people who | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
left this great country of ours. That is why we need to make ours a | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
country that works for everyone. The Prime Minister has said that her | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
intention and the intention of this Government. Now it's time for this | :51:31. | :51:35. | |
House to do the same, so we can get on with making sure the education | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
system in this country becomes the driver of social mobility that it | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
really can be. Young people only get one shot at their education, so we | :51:44. | :51:57. | |
have two urgently get this right. And it requires all of us to be | :51:58. | :52:06. | |
An amendment has been proposed. The question is, that the original words | :52:07. | :52:18. | |
stand part of the question. As I rise I would like to declare an | :52:19. | :52:21. | |
interest as a physics teacher, who spent two years working in the | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
comprehensive sector. Mr Speaker, my father sat and failed the 11 plus | :52:29. | :52:38. | |
exam and ended up in the local secondary at Saint rocks in Glasgow. | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
School was simply a holding area for them until they were old enough to | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
enter the workforce. My dad set out the path that was laid for most of | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
his classmates, who worked in the shipyards but instead he went to | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
work for the parks department. He has some good memories but work was | :53:02. | :53:05. | |
simply something you did to provide for your family. There was no | :53:06. | :53:12. | |
element of choice within that. You were grateful that you had the job | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
and he was grateful. By that time my siblings and I went to school, | :53:19. | :53:21. | |
grammars had been completely abolished in Scotland. We also | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
attended the local secondary but now as a conference if and there were no | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
preconceived ideas or restrictions placed upon us. My father watched | :53:31. | :53:36. | |
with pride as one by one his five children went on to university. | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
Possible of course because we paid no fees and were awarded maintenance | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
grants. By coincidence, early in my career I've taught in my father 's | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
old school, however it was transformed by that point. By now it | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
was a comprehensive, a much happier place, the walls were the | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
suppression of past achievements and some were academic, some vocational, | :54:03. | :54:12. | |
but the real difference was the expectation of achievement. Every | :54:13. | :54:14. | |
young person entering that school was seen as a human being with | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
potential and every young person felt the weight of that expectation, | :54:19. | :54:22. | |
because the real problem with selective education is not that you | :54:23. | :54:27. | |
end up with good schools, it is not that one set of features works | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
harder than another, it is that whole swathes of our young people | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
will be labelled, Rogne of course, as having failed. And with that, | :54:38. | :54:45. | |
social mobility falls. Whilst it may be argued that those who have the | :54:46. | :54:48. | |
intellectual maturity or whose parents can pay for the tuition to | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
pass the 11 plus, themselves may offer a more sheltered experience, | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
as a government benches opposite should be concerned with every | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
single child. And with grammar schools on the horizon this is | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
simply not the case. If I could give an example,... I will. Would she | :55:13. | :55:20. | |
agree with me that the major flaw in the secretary of the's speech was | :55:21. | :55:23. | |
that she could not bring herself to acknowledge that if she pursues this | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
policy it will lead to the creation of more secondary modern schools. | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
That is the truth they will not face. I actually think there was | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
another floor, listening to the centre of state speaking in such | :55:40. | :55:41. | |
glowing terms about grammar schools, I wondered why we don't just make | :55:42. | :55:49. | |
every school grammar. That would solve every problem. Many secondary | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
schools choose to set pupils within the schools according to academic | :55:55. | :56:01. | |
ability. However, the educational evidence of the benefits of even | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
setting is scanned. Certainly when pupils are working on the same | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
curriculum content of the evidence is clear and mixed ability classes | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
are far more successful in raising attainment. The most able pupils | :56:14. | :56:20. | |
succeed in whatever class they are in. The least able pupils do a bit | :56:21. | :56:27. | |
better in mixed ability but the massive advantages for your swathes | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
of average attendance who within a mixed ability class have no ceiling | :56:32. | :56:41. | |
placed on their admissions. In fact when this government uses one of its | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
buzzwords, aspiration, it is indeed this large group of middle pupils | :56:46. | :56:50. | |
who embody and embrace the site there. And conversely when | :56:51. | :57:01. | |
admissions based on ability and post on pupils in sends a strong signal | :57:02. | :57:04. | |
to that particular group. In other words it is a self-fulfilling | :57:05. | :57:10. | |
prophecy. Rolling this out too much larger scales as has been considered | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
in the return to grammar schools, we have young people who have had | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
decisions made on their future attainment before they even have a | :57:19. | :57:21. | |
chance to attain. The damage that this does cannot be underestimated. | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
To be told age 11 that you are not good enough is an incredibly | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
difficult thing to overcome. Despite the best efforts of teachers, that | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
labelling is a blow to the confidence and self esteem that can | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
remain throughout the person's life. Given what the honourable lady just | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
said, would the Old Lady join me in welcoming the green paper proposal | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
to allow for transfers into and out of selective schools at age 14 and | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
16 as well as 11? , co-I would welcome very little of the green | :57:58. | :58:00. | |
paper, I do not agree with selective schooling. Does she think that | :58:01. | :58:12. | |
eligibility to stay on either a college six form based on the level | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
of qualifications at GCSE level should also be abolished? Cobb | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
actually I'm not sure I understood the question. Students should be to | :58:23. | :58:31. | |
stay on as long as the score fits their requirements and as long as | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
the school is able to offer them something. Maybe it is not what the | :58:36. | :58:38. | |
honourable gentleman asked but I will move on. I have had some | :58:39. | :58:44. | |
correspondence not from my own constituents but from people living | :58:45. | :58:52. | |
in England to have shared their about grammar schools. I will share | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
this concern from a letter from a gentleman in England. As an 11 plus | :58:59. | :59:01. | |
failure the sense of failure are still with me so much so that I find | :59:02. | :59:05. | |
it hard in this letter to admit I went to a secondary modern. Nearly | :59:06. | :59:10. | |
all my fellow pupils came from poorer or deprived backgrounds. I | :59:11. | :59:13. | |
cannot think of one who came from a well-off background. As children we | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
accepted our lot and it was made clear to us that our choices of work | :59:19. | :59:22. | |
were limited after school. There were small cohort of teachers who | :59:23. | :59:27. | |
did the best for us despite, as I realise now, limited resources. | :59:28. | :59:34. | |
However turnover of teachers was high and did not bode well for | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
continuity of education. There was no question of taking exams for | :59:41. | :59:43. | |
qualifications of any kind. University was unthinkable. Higher | :59:44. | :59:49. | |
education was closed off to us, we were in the rubbish bin. It's | :59:50. | :59:58. | |
well-known that young people's thinking skills development | :59:59. | :00:03. | |
different rates. Some aged 11 will have advanced cognitive abilities, | :00:04. | :00:06. | |
for others it would take several more years for thinking skills to | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
mature. A number of years ago I taught a young boy who had come age | :00:11. | :00:16. | |
11 from the primary with the extremely poor literacy and numeracy | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
skills that as time of one he showed some talent for science. Despite all | :00:22. | :00:32. | |
original expectations placed on him and not by teachers but probably by | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
that young boy himself he managed to achieve in his national exams | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
scraping by on went on to university. Thief went on to get a | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
degree in chemistry and then a Ph.D. And now travels the world as a | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
chemical engineer. That is social mobility. That is achieved in a | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
comprehensive school. That boy would not have come close to passing an 11 | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
plus exam. I completely oppose selective education. Which | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
thankfully will not be introduced in Scotland. I will give way. I am | :01:09. | :01:21. | |
incredibly grateful. Would she agree that there is a tendency with this | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
debate to send a message that anybody who has gone to a secondary | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
modern is indeed failing. I say that because I did. Exactly the same | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
machine identified with her father. So I know how tough it can be. But | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
the reality is that can be achieved, we scanned succeed. It is not a | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
question or success and failure, it is a question of making the | :01:42. | :01:45. | |
alternative schools as good as those that will go to grammar schools. I'm | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
extremely glad the honourable gentleman did and has made his way, | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
however not every young person has the strength of character that he is | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
displaying and for many young people that actually causes major issues. I | :02:01. | :02:10. | |
do not make any point about whether I have succeeded or otherwise, many | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
could argue why have and by being here. The point is more that we are | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
in danger of going back to the farce of either it is success or failure. | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
Whereas in fact it is possible to have a mix of schools and still see | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
those who don't go to grammar schools being successful schools and | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
thriving and we shouldn't talk that down in this house. We have swathes | :02:32. | :02:40. | |
of teachers who are battling the labelling that has been put on these | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
young people. They are working absolutely flat out to overcome the | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
prejudices that have been put on these young people. It is not right | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
as a government that we should make life more difficult for them by | :02:54. | :02:56. | |
continuing this and in fact extending this. I have got another | :02:57. | :03:05. | |
letter here, from a young person, from high Wycombe. He says, I | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
currently attend a grammar school in high Wycombe. At the age of ten I | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
was put under a ridiculous amount of stress and felt at a disadvantage | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
going into the 11 plus. As my family could only afford a fortnight of | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
private tuition. This system makes 70% of case feel second-best. The | :03:23. | :03:34. | |
social mobility agenda in Scotland is quite different. We are looking | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
at positive steps we can take to increase social mobility including | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
early learning. 30 hours of early learning for all children regardless | :03:44. | :03:51. | |
of the work status of their parents. We have the attainment fund which I | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
believe my honourable friend will mention more in his speech, which | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
has been used to target the attainment gap currently in some | :03:58. | :04:06. | |
areas. . Bolivars for the excellent pupils and teachers in the comments | :04:07. | :04:10. | |
is in my area so achieved great things alongside grammars which also | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
recruit for my local area. She should not run this people down, | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
they are doing a great job. As someone who has attended and has | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
taught in a comprehensive school, I think these teachers and young | :04:26. | :04:28. | |
people are doing some of the best jobs in the country. Far better than | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
some who possibly are in other situations. Other things that the | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
Scottish game and have or haven't done, they have not cut the | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
educational maintenance allowance that allows young people from | :04:45. | :04:46. | |
disadvantaged backgrounds to remain at school to achieve to their full | :04:47. | :04:55. | |
potential. Maintenance grants still available for our young people going | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
to university. I would like to give an example of something that has | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
really proved successful in increasing social mobility. Within | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
Glasgow there are areas of serious deprivation, and schools in these | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
areas may only have one or two pupils that are planning to set the | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
highest level of qualifications in Scotland, the advanced higher. It is | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
unreasonable and an economic to run courses for these 12 pupils said | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
they are now coming to Caledonia University as a group of 20 or 30 | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
students together. This has been funded by Scottish Government, by | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
Caledonian University and by Glasgow City Council. They are coming | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
together as a group, they are experiencing life on a university | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
campus and they are achieving their advanced higher altercations. That | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
is social mobility. I will finish up by saying that we support the | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
original motion by the opposition benches, social mobility is | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
definitely, definitely has to be increased but grammar schools are | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
not the way to do it. Posterity is not the way to do it. And we have to | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
start looking at positive steps we can be taking. On account of the | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
level of demand there is a requirement for the imposition of a | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
time limit. We will begin with a minutes limit on backbench speeches. | :06:25. | :06:32. | |
Nicky Morgan. Thank you very much indeed. I think all members of this | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
house can agree that a first-class education is the greatest investment | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
we can make as a country in our next generation. | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
I have no doubt about the Secretary of State's commitment to increasing | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
social mobility having heard speak for the last few years. I think we | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
can also agree that, post-Brexit, it is more important than ever that all | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
at younger people in this country leave education well skilled and | :07:04. | :07:06. | |
well educated, particularly if we are going to have a new education | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
policy in the next few years. For me, Mr Speaker, we want to have an | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
excellent education everywhere. As I said at a party conference a couple | :07:19. | :07:21. | |
of years ago, that everywhere is absolutely fundamental. What I think | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
is missing from the Green paper is that sense of a strong and | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
consistent whole system. I think that might be because the green | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
paper only talks about schools rather than some of the other issues | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
that we know are facing our education system. Issues of equality | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
of teaching, the need for more great teachers, the need for announcements | :07:46. | :07:50. | |
on terror funding. I was pleased to hear the secretary of State talking | :07:51. | :07:59. | |
about her commitment to the bank. In the White Paper published earlier | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
this year, we identified achieving excellence areas which need | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
attention. The Social Mobility Commission last week picked that up, | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
and we have heard already about the report on Knowsley. I think we | :08:13. | :08:20. | |
should pay tribute to this, paid for by the Knowsley commission, because | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
they have recognised the underperformance in their own area, | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
and they need to make sure that children in that area, and families | :08:29. | :08:32. | |
in that area, have a real choice about schools. For me, there are two | :08:33. | :08:39. | |
tests for new schools holidays. Firstly, are we tackling those areas | :08:40. | :08:46. | |
of underperformance specifically? Secondly, and I think this is at the | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
heart of debate about selection, is every child being offered an | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
academic knowledge-rich curriculum? I know that knowledge-rich is | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
something of fundamental importance to the Minister for schools. I think | :09:01. | :09:06. | |
we have technology that the Government's own green paper sets | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
out the dangers around the case for change in selective schools. It says | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
on page 21, paragraph four, while those children who attend selective | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
schools enjoy a fire greater chance of academic success, there is | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
evidence that children who attend nonselective schools in certain | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
areas may not fare as well academically compared to local | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
selective schools and comprehensives in nonselective areas. The education | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
policy Institute also published a report in September same analysis of | :09:38. | :09:46. | |
educational reformers shows that a high incidence of academically | :09:47. | :09:56. | |
selective schools is not an end... I would like to hear more from the | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
Minister about the evidence that the Government is relying on and making | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
puzzles in the green paper. We talk about being a one nation Government. | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
So the focus has to be on tackling those areas where school | :10:11. | :10:16. | |
underperformance is still entrenched. Those areas of the | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
country where families do not have the choice, whether are no good or | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
outstanding schools, where, for them, the opportunity to travel | :10:26. | :10:28. | |
outside the borough boundaries does not exist. So if we are at serious | :10:29. | :10:37. | |
that more selective schools raise standards across the, that they are | :10:38. | :10:50. | |
at look at... My question to the ministers is, what of those areas | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
most in need of standards being raised opt out of having new | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
schools? Because of the inherent problems in what is being promoted | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
as, -- being proposed, the Green paper has to talk about measures. My | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
concern is that everything proposed is a distraction for the party of | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
the Government for those issues facing our education system. I | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
mention fair funding, which are no colleagues on all sides of the House | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
take incredibly seriously as an issue that has to be sorted. The | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
second test is whether we think all children can benefit from excellent | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
academic knowledge-rich curriculum. I think that is what our future | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
workforce needs. True social mobility needs every child to be | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
given the same opportunity. I give way. | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
I've listened very carefully to what she said. Was she agree with me that | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
this policy is a distraction, and we wanted to make the biggest | :11:52. | :11:53. | |
difference to education in our country, we would do that by | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
focusing on 0- for, and making sure more children alight at class with | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
the language and social skills they needed? | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
The honourable gentleman is right is that education is critically | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
important. One of the issues surrounding that is that the | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
attainment gap is already wide by the time children get to the age of | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
11, often before they reach primary school. He has also been a | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
Government minister, and knows that Government departments can do more | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
than one thing. We can focus on early years at the same time as | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
making sure every child has an excellent academic education. True | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
social mobility requires every child to be given the same opportunity. | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
Not for other people to make judgments about what children are | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
entitled to. I remember the visit I paid to a primary school in | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
Lancashire, whether head teacher informed me that the children at her | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
previous school, a city centre school, where only going to ever be, | :12:53. | :12:59. | |
requires improvement. The children being written off before the age of | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
11 by Summit tells me there is a problem, and that problem needs to | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
be tackled first. I have been up honest, I have struggled with the | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
motion an amendment today in terms of how to vote. Because what is | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
being proposed in the green paper was not in our manifesto. I hope the | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
ministers will listen to the sponsors they receive in the | :13:21. | :13:23. | |
consultation. They will listen to what members on all sides say today. | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
Can I also suggest that in taking forward these proposals, if the | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
Government remains determined to do so, they must set out proposals that | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
will lift standards in underperforming areas, and it will | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
start with those areas. Can I say, it's a pleasure to follow | :13:42. | :13:51. | |
the right honourable member for Loughborough. She and I disagreed | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
many times in the past, but I agree with much of what you has just | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
outlines, and I hope her successor is listening carefully to what she | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
had to say. We don't have long, as I'll track and canter through some | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
of the issues as best I can. Before we get into the meat of this, it is | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
important to clarify for all of us what we mean about social mobility. | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
Too often in this debate, we talk about plucking the lucky few from | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
disadvantage to the very top, and that's not actually what the policy | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
of social mobility needs to address. It's about economic and social | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
progress and for the lucky, not the few. It is about the rungs on the | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
ladder getting shorter distance between them and pulling up that | :14:36. | :14:43. | |
bottom wrong altogether. The challenges we face a deep-seated and | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
manyfold, but they are particularly important in the world of work of | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
today and tomorrow. Automation and that authorisation, and a hollowing | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
out of the low skilled and many skilled jobs mean that by 2022, | :14:57. | :15:03. | |
there will be 9 million low-skilled people going after 4 million jobs | :15:04. | :15:11. | |
with a 3 million shortfall to fill the 15 million of high-skilled jobs | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
that will be available in that economy of the future. These are the | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
big challenges our country faces. The educational landscape needs to | :15:22. | :15:24. | |
address the challenges, but hark back to the challenges of the 50s | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
and 60s and the different economy that was face then. We need a bold | :15:29. | :15:37. | |
strategy for tackling social mobility in this country, and how we | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
narrowed the gap in educational disadvantage. And that, as many | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
successive governments have looked to do is about dealing with the long | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
tail of underachievement, not, as is Government seems hell-bent on doing, | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
creating an even more elite education for the already elite. I | :15:56. | :16:02. | |
stated to this equity stake, who is shaking her head, the Government | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
could start by adopting in full the recommendations of our own Social | :16:08. | :16:09. | |
Mobility Commission report that was published just last week, and she | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
would get widespread, cross-party support in so doing. There are three | :16:15. | :16:21. | |
key areas that report set out which I fully agree with, and have been | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
raised by others already. The first is about quality in the early years. | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
In the early years, I'm phrase, we are yet again seeing the Government | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
not understanding the policy question that they are being asked. | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
They are putting more money into childcare, something which I very | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
much welcome. But there are two reasons we invest in early years | :16:45. | :16:47. | |
just as one is about enabling parents to get back into the labour | :16:48. | :16:54. | |
market. The second is to narrow the educational attainment gap which | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
exists by the age of five for many young people already. To narrow that | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
gap, we had to have an absolute focus on quality. And that quality | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
being available for the most disadvantaged children, not just for | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
a few. The Government could be spending its money much more wisely | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
in this area, and driving up quality across the board. We need a clear | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
agenda going forwards to do theirs. I'm afraid many of these things have | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
been going backwards under this Government. We've got to have more | :17:28. | :17:30. | |
support for parents under the sure start programme, and parental | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
support. The quality provision, where it is needed most in the most | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
disadvantaged areas, and we see that with our maintained nursery schools | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
and many other classes in primary schools, these are now all under | :17:43. | :17:48. | |
threat with the new funding formula. We see a levelling down, not a | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
levelling up in terms of quality in the early years. We could be using | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
the early years premium much better, and we are not. I would say to the | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
secretary of State, leveraged the money you're putting an iterator | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
quality is at the heart of your strategy. We have is about | :18:07. | :18:09. | |
childcare, and we hear is about working families and childcare and | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
that is not what the social mobility debate is about. We need a pool of | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
talented teachers everywhere, as we got in the London challenge. I say | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
to the Secretary of State, the London Challenge was a fantastic | :18:25. | :18:26. | |
achievement of the last government. We deceive need to see that draw | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
that places like Knowsley, the ten worst areas in the country, in | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
dealing with that. Camera schools were exacerbated the issues of | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
quality teachers where we need them most. -- Grammar schools will | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
exacerbate. Does she not notice the irony in | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
mentioning Knowsley, when a council's own report says that the | :18:51. | :18:58. | |
introduction of grammar schools would actually be transforming for | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
those working-class boys are especially who were underachieving? | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
I would say it was not a recommendation that the council has | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
taken on board. What we need is to get the quality teachers in city | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
areas. We know what works, it works in London, we need to see the London | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
Challenge rolled out of the ten worst areas where we know the | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
children of most disadvantaged and not getting the support they need. | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
There is more we can do in the post-16 area as well, as the Social | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
Mobility Commission said. Finally, on grammar schools, let's remind | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
ourselves of the evidence. The OECD has found that selective countries | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
do more well than those are nonselective. In England, the | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
highest attainment gaps in selective boroughs, yet the highest performing | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
boroughs are comprehensive. In Kent, 23 present of free school meal | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
children are A-letter Charlie, whereas in London it is ten present. | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
It is not can parable with the free school meal children elsewhere. So | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
far, as David Willetts has described, grammar schools are in an | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
arms race Private tuition for rich parents. The inequalities we have | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
just described previously get greater and greater in the system. | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
That's weighted chief inspector of schools, the very education the | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
Social Mobility Commission, the Southern trust, the head teachers | :20:34. | :20:37. | |
unions, all the heads and Surrey, Ruth Davidson and many members | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
opposite, are all opposed to the reintroduction of grammar schools. | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
So if she wants to have a robber, cross-party agreement on driving up | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
social mobility, take forward her own Government's report every step | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
of the way and agree with their recommendations on grammar schools, | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
as you will get the consensus of this House. | :21:01. | :21:07. | |
There is a happy consensus, well hidden within this debate - | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
and that is all the parties in this House believes that education is of | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
huge importance. And all of us believe that we want the best | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
possible education for all the children in our country. We also | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
accept that the state has the main obligation, because most of the | :21:25. | :21:27. | |
children will need state finance and state support in order to achieve | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
that great education. I pay tribute to ministers that there are now 1.54 | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
million children being educated in good and outstanding schools as | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
proof that work by successive ministers, and buy more importantly, | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
at whole army of head teachers and teachers in state schools is | :21:46. | :21:49. | |
delivering a better education across the country. There are still more to | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
do, and I hope others and who are so critical of our current levels of | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
educational achievement in their own errors will be positively working | :21:58. | :22:00. | |
with their schools and local education authorities to try and | :22:01. | :22:02. | |
achieve the better performance. The shadow Secretary of State give | :22:03. | :22:13. | |
boiler by revealing that since becoming Shadow Secretary of State | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
she's made grammar schools are big thing in table of this motion, but | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
hasn't actually visited any since taking on the job. I would have | :22:22. | :22:24. | |
thought it would be a courtesy to the grammar schools she's attacking | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
to go and visit one or two of them before mounting this challenge in | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
this house. The argument runs that selection is wrong because we may | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
not select all of the talented people at the age of choice. And | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
that therefore it is unfair to give this advantage to those who are | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
selected. But again there is a huge humbug on the opposition benches. | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
When I asked the Shadow Secretary of State whether she was upset by the | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
fact that our elite sports people have usually been selected at quite | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
a young age for special training and special education, and that they are | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
expected to achieve to a much higher level than the average, and they are | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
given training in May to do extra work in order to be able to do so, | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
and she didn't seem at all upset by that. | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
I do not accept that that is completely useless analogy to draw. | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
Education is about life. The skills that people need to get through | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
life, the basic literacy, numeracy. Sport is not about the entirety of | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
life. That is why education is different and that is why it's wrong | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
to label any child as second-class at age 11. | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
The right Honourable gentleman just doesn't understand. If a young | :23:40. | :23:43. | |
person from a poor background becomes a top footballer, there is a | :23:44. | :23:45. | |
transformation in their lives, and good luck to them. Why do they not | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
understand is that exactly the same arguments apply to art, ballet, | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
music? We take the children at quite a young age who we think are going | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
to be the most talented musicians and we give them elite special | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
training so that they can play to the highest standards in the world. | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
I'm glad he mentioned football because actually 13% of our national | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
football team went to a private school, which is double the number | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
of children who go to private schools nationally. Does he think | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
that might account for the performance of our national football | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
team, if we're missing out on the tavern that exists in a | :24:24. | :24:25. | |
comprehensive sector? Will he recognise that that is precisely the | :24:26. | :24:32. | |
problem we are facing today? I don't think we will get a better | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
team by training them less and no longer giving them any kind of elite | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
education. I really think they're being very obtuse on the benches | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
opposite. Let me try a different argument. The second argument | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
against grammar school is that they claim in Buckinghamshire and | :24:49. | :24:50. | |
Berkshire where we have some good grammar schools we must be suffering | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
in all the other schools. They write off and write down the many | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
excellent comprehensive schools in areas that have access to grammar | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
school places. In a quite unrealistic and unpleasant way. I | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
know my own area better than Buckinghamshire stopping my own | :25:07. | :25:08. | |
constituency we don't have any grammar schools, but we have two | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
excellent grammar schools, a girls' and boys's, just over in wedding, | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
and they took from our brightest and most academically gifted pupils from | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
the Wokingham area. What happens in our comprehensive area in Wokingham | :25:26. | :25:27. | |
is that our comprehensive schools also have great academically gifted | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
children. At the top of the school not having to compete with the ones | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
you are grammar, they go on to compete very successfully and get | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
good places at elite universities. The members opposite should not | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
write those schools for pretend that some kind of failed secondary | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
modern. I'm very glad that my honourable friend reminds us that | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
there are some very good secondary modern schools and pupils to achieve | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
great things. My honourable friend achieved great things before coming | :25:55. | :25:57. | |
into this house. Others will think it's a great achievement that he is | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
also in this house. I think it shows that you should not write off any | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
whole category of school as I think in a more honest moments of those on | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
the opposition benches pointed out, what really matters in the school is | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
the talent of the teaching force and the goodwill and working spirit of | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
the pupils. The two play off each other and you can get that in a good | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
comprehensive and a good grammar school. But the opposition must | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
understand we're not trying to create a series of schools for | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
failures. We want to have great schools for everybody. But we do | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
believe that if we select some pupils on academic ability and give | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
them elite academic training, that can make sense for them but it | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
doesn't write off the other school. I'm not at all opposed to giving the | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
brightest pupils and elite education. That's not why I'm | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
worried about grammar schools. I'm worried about grammar schools | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
because they don't answer the central problem is our education | :26:54. | :26:55. | |
system faces. Michael Wilshaw said that we had a mediocre education | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
system. We are falling behind how international competitors. In a | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
modern economy where innovation is creating jobs at 30 times the rate | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
of the rest of the economy, we need to exploit all the talents of all | :27:11. | :27:13. | |
our young people. That's why I'm worried about grammar school. | :27:14. | :27:22. | |
You don't prevent providing a good education to everybody else by | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
selecting some people who are good at football or good at academic | :27:26. | :27:29. | |
subjects. If we want to have more Nobel Prize winners, they're very | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
likely to be attending the great universities in our country. We want | :27:34. | :27:35. | |
to feed those great universities with the best possible talent from | :27:36. | :27:41. | |
our schooling system. Shouldn't that talent have been given an education | :27:42. | :27:44. | |
which stretches them and get them further along the road to great work | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
before they reach university? The most successful people at university | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
have often had an extremely good education before they get to the | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
university. Their self-starters. I really don't have the time and lots | :27:58. | :28:00. | |
of other people wish to indulge in the debate. We need to make sure we | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
get the maximum number of talented pupils throughout the highest | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
possible level so that they can achieve even greater things at the | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
elite universities. That brings me to my next problem with the | :28:13. | :28:14. | |
opposition argument because they ignore completely the fee-paying | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
schools. There are some fee-paying schools in our country that achieve | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
enormous success academically. They have double privilege because they | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
select bright pupils who also have rich family backgrounds. You put the | :28:30. | :28:32. | |
two together and it's explosively successful. I don't begrudge people | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
a great education if they came from a rich background. I didn't come | :28:39. | :28:41. | |
from one myself but I'm very grateful they can get a great | :28:42. | :28:44. | |
education. It's even better that they pay for it themselves as well | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
as paying their taxes. I'm not jealous. But it must be a great | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
problem if you are all kinds of elite education that we have those | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
great schools that combine this double advantage. I think a grammar | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
school provides people who are bright but didn't come from a rich | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
background with an opportunity to compete better against those | :29:05. | :29:07. | |
phenomenally successful elite schools in the public sector. The | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
honourable lady rightly pointed out that all of our public schools are | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
not only dominate -- not only dominate academically but in the | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
sporting world as well, showing that the combination of resource and | :29:21. | :29:23. | |
selection that they put together is a powerful combination. Surely we | :29:24. | :29:25. | |
need more centres of excellence where you can get access to it | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
without having rich parents. My final point is to say I do think | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
it's deeply disappointing that the opposition front bench called a | :29:36. | :29:40. | |
debate on this important subject yet cannot confirm or deny that they | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
wish to abolish the grammar schools we've got. One little tip for the | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
opposition, I remember how difficult it was, I always find it helpful if | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
I've worked up the position of my party first as shadow spokesman | :29:56. | :29:58. | |
before challenging the Government on its position. I need to make sure | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
that my party's position on the topic I was responsible for was both | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
sensible and unlikely to be popular. I think they failed the tests today. | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
It sounds as if the shadow spokesman would like to abolish the grammar | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
schools but doesn't have the courage to say she wishes to abolish the | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
grammar schools. I would make a plea to this house, get behind the | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
excellent grammar schools we've got. Get behind the excellent | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
comprehensive we've got. Understand that were comprehensive and grammars | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
coexist, the comprehensives can do very well and also achieve great | :30:33. | :30:36. | |
things with their pupils. We don't have enough great schools. Let's not | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
cripple the ones we've got and certainly I don't want to live in a | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
world where you have to be rich to go to an elite academic Academy. | :30:44. | :30:52. | |
Today's debate about how to ensure that every child, no matter what | :30:53. | :30:55. | |
their background is, is able to make the most of their life. As the world | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
changes and the labour market changes, that becomes more important | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
than ever. Good education is the best possible route to opportunity. | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
It is the liberator from circumstance. The open of mines and | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
the means by which children can change the course of their lives. -- | :31:14. | :31:21. | |
the opening of minds. It is for the country as a whole. The | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
well-educated country is a country better equipped to succeed in the | :31:26. | :31:32. | |
modern world. It isn't just about 11 players. It's about tens of millions | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
of people. A country which neglects education does it self harm. It not | :31:39. | :31:46. | |
only cuts off opportunity for individuals and Luke 's discovered, | :31:47. | :31:48. | |
it also disarms itself in the mission to make the country the best | :31:49. | :31:54. | |
it can possibly be. -- and leaves talent undiscovered. There has been | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
some progress. Last week's social mobility commission report pointed | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
out that disadvantaged young people of 30% more likely to go to | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
university now than many years ago. But despite this progress, we still | :32:10. | :32:16. | |
have a long way to go before we can say that we have succeeded in our | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
mission. Too many children still don't get the life chances they | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
expect. Too many children are still held back by lack of ambition, by | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
the view that their background dictates that they could never make | :32:31. | :32:33. | |
it. And too much discussion about this issue begins with the awful | :32:34. | :32:41. | |
defeatist phrase, "These kids". What I believe these kids can achieve is | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
anything. I believe that children from any background can achieve as | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
much as those from a better off background, given the chance and | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
given the platform. And when that doesn't happen, we have lied | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
unfulfilled. Jobs which people can't take up. -- we have lied | :32:59. | :33:05. | |
unfulfilled. Resentment at being closed off from how the world is | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
changing. And a country which is not making the most of its people. But | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
it need not. We have the power to change it. And in some cases people | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
are already doing so. In my constituency, for example, if we | :33:21. | :33:24. | |
take a school like Holy Trinity Primary School, it ranks among the | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
top 10% of primary schools in England for work with disadvantaged | :33:31. | :33:34. | |
children. And it's rated outstanding. The Ofsted report | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
speaks of a school where, I quote, school leaders and governments are | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
relentlessly focused on achieving the very best for their pupils. From | :33:46. | :33:49. | |
the moment they start in nursery, children achieve exceptionally well | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
and this continues throughout the school. All of this is done in a | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
school where the percentage of pupils receiving the pupil premium | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
is twice the national average, and where the school is about half white | :34:03. | :34:06. | |
British and half a diverse mix of other cultures. Holy Trinity | :34:07. | :34:12. | |
achieves this because of the fantastic leadership of its | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
headteacher, Carol McNally. Great stewardship from its governors. And | :34:18. | :34:20. | |
a refusal to accept anything other than excellence. And it is an island | :34:21. | :34:27. | |
of excellence. We've got other islands of excellence, too. But for | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
all pupils to achieve an excellent education, we don't just need | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
islands of excellence. We need a system of excellence. Where the kind | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
of performance that we see at Holy Trinity, and other schools like it, | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
runs right through the whole school system. So, do we have? I'm afraid | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
we don't. In July of this year, West Midlands MPs received a letter from | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
the regional director of Ofsted about the condition of secondary | :34:58. | :35:00. | |
schools in the Black Country. They expressed concerns about low | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
standards and weaknesses, inequality provision for secondary pupils in | :35:06. | :35:12. | |
all four Black Country areas. The Z pupils' achievement by the age of 14 | :35:13. | :35:20. | |
is poor with that compared by others in the West Midlands and nationally. | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
It follows by success to build -- failure to build on achievement in | :35:27. | :35:36. | |
primary school. Were not enough has been done to address these failings | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
over the years. I'm pleased to say that Wolverhampton has been | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
improving fast. It the fourth most improved authority in the country. | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
But that's from a low base and there is still a long, long way to go. So | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
I want to commend my honourable friend, the member for Dudley North, | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
whose convened a meeting between Black Country MPs and the regional | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
director in a few weeks' time. And I hope that this letter is a rallying | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
call for everyone concerned about local education. Everyone in a | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
position of leadership to ask what we can do to improve the picture and | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
create a system of excellence, not just islands of excellence. We | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
cannot be satisfied with the status quo. We ought to be passionate about | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
change. The easiest thing in the world in politics is to be a | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
megaphone for anger. But real leadership is not just about | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
amplifying disaffection. It's about giving people a chance and not a | :36:39. | :36:40. | |
grievance. An improvement in all ability skills | :36:41. | :36:51. | |
for all children has a real chance of doing so. | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
I agree with nearly everything he said until the last line, but there | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
we are. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
given the inability of the Shadow Secretary of State to answer the | :37:07. | :37:09. | |
question put by my honourable friend from Crawley as to whether a future | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
Labour government would close existing grammar schools, which is a | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
matter of importance to me and my constituents, and also the | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
honourable gentleman sitting next on the opposition front bench, and I | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
hope we'll have an answer to that important question before the end of | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
this debate. Mr Speaker, fundamentally this debate is about | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
social mobility, of course, but it is also about the question of who we | :37:37. | :37:40. | |
believe should make choices in our society. Do we believe that we, in | :37:41. | :37:47. | |
this House, should be directing what should be available to our | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
constituents? Or should we be listening to what they want? Where | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
ever we have selection in our country at the moment my | :37:55. | :38:01. | |
constituents are perhaps the best performing in the country. That | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
system is immensely popular with parents, it is hard to find | :38:06. | :38:07. | |
significant numbers of people who would like to change it, because it | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
works so well. But there are people in this House... Does he accept that | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
in Northern Ireland, where nearly a quarter of the grammar schools for | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
the whole UK exist, that academic results are actually the best of all | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
the areas in the United Kingdom, just reinforcing his argument? If I | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
have time I shall return to some of the excellent results from Northern | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
Ireland later in my remarks. There are those in this House who think it | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
is all right to have a choice of school, or type of school, if you | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
can afford to pay the fees. There are those who think it is all right | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
to have a choice of school if you can afford to buy a House in an | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
expensive catchment area. It is instructive, Mr Speaker, to look at | :38:56. | :39:03. | |
the results of that approach. The borough of Trafford, which has very | :39:04. | :39:05. | |
excellent state education, only 5.2% of pupils go to independent schools. | :39:06. | :39:14. | |
Manchester, 6.7%. Stockport, 10.1%. If you look at Camden, where, we are | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
told, state education has been revolutionised, it is 28.9% of | :39:20. | :39:26. | |
pupils go to independent schools. Let's open up opportunities to | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
people regardless of their ability to pay, and that's exactly what they | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
do in those areas which offer selection in the state sector. But | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
Trafford is outstanding, not just because of the seven grammar | :39:38. | :39:39. | |
schools, it is also the outstanding quality of the | :39:40. | :39:52. | |
high schools. This persistent myth from the 1950s and 60s but if you | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
have grammar schools you have sink schools is an utter nonsense and | :39:56. | :39:58. | |
should be rejected. We have heard mentions of Knowsley and the report | :39:59. | :40:00. | |
produced for it. One thing that has not been mentioned is that one of | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
the so-called secondary modern schools in my constituency, we call | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
them high schools, it spawned the Dean trust, a very good, effective | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
Academy trust, and is so good that it has been brought into Knowsley, | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
as my honourable friend, former Secretary of State said, looking for | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
excellent from outside. It is to Trafford high schools that they have | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
turned. That gives the lie to the nonsense about no attainment in | :40:28. | :40:31. | |
those schools. Also, we should reflect on some of really damning | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
evidence about the degree of social segregation elsewhere in the system. | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
If we look at the record of the last Labour government, it was alluded to | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
earlier, let's look at the findings in 2010, from the Sutton trust. It | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
looks at the 100 most socially selective schools in the country. | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
And 91 of them were comprehensive schools. Selecting by catchment, by | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
postcode, by the ability to buy a House in the catchment area. I know | :41:05. | :41:13. | |
he is a passionate advocate of grammar schools in his constituency | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
but one of the issues that has not been thrown into the debate so far | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
is ethnic segregation. Does he agree that white British pupils make up | :41:23. | :41:32. | |
70% of all pupils but only 16% in selective schools. One of the items | :41:33. | :41:34. | |
is that white working-class boys would benefit from the selection, | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
does he agree that it is not the case? Actually those numbers are | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
rising fast, I would say. And if you look at the answer to a written | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
question I tabled recently you will see the evidence that every single | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
ethnic minority group, including white British, performs better in | :41:54. | :41:57. | |
partially selective areas than in comprehensive areas, and better | :41:58. | :42:00. | |
still in partially selected areas. If we look at A-level results, I | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
can't... I have given my time up for interventions. If we look at A-level | :42:07. | :42:13. | |
results. Eight of the top ten local authorities are selective or | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
partially selective. Trafford, 35.8% achieving those top A-level grades. | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
GCSE, those achieving a star through to see, the national average is | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
52.8%, if you look at the top achieving authorities, seven out of | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
ten are selective or part selective. That is not the grammar schools, | :42:37. | :42:39. | |
that is the whole local education authority areas. Trafford sees a | :42:40. | :42:48. | |
70.8% this year getting five or more a- C grades. 70% getting those | :42:49. | :42:56. | |
grades in English and maths. If we look at participation levels and | :42:57. | :42:58. | |
higher education Trafford gets a 72%. If I can come back to Trafford | :42:59. | :43:05. | |
and its participation in higher education, 72% go into higher | :43:06. | :43:09. | |
education, and if you look at those going into the top third of higher | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
education institutions, nine of the top ten authorities are selective or | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
part selective. If you look at students going to Russell group | :43:19. | :43:21. | |
universities, seven of the top ten are selective or part selective, and | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
Trafford, as my honourable friend will know very well, is the only one | :43:26. | :43:39. | |
in the top 20 in the country in the north or the Midlands, in their | :43:40. | :43:41. | |
entirety. Members opposite in the north of the Midlands who want to | :43:42. | :43:43. | |
see more opportunities for the constituents would be wise to pay | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
close attention to that. I have to say, the culture of expectation and | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
aspiration runs so deep in Trafford, we saw at the weekend of the parent | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
power top 250 primary schools in the country in the Sunday Times, nine of | :43:58. | :44:03. | |
them work Trafford schools. The second was Park Road primary School | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
in my constituency. I am obviously delighted to congratulate it on this | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
occasion. Returning, because I was asked to do so by the honourable | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
gentleman from Northern Ireland, if we look at the performance of the | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
most effective selective systems in Northern Ireland, holy selective | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
education systems, which it has been for a very long time, the percentage | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
of children eligible for free school meals in Northern Ireland, achieving | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
five or more A- C grades at GCSE, 70%. That compares to the figure for | :44:41. | :44:50. | |
England and Wales. 45.6%. So dramatically better. If we look at | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
those in England achieving that performance, including English and | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
maths, 33%, against 45% in Northern Ireland. What we need to look at Mr | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
Speaker is how we can expand this real choice, how we can expand the | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
number of good schools of all sorts, but we cannot tolerate any longer a | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
situation in this country where people are allowed the choice of | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
good school, which can transform life chances if they are rich enough | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
to pay the fees of rich enough to buy a House in the catchment area of | :45:27. | :45:35. | |
one of the top comprehensive schools. I am very pleased that it | :45:36. | :45:42. | |
is my honourable friend from Ashton-under-Lyne who initiated this | :45:43. | :45:45. | |
important debate, making an absolutely excellent speech. The | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
whole House will agree that education is the most powerful | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
engine of social mobility that there is. It broadens horizons, open | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
stores, and should be accessible to all. There is nothing more inspiring | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
and transformative and then people increasing their knowledge, | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
realising their potential, and changing their life circumstances. I | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
owe my grandmother a debt of gratitude for pushing me to do well | :46:12. | :46:24. | |
at night school and giving me a lifelong love of reading. Education | :46:25. | :46:26. | |
later in life gave me the opportunities that changed my life. | :46:27. | :46:29. | |
I want others to be able to have those same chances. | :46:30. | :46:30. | |
As the government social mobility commission state of the nation | :46:31. | :46:33. | |
report showed, this engine is spluttering, rather than firing on | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
all cylinders. As the commission's report concludes, the runs on the | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
social mobility that are growing further apart. Those words should be | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
a call to action. Yet the government appears to only of a mere words. The | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
action we need is not falling back on the field prescriptions of the | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
past, like trying to revive grammar schools. We need to be looking at a | :46:58. | :47:08. | |
future face of all bridging the gap between education and employment. | :47:09. | :47:11. | |
The traditional world of work is rapidly changing, but much of our | :47:12. | :47:15. | |
curriculum is hopelessly lagging behind the pace of change. If | :47:16. | :47:21. | |
education is to be a powerhouse of social mobility it needs to work in | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
tandem with the demands of a modern economy. Government seems to | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
recognise this in fits and starts. It launched a half baked initiative | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
that rightly drew much criticism. Not least because the executive | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
director did not even know how to code. Advisers were quitting, saying | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
that they wanted nothing to do with it, and the government has come | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
scurrying back to its comfort zone of 1950s Britain, where privileged | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
children learned Latin and grammar schools were the great hope. That is | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
where we are now and it is just not good enough. There is a wealth of | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
evidence highlighting how ill-prepared we are. A study | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
revealed that a lack of digital skills, digital poverty, is causing | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
the failure of far too many UK start-ups. But it is not just things | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
like vital text skills we are failing to equip our children must. | :48:20. | :48:23. | |
Failing to meet engineering skills demand is costing the United Kingdom | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
?27 billion per year according to engineering UK. The gap between the | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
New World of work and education continues to widen. We need to start | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
narrowing the gap between education and employers. A survey by the | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
Gatsby foundation found that in only 40% of schools did a young person | :48:46. | :48:48. | |
have an encounter with an employer at least once a year from year seven | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
onwards. We can do better than this. I do believe that Labour, the party | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
of work, recognises that education cannot exist in a vacuum. Unless | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
education adapt to changing employment landscape that we set up | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
then we will set up our children to fail. With recent research by Oxford | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
University and Deloitte suggesting that 850,000 public sector jobs | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
could be lost due to automation by 2030. It is clear that we should be | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
preparing now for a brave New World. In Autumn Statement that is that the | :49:26. | :49:31. | |
Chancellor is able to able to rise to this challenge, and kick-start a | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
vision for social mobility. If the government does not act those who | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
are just about managing now will soon become left on the scrap heap. | :49:43. | :49:50. | |
Finally, any vision of social mobility has to have a chance of | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
laying down roots and being seen as credible. Then we will need | :49:55. | :49:58. | |
Parliament to start being seen as a proper, living example of social | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
mobility. We have seen the reaction in America to the Clintons and | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
bushes as the American dream of social mobility has withered away. | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
People want their governments to get real and create a genuine | :50:13. | :50:15. | |
stakeholder Society where everyone is a chance to get on. In Britain | :50:16. | :50:21. | |
they want the British promise we are hard work is rewarded to finally | :50:22. | :50:27. | |
mean something again. That is now the challenge for this government. | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
With immediate effect the time limit and backbench speeches must now be | :50:33. | :50:40. | |
reduced to five minutes. It is a particular pleasure to speak in this | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
debate having attended a south London grammar school myself, I can | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
say from personal experience I would not be here were not for that | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
grammar school, and so I feel an obligation to other youngsters | :50:54. | :50:55. | |
growing up in south London from ordinary backgrounds like mine to | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
speak up when the opportunity arises. I would like to echo many of | :51:01. | :51:04. | |
these things my honourable friend from altering said earlier, in | :51:05. | :51:07. | |
particular highlighting the terrible unfairness that in our system today | :51:08. | :51:15. | |
very often the only way to be sure of an outstanding education is to | :51:16. | :51:18. | |
pay for it either by going private or buying a much more expensive | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
House in the catchment area of a good school. It is a disgrace that | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
the only way to be sure of an academic education is to pay for it | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
today. Let me pick up on the... In a moment, I will take interventions in | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
a moment. Let me begin by responding to a question which the Treasury | :51:38. | :51:40. | |
Select Committee colleague of mine posed to the Secretary of State. He | :51:41. | :51:44. | |
asked for evidence that children from ordinary backgrounds do better | :51:45. | :51:45. | |
in grammar schools. Firstly, in areas where at least 10% | :51:46. | :51:59. | |
of pupils are collected, free school meals kids get seven GCSE grade | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
notches better than equivalent children in nonselective schools. | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
That is as seven great boost. Secondly, for white, male children, | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
the former Secretary of State asked about white, male children from | :52:16. | :52:19. | |
privileged backgrounds, those who go to grammar schools have a 30% higher | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
chance of going to university than those who do not go to grammar | :52:24. | :52:30. | |
schools. I have to say that I think that any parent or teacher watching | :52:31. | :52:34. | |
this and hearing somebody from the government benches saying the only | :52:35. | :52:37. | |
way to guarantee an excellent education is to pay for it is | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
absolutely ravishing our excellent education system. The fact is many | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
parents want to socially select their children, but if we flip this | :52:49. | :52:54. | |
issue and look at the progress being made, with preschool real children | :52:55. | :52:57. | |
he will find the comprehensive system massively exceed that of the | :52:58. | :53:04. | |
private system. It is very clear in my area in Croydon that parents who | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
want an academic education have to travel out of the borough to either | :53:10. | :53:13. | |
Bromley or Saturn because the kind of education they want for their | :53:14. | :53:18. | |
children is not available. Where parents want a particular kind of | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
education for their children it is not up to this house on ideological | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
grounds to deny them that choice. We should be enabling choice. No one on | :53:30. | :53:32. | |
this side of the House is suggesting a return to the 1944 education act | :53:33. | :53:40. | |
system. The kind of system we are proposing is a diverse system where | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
there are a whole range of different schools with different specialisms. | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
We have different kinds of academies and free schools and grammar schools | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
have a place in that diverse system along with lots of other schools. | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
Parents can exercise choice over which kind of school works for them. | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
What is clear is that where children from ordinary backgrounds go to | :54:06. | :54:08. | |
grammar schools they do significantly better than if they | :54:09. | :54:15. | |
did not. I am grateful to my colleague for giving way. Part of | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
the reason for that is by their very nature of academic selection the | :54:21. | :54:23. | |
higher attaining pupils from the poorest backgrounds are attending | :54:24. | :54:27. | |
those schools. When you look at the evidence base as a whole, the | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
evidence shows if you are from a deprived background going to a | :54:32. | :54:34. | |
grammar school you are less likely to do as well as you're better off | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
counterparts and the impact on the system as a whole is not positive. | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
Every leading educational expert says this is a bad policy. I would | :54:44. | :54:53. | |
refer him to the educational is situation report. Perhaps he has not | :54:54. | :55:02. | |
had a chance to read it. That found the seven great advantage adjusts | :55:03. | :55:06. | |
for the prior academic attainment. The child with the same level of | :55:07. | :55:10. | |
attainment does better in a grammar school. Let me come onto the two | :55:11. | :55:17. | |
objections that I have heard from the opposition. There are two | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
reasonable objections which one might make. It is fair to | :55:23. | :55:27. | |
acknowledge them and answer them. The first is grammar schools only | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
admit 3% of their pupils with free school meals were as the population | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
as a whole it is 13%. It is right to draw attention to that deficiency | :55:40. | :55:44. | |
and question it. It is possible by being inventive to radically | :55:45. | :55:47. | |
increase the free school meal percentage and there is a great | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
example at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham where | :55:54. | :55:57. | |
they have increased their intake from 3% up to over 20%, above the | :55:58. | :56:05. | |
national average by doing a series of innovative things, including | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
active outreach into primary school areas, free school coaching on the | :56:10. | :56:17. | |
tests to deprived families. They provide bursaries so parents who are | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
worried about the cost of school uniforms or a musical instrument or | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
travel costs have those concerns are taken care of. They have transformed | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
their free school meal intake. He will be aware of the evidence given | :56:33. | :56:40. | |
by Becky Allen to the Education Select Committee which shows the | :56:41. | :56:44. | |
negative impact on other grammar schools who have now lost free | :56:45. | :56:48. | |
school meal children. He is arguing that overall the number of preschool | :56:49. | :56:52. | |
children will go up if he wants this policy to work. I am arguing for | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
them to do outreach to make sure we go from 3% to a higher figure so | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
children from deprived backgrounds can do well and get in. The County | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
Grammar School next door to my borough in Saturn has a slightly | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
lower test threshold for free school meals children and they have | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
increased their intake. I am happy to see in the green paper on page 25 | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
the government is saying a number of these things we have seen working in | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
King Edward VI and in Warrington boys school will be the conditions | :57:27. | :57:33. | |
of new grammar schools opening. By attaching those conditions the | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
government is addressing the reasonable concerns that have been | :57:38. | :57:40. | |
raised on both sides of the House. The other objection I have heard and | :57:41. | :57:46. | |
the former Secretary of State just alluded to it, is that in selected | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
areas nonselective schools do worse because the selective schools have | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
creamed off the best pupils. There is not clear evidence for that. | :57:56. | :58:02. | |
There are reports on both sides. The Sutton trust in 2008 found no such | :58:03. | :58:08. | |
effect and another study found a marginal effect and we have heard my | :58:09. | :58:11. | |
honourable friend referred to Northern Ireland. We will not have | :58:12. | :58:18. | |
sedentary interventions and waving around of documents. It is simply | :58:19. | :58:24. | |
not done in here. Thank you for defending me so valiantly. We heard | :58:25. | :58:30. | |
from my honourable friend how Northern Ireland is an excellent | :58:31. | :58:33. | |
case study where the entire educational system has done well in | :58:34. | :58:40. | |
that system. Let me conclude that I believe with the reforms in the | :58:41. | :58:44. | |
green paper this system can work and help children from deprived | :58:45. | :58:50. | |
backgrounds fulfil their potential. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for | :58:51. | :58:55. | |
calling me to speak in this important but sadly repetitive | :58:56. | :59:00. | |
debate. It is an issue that rears its head every time we have a | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
Conservative government. What is the Conservative Party's fascination | :59:06. | :59:10. | |
with grammar schools? When it comes to social mobility the conservative | :59:11. | :59:14. | |
response is to resort to dogma will stop a return to grammar schools in | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
bodies retrograde thinking. It is a system that benefits only a few. | :59:20. | :59:24. | |
There is no evidence, no justification and no basis to the | :59:25. | :59:29. | |
belief that selective education leads to improved social mobility. | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
You do not have to take my word for it. The government's advisory body | :59:34. | :59:40. | |
on social mobility says grammar schools do not work. Education is | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
the single most important tool available to each and every | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
government in improving social mobility within this country. It is | :59:50. | :59:55. | |
that this government's fascination with selective education makes any | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
real dialogue about how we can improve social mobility in this | :00:00. | :00:03. | |
country and is lost to the noise of Tory MPs calling for the | :00:04. | :00:07. | |
reintroduction of grammar schools. This is a debate we have time and | :00:08. | :00:13. | |
time again with the same conclusion, grammar schools do not work. There | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
is no basis to the belief that selective education leads to | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
improved social mobility. There is no easy way to improve social | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
mobility in this country. Anyone who believes so is sadly deluded. Social | :00:31. | :00:34. | |
mobility can only be improved through a tide of political will. | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
Most importantly through unwavering investment long-term and not just | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
during one Parliamentary term. I am proud that under the previous Labour | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
government such political will did exist and we were funding to help | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
all children, not just the select few educated in our private school | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
system. Under a Labour government school budgets increased year on | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
year. Under this government the ISS forecasts school budgets will fall | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
in real terms by 8% over this Parliament. Under a Labour | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
government the educational maintenance allowance was introduced | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
to help children from low income families to continue in further | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
education. Under the party opposite it was scrapped. The further | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
education sector has faced real term cuts of 14%. The maintenance grant | :01:31. | :01:37. | |
in the higher education sector is set to be scrapped. This is a recipe | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
for social mobility disaster undermining all the progress of | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
recent years to raise aspiration. At this time in my constituency we need | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
more help, investment and for long-term planning, not less. In | :01:53. | :02:00. | |
2010-2011, the last year of the maintenance grants, there were over | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
8000 recipients in my district. It was ranked 64th nationally on the | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
index of multiple deprivation. By 2015 its position has worsened to | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
41st, pointing to an increase in need and suggesting a greater number | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
of young people would have benefited from the maintenance grant. Of 656 | :02:24. | :02:31. | |
constituencies in the UK, my constituency ranked 600 a night for | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
the percentage of individuals with a level four qualification or above. | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
When it comes to the percentage of individuals without any | :02:44. | :02:46. | |
qualifications whatsoever, Bradford South is 74th in our league tables. | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
The grammar school will not change that. This government should reflect | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
on their record in government, there is adequate investment, and do the | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
right thing. And their fascination with grammar schools and most | :03:01. | :03:08. | |
importantly committed to investment over the long term. Thank you, Madam | :03:09. | :03:18. | |
Deputy Speaker. Can I welcome the debate and there is wide agreement | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
about the stagnant state of social mobility in the UK, but less | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
agreement about the right way to revive it. There are also, and it is | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
an elephant in the room in this debate, deep philosophical | :03:34. | :03:35. | |
differences by those inspired by America cripple situation and those | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
who take an eagle at area and view and that is healthy and respectable. | :03:41. | :03:47. | |
You will find the idea of meritocracy very hard to reconcile | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
with your worldview. Some members opposite ought to be a bit more | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
honest about that. The truth is I support the meritocratic vision on | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
moral grounds because in my view, unlike the egalitarian mirage, it is | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
a vision that can reinforce, not paralyse, a healthy, vibrant and | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
competitive economy that creates jobs, wages and tax revenues for our | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
public services. I want to come onto the issue of evidence around | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
selection and I think there is strong evidence in favour of it if | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
it is done right way. We see that in existing selection we have in the | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
current school system at 16 when pupils want to stay on to do | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
A-levels and into university. The opposition motion says there is no | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
evidence that selection will improve social mobility. But this is clearly | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
still a very contentious issue. I am not saying it is cut and dried, but | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
there is compelling evidence in favour of it. The review conducted | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
by a former chief inspector of schools in 2009. On a Select | :05:00. | :05:07. | |
Committee I sat on in 2013 there was evidence that supported selection as | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
long as admissions were Don on a clear and objective basis and as | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
long as there were opportunities for selection later on. The opposition | :05:18. | :05:22. | |
motion is flawed. But expanding grammar schools needs to be done the | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
right way and it needs to be fair with grammar school expanded beyond | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
a middle-class preserve. There is a strong case for making sure the | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
first charge is done in those areas with very high levels of deprivation | :05:39. | :05:46. | |
and lower educational standards. It creates an opportunity from those | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
kids from the council estates or the backwaters. It is a reasonable | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
question at what age selection should take place. I agree with the | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
OECD that there ought to be doors at different ages to make sure we do | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
not close off opportunities for late developers. Of course it goes | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
without saying this is not a 0-sum gate. You can support grammar | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
schools and raise standards right across the whole state education | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
system and particularly in the most deprived areas which is what we have | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
seen under the existing government with 1.4 million children going to | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
schools that are good or outstanding compared to 2010 and specifically | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
with policies like the pupil premium specifically designed to target | :06:35. | :06:35. | |
children in the most deprived areas. The other mode of -- note of | :06:36. | :06:49. | |
caution, this is not a silver bullet, it is one piece of a jigsaw, | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
patiently putting together a jigsaw that will help provide social | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
mobility. I support the proposals of the Green paper on harnessing the | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
talent and innovation of the independent sector and they would go | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
further, I like the idea of the Sutton trust opening up all | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
independent schools on a meritocratic, means tested basis, it | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
would massively widen their intake of youngsters from humble | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
backgrounds. Notwithstanding the great strides made in | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
apprenticeships and vocational training this country still has a | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
massive hang-up with the technical route to making a success of | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
yourself, whether it is through vocational training or | :07:27. | :07:29. | |
apprenticeships. We don't have the same parity of esteem you see in | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
France, Switzerland, Germany. I would like to see us do more in | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
relation to those errors, and non-graduate roots to the | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
professions, to create the ladders of opportunity, not just for bright | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
academic youngsters, but also for bright and not necessarily bookish | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
youngsters. One look at the issue across the board I share the | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
inspiring vision set out to make Britain the great meritocracy of the | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
world, this is only the first step, many people talk a good game about | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
social mobility without being willing to get behind, deliver and | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
will the means to let -- means to it. We face two major challenges in | :08:16. | :08:23. | |
education in Britain. First, we are falling rapidly behind other | :08:24. | :08:25. | |
countries in basic numeracy and youth literacy, Estonia, Poland, | :08:26. | :08:34. | |
Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and it is a reason why recently the | :08:35. | :08:37. | |
education select committee was told that we have a mediocre education | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
system in our country. Secondly, with the innovation economy creating | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
jobs at a much higher rate than the economy as a whole, and with jobs | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
that require no skills or low skill is disappearing at a rapid rate, we | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
need to educate all of our young people to a high standard. Last | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
week's social mobility commission report, as we heard, compared | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
children from the most advantaged areas with the private areas, most | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
deprived areas are 27 times more likely to go to an inadequate | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
school, more likely to drop out of education at 16, 30% less likely to | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
study A-levels and reach a top university. White working-class boys | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
are even worse. New research by the Sutton trust shows that three | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
quarters been badly let down, failing to achieve five good GCSEs | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
grades, compare that to pupils from independent schools, just five | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
public schools send more pupils to Oxbridge than 2000 state schools, | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
two thirds of the entire state sector. Despite accounting for just | :09:40. | :09:51. | |
7% of school pupils rose from independent schools represent seven | :09:52. | :09:54. | |
out of ten High Court judges, more than half our leading journalists, | :09:55. | :09:56. | |
doctors, more than a third of MPs. I want to see the whole country united | :09:57. | :09:59. | |
around the mission of driving up standards and open opportunity for | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
all pupils. But grammar schools will only improve social mobility of poor | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
children are able to go to them. Analysis by the education data that | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
showed poor children are much less likely to get in then they're better | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
off peers. Poor children of already had a poor start to their education, | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
by the age of 11, making it harder for them to get into grammar | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
schools, but even if you take two children from the same schools at | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
Key stage two, the poorer child is less likely to pass an entry exam | :10:26. | :10:35. | |
entered into a grammar school. In areas with selective grammar schools | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
the gap between rich and poor is greater than in areas without any | :10:39. | :10:40. | |
grammar schools at all. Grammar schools also put a barrier between | :10:41. | :10:42. | |
the pupils in some of the most experienced teachers in the country. | :10:43. | :10:45. | |
Again the education data showed that 54% | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
teachers in grammar schools have been in the industry for ten years, | :10:49. | :10:55. | |
and secondary modern, there's less experience. I think there should be | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
better schools for every child, and instead of using scarce resources on | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
the new grammar schools, focus on improving early years education and | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
tackle stubborn levels of underachievement, as we heard | :11:07. | :11:09. | |
earlier, in areas like the Midlands and the North. Provide incentives | :11:10. | :11:12. | |
and support for experienced teachers, get them into schools with | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
poorer children, and help them stay in the profession. Anyone who visits | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
a school that has been turned round seen a | :11:20. | :11:33. | |
dramatic improvement in results will know it is impossible without the | :11:34. | :11:36. | |
inspirational leadership that the heads provide, so we need new ways | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
of identifying, recruiting, training a new generation of headteachers, | :11:40. | :11:41. | |
and new grammar schools will not tackle the fundamental problem is | :11:42. | :11:43. | |
that our education system faces. They will not transform the quality | :11:44. | :11:45. | |
of education for all pupils, they will not tackle the social mobility | :11:46. | :11:48. | |
crisis we face in Britain, this policy will do nothing to tackle the | :11:49. | :11:50. | |
chronic shortage of teachers, the teacher recruitment and retention | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
crisis that we face in our country, it will not help identify, train, | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
and recruit a new generation of brilliant heads, it will not improve | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
early years education which is the key to giving every child a | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
first-class start, it will not improve the status and | :12:05. | :12:33. | |
quality of vocational education, it will do nothing about the funding | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
crisis facing post-16 education, and the deepest cuts, the deepest cuts, | :12:37. | :12:38. | |
that the further education sector has ever seen, and these are the | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
issues that the government ought to address, and I think we should agree | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
is a country, education is in a more priority. Let's sweep aside the | :12:45. | :12:46. | |
all-party political dogma and instead of using time, energy, and | :12:47. | :12:48. | |
resources on expensive and time-consuming structural changes | :12:49. | :12:49. | |
for which there is absolutely national debate about education, | :12:50. | :12:51. | |
let's involve all parties, employers, the teaching profession, | :12:52. | :12:53. | |
and so based on the evidence we can work out how a modern education | :12:54. | :12:56. | |
system can be structured and what young people need to look for the | :12:57. | :12:58. | |
modern let's have a national debate about education, let's involve all | :12:59. | :13:00. | |
parties, employers, the teaching profession, and so based on the | :13:01. | :13:03. | |
evidence we can work out how a modern education system can be | :13:04. | :13:05. | |
structured and what young people need to learn for the modern reforms | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
since 2010 that there are 1.4 million more children now attending | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
schools that are rated as good or outstanding then compared with six | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
years ago. Furthermore, ?2.5 billion has been invested this year in the | :13:21. | :13:29. | |
pupil premium that is reducing the attainment gap between children from | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, the recent publication of the social | :13:33. | :13:34. | |
mobility commission annual State of the nation report highlight the | :13:35. | :13:37. | |
challenges that we continue to face when it comes to tackling education | :13:38. | :13:39. | |
inequality and improving social mobility. Thanks to the government | :13:40. | :13:41. | |
reforms since 2010 that there are 1.4 million more children now | :13:42. | :13:43. | |
attending schools that are rated as good or outstanding then compared | :13:44. | :13:45. | |
with six years ago. Furthermore, ?2.5 billion has been invested this | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
year in the pupil premium that is reducing the attainment gap between | :13:49. | :13:49. | |
children from disadvantaged backgrounds and they're better off | :13:50. | :13:50. | |
peers in both primary and and I would say to the | :13:51. | :14:07. | |
member from Bradford South that he is having a much bigger impact than | :14:08. | :14:10. | |
TMA ever did or ever would have, however, there is still far more to | :14:11. | :14:13. | |
do, if you live in the Midlands or the North you have less of a chance | :14:14. | :14:16. | |
of attending a good school and children in the South, just 5% of | :14:17. | :14:18. | |
children eligible for free school meals came in those five a grades at | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
GCSE, while work working-class boys, as we have heard many times today, | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
are less likely to go to university than any other group in as was | :14:25. | :14:26. | |
mentioned earlier it is absolutely vital age as we know that | :14:27. | :14:28. | |
educational inequality time is given to children of a young age as we | :14:29. | :14:31. | |
know that educational inequality year stated that children from the | :14:32. | :14:33. | |
North are already behind their southern counterparts by the age of | :14:34. | :14:35. | |
five. By September next year the government will double the current | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
number of 15 hours of free charge per week for all 34 school age. | :14:39. | :14:40. | |
Indeed, a report from the institution of public policy | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
research in this year stated that children from the North are already | :14:43. | :14:44. | |
behind their southern counterparts by the age of five. By September | :14:45. | :14:47. | |
next year the government will double the current number of 15 hours of | :14:48. | :14:56. | |
recharger per week for all three and in England to 30 hours, part of a | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
record ?6 billion per year in investment and childcare by the end | :15:00. | :15:01. | |
of this Parliament. The introduction of the early years pupil premium has | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
equipped providers with the flexibility to innovate towards | :15:05. | :15:06. | |
improving the quality of early years provision for each eligible | :15:07. | :15:15. | |
children. I would mention one incredible important group of young | :15:16. | :15:18. | |
people who we must also consider as part of this, and that is children | :15:19. | :15:20. | |
who are looked after in the state system, outcomes for our looked | :15:21. | :15:22. | |
after children in education are poorer than their peers, and the gap | :15:23. | :15:34. | |
gets wider as the children get should not have and how far they go | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
in life, it is imperative that we remain mindful of looked after | :15:39. | :15:41. | |
children and they sometimes unique obstacles that they face. And all of | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
this is where we are in their current system. We can while trends | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
in the educational attainment of children are generally improving | :15:50. | :15:51. | |
these children are still far less likely than their peers to achieve | :15:52. | :15:53. | |
good GCSE results, A-level results, and indeed they tend not to go to | :15:54. | :15:56. | |
university. When we speak out about social mobility consumer that HR's | :15:57. | :15:58. | |
background should not have and how far they go in life, it is | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
imperative that we remain mindful of looked after children and they | :16:02. | :16:03. | |
sometimes unique obstacles that they face. And all of this is where we | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
are in their current system. We can that despite the improvements that | :16:07. | :16:08. | |
have been made since 2010 in many parts of the country there is still | :16:09. | :16:11. | |
a shortage of good school places. And adequate choice for parents when | :16:12. | :16:13. | |
it comes to choosing the best education for their child. There are | :16:14. | :16:15. | |
two grad schools within my local both provide an excellent education | :16:16. | :16:17. | |
to children and are proving incredibly popular with it is only | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
those in middle income and high net worth families that tend to access | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
these schools because of the area for many years. Sadly though, whilst | :16:25. | :16:26. | |
popular with all parents, it is only those in middle income and high net | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
worth families that tend to access these schools because and access to | :16:30. | :16:37. | |
the right school places for each individual child cost associated, | :16:38. | :16:40. | |
whether it is tuition, or private schooling. This has been a bugbear | :16:41. | :16:42. | |
of mine for many years. If only our local primary schools were serious | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
about social mobility and access to the right school places for each | :16:46. | :16:47. | |
individual why don't they offer tuition to access grammar schools | :16:48. | :16:49. | |
for those children who are capable and, from how much they get from | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
pupil premiums. It is because they oppose the principle means? This, | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, is not because of schools cannot afford to, we have | :17:01. | :17:03. | |
already heard how much they get from pupil premiums. It is because they | :17:04. | :17:05. | |
oppose the indeed, to the many members opted to suppose this in -- | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
post is in principle, I would say, this is already an in-built part of | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
the comprehensive system at present. Having a ban on grammar schools only | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
causes an in-built discrimination against those without monetary | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
means. Comprehensive schools also tend to be highly selective on | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
wealth in other areas, as is widely acknowledged, good or outstanding | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
schools are disproportionately in well to -- post this in principle, I | :17:29. | :17:30. | |
would say, this is already an in-built part of the comprehensive | :17:31. | :17:33. | |
system at present. Having a ban on grammar schools only causes an | :17:34. | :17:35. | |
in-built discrimination against those without monetary means. | :17:36. | :17:36. | |
Comprehensive schools also tend to be highly selective on wealth in | :17:37. | :17:38. | |
other areas, as is widely acknowledged, good or outstanding | :17:39. | :17:40. | |
schools are disproportionately in well to do unfortunately I do not | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
have a great deal of time left for my increasing choice for parents I | :17:44. | :17:46. | |
believe there is a case for relaxing restrictions on selective education | :17:47. | :17:48. | |
and that in this proposal, along with what I would say is that in the | :17:49. | :17:50. | |
interest of educating standards and increasing choice for parents I | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
believe there is a case for relaxing restrictions on selective education | :17:54. | :17:55. | |
and that in this proposal, along with other indeed will increase | :17:56. | :17:57. | |
social mobility. Indeed will increase social mobility. Thank am | :17:58. | :17:59. | |
afraid we are overrunning and I must reduce the time limit to there are | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
so many interventions that I am afraid we are overrunning and I must | :18:03. | :18:05. | |
reduce the time four minutes. Liz that the government plans many | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
speakers said that the government plans to will increase not decrease | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
it. All the evidence shows that poor children are more likely to fall | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
behind their better off peers and the effects can be long-lasting. Our | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
opposition to grammar schools and to the government not decreasing. All | :18:24. | :18:25. | |
the evidence shows that poor children are more likely to fall | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
behind their better off peers and the effects can be long-lasting. Our | :18:29. | :18:30. | |
opposition to grammar schools and to the does not mean we are in how well | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
poor and better of children do at complacent about the achievement gap | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
between how well poor and better of children do at far from it. Members | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
on this side of the most deprived areas. But this must never be used | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
as an excuse for tolerating failure of low the complex problems facing | :18:50. | :18:51. | |
many children and families in our most deprived areas. But this must | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
never be used as an excuse for tolerating failure of low we must be | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
fearless champions of. Getting a great education is about more than | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
and always put their needs first. Getting a great education is about | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
more than the the chance to fulfil their potential, it must be at the | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
heart of our response to globalisation also. The world is | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
changing faster than ever before. New technologies emerge and jobs | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
move in what seems like the brink of an eye. This is opening up | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
opportunities for some but is leaving too many people behind also. | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
Yet our response to global change cannot simply be to hold up a mirror | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
to anger and despair. That leads nowhere and does not create a single | :19:30. | :19:38. | |
job opportunity. Neither should we try to keep people has the chance to | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
fulfil their potential, it must be at the heart of our response to | :19:44. | :19:45. | |
globalisation also. The world is changing faster than ever before. | :19:46. | :19:47. | |
New technologies emerge and jobs move in what seems like the brink of | :19:48. | :19:50. | |
an eye. This is opening up opportunities for some but is | :19:51. | :19:52. | |
leaving too many people behind also. Yet our response to global change | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
cannot simply be to hold up a mirror to anger and despair. That leads | :19:56. | :19:57. | |
nowhere and does not create a single job opportunity. Neither should we | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
try to keep people we can somehow turn back the clock, because we | :20:01. | :20:02. | |
cannot stop or the huge changes we are seeing in China, India, or | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
chance, no grievance. We should not shy away from change but instead | :20:06. | :20:07. | |
equip people with the skills, knowledge, chances, and choices in | :20:08. | :20:09. | |
life to make change work for them. There are three priorities I think | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
the government should focus on. First, early years. When poor | :20:13. | :20:14. | |
children as my honourable friend says, we must be the champions of | :20:15. | :20:16. | |
chance, no grievance. We should not shy away from change but instead | :20:17. | :20:18. | |
equip people with the skills, knowledge, chances, and choices in | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
life to make change work for them. There are three priorities I think | :20:22. | :20:23. | |
the government should focus on. First, early years. When poor | :20:24. | :20:32. | |
children... I children... I will give money devoted to this new | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
policy would be better spent on early years intervention. I | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
completely agree with my right honourable friend. There is nothing | :20:42. | :20:45. | |
economically credible about paying more for problems that could be | :20:46. | :20:52. | |
prevented, and having a genuinely long-term economic policy means | :20:53. | :20:55. | |
prioritising early years. We should make it a national mission that | :20:56. | :21:00. | |
every child starts school ready to learn. If the Prime Minister really | :21:01. | :21:06. | |
wants a country that works for everyone in recent years the money | :21:07. | :21:08. | |
devoted to this new policy would be better spent on early years | :21:09. | :21:10. | |
intervention. I completely agree with my right honourable friend. | :21:11. | :21:12. | |
There is nothing economically credible about paying more for | :21:13. | :21:14. | |
problems that could be prevented, and having a genuinely long-term | :21:15. | :21:16. | |
economic policy means prioritising early years. We should make it a | :21:17. | :21:18. | |
national mission that every child starts school ready to learn. If the | :21:19. | :21:20. | |
Prime Minister really wants a country that works for everyone she | :21:21. | :21:32. | |
should scrap tax cuts for the wealthiest few and put the money | :21:33. | :21:34. | |
into transforming early years services instead. All the evidence | :21:35. | :21:36. | |
shows that strong leadership and great teachers make the biggest | :21:37. | :21:37. | |
difference in improving attainment for disadvantaged children. For poor | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
pupils the difference between a good teacher and a poor teacher is a | :21:41. | :21:42. | |
whole year of they cannot wait and we should not let them. The | :21:43. | :21:44. | |
government should focus relentlessly on getting the best headteachers | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
into the most new incentives should also be trialled like writing of a | :21:50. | :21:51. | |
proportion of teacher's students loans. | :21:52. | :22:10. | |
I also think the government should look at trying a new help to buy | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
scheme for teachers to help them move to areas with struggling | :22:18. | :22:26. | |
schools. Finally, we must transform vocational education to equip people | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
with the skills they need to succeed in the global economy. Britain has | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
nowhere near enough apprenticeships of high enough quality focusing on | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
the skills our country really needs. Two thirds of the apprenticeships | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
created in recent years were only at level two or GCSE equivalent and | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
three quarters of people aged over 25 who are already in work got them. | :22:52. | :22:58. | |
This is in stark contrast to people in Germany which has much higher | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
levels of participation and 90% of apprenticeships last three or four | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
years and are higher graded. They need to create up to 300,000 quality | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
apprenticeships at level three or higher every single year. They | :23:17. | :23:19. | |
should focus on areas with the biggest skill gaps, help more small | :23:20. | :23:27. | |
firms take part with minimal bureaucracy, and ensure young people | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
can move from vocational to academic qualifications and vice versa at | :23:32. | :23:37. | |
every stage post 16. When I visit schools in my constituency, I see | :23:38. | :23:45. | |
the energy, hope and enthusiasm in the children's' eyes, but I know the | :23:46. | :23:48. | |
cards are stacked against them before they have even begun in a | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
world that is now so unforgiving of people without skills. It is my job | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
and all of our job is to break down the barriers to their success. | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
Expanding grammar schools is not the answer and will do nothing to | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
address the very real challenges created by globalisation. The | :24:08. | :24:15. | |
government must think again. I am a conservative because I believe | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
fiercely in aspiration and it does not matter where you start in life | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
or what your parents did or how wealthy your family is. You can | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
achieve your dreams and improve your life through your own endeavours, | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
your dedication and through an attitude of service and community. | :24:33. | :24:39. | |
That for me is real compassion. It is no more abundantly clear than in | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
relation to the educational policies and achievements of this government | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
and on this side of the House. But if we look at the evidence, the side | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
opposite has no grounds to complain because when Labour left office in | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
2010, two in five children were leaving secondary school | :25:01. | :25:02. | |
functionally illiterate or not numeric. In a country where we have | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
some of the best schools in the world that is an unacceptable | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
scandal. Employers had lost confidence in exams because of grade | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
inflation and kids were left to catch up when they got to | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
university. Thanks to the bold reforms on structures and standards | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
progress has been made. The free schools movement has reinvigorated | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
the teaching profession to inject innovation and allowed teachers and | :25:35. | :25:36. | |
schools to provide the standards that they want in their community. | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
Prior to my election to Parliament I co-founded and now chair one of the | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
early free schools called Michaela community School in Wembley. We are | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
now in our third year of opening and it is a secondary school in a | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
rundown part of London. Pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds. | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
40% are Afro-Caribbean and more than 50% are on the pupil premium. Nearly | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
half speak English as a second language and one in five has special | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
educational needs. One third started with the reading age below their | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
chronological age and many have been thrown out of their previous | :26:18. | :26:20. | |
schools. But our philosophy of an academically rigorous curriculum, | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
high expectations and zero tolerance on behaviour has proved popular with | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
children and parents in the area. Every child is treated as though | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
they have the potential to get to Oxbridge even if some enter with low | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
attainment and poor behaviour. We have children who make up five years | :26:42. | :26:48. | |
of in one year. That is because of our invigorated teachers, innovation | :26:49. | :26:50. | |
in teaching and the standards we apply. Our teachers recently | :26:51. | :26:57. | |
published a book about what makes Michaela excellent. I will read a | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
story about one of our pupils. Last September, Corey joined Michaela. He | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
is black, has special education and lives on an estate. His father was | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
absent. His primary school said he was the worst behaved child they had | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
ever seen. We invited him into Michaela. We are a very inclusive | :27:18. | :27:26. | |
school. My headmistress explained to Corey's mother how the school works. | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
We have silent classrooms with hard-working children learning more | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
than anyone could have imagined possible. I point to our silent and | :27:35. | :27:47. | |
ordinary and ordinarily corridors. It works because we do not pander to | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
every parental whim, making exceptions in order to accommodate. | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
Could you tell me whether it is the case whether they focus on the | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
quality of teaching which is so important for high achievement in | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
schools? It is exactly about the quality of teaching that has made | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
the difference to Corey's life. He is one of our extraordinary | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
successes. He has progressed in reading and numeracy and is | :28:19. | :28:25. | |
transformed in his behaviour. It is quality of teaching and high | :28:26. | :28:26. | |
expectations that make the difference to our children. Would | :28:27. | :28:33. | |
she agree with me that quality teaching does not need to take place | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
within the confines of a grammar school? It can take place within a | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
quality comprehensive? Quality teaching is what makes the | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
difference. Empowered heads, it impassioned teachers, high standards | :28:50. | :28:55. | |
and rigour and that is what is working in our schools and that is | :28:56. | :28:59. | |
why we have seen progress. I pay tribute to the Minister for schools | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
because he has focused relentlessly and tirelessly on phonics for | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
example. By introducing a phonics test in 2012 we have seen hundreds | :29:09. | :29:17. | |
of what children achieving basic literacy enabling them to enjoy | :29:18. | :29:23. | |
reading. We have seen a rigorous curriculum that is raising standards | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
for thousands of children around the country and that makes a difference | :29:28. | :29:30. | |
and it is this party that is standing up and calling out low | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
standards. In terms of our structures and standards, this party | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
has made a massive difference and is trying to remedy the failures of the | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
Labour Party that left education in 2010. When it comes to grammar | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
schools they have got it wrong again. What parents and pupils like | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
in those grammar schools is exactly the point made by my honourable | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
friend, it is high quality teaching, high standards, zero tolerance on | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
behaviour, cultivation of an environment where study is valued | :30:05. | :30:07. | |
and confidence is engendered. That is what works in schools. Why does | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
the Labour Party want to curb that and restrict a whole generation of | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
children from accessing excellent schools? They should be ashamed of | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
themselves and they should support this policy as much as they can. | :30:22. | :30:28. | |
Thank you, Mrs Deputy Speaker. The question we are trying to answer is | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
if you are talented, can you succeed in modern Britain? Why does it | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
matter if you cannot? I think we should be unashamedly selfish about | :30:40. | :30:43. | |
social mobility. Living in a country where more people can achieve their | :30:44. | :30:46. | |
potential means they are more likely to do things that help us all. | :30:47. | :30:52. | |
Whether they become doctors, entertainers or even MPs. When | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
brains, not birth forms the basis of achievement, we all benefit. Today | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
in my short contribution I want to take up the challenge of the member | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
for Bradford who talked about the repetition of an this debate. | :31:08. | :31:15. | |
Focusing on schools and education in itself is not enough. We have to | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
address the divisions around access to finance and networks. We have to | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
address the fact it is the bank of mum and dad and all that it offers | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
both in terms of cash and connections that increasingly makes | :31:31. | :31:34. | |
a difference to social mobility in our modern world. We miss a trick if | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
we do not think about those things. Education too often drives out | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
people and money and privilege have a big hand in that. It is not just | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
about academic talent, it is about creative talent as well wear the | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
same patters are clear in acting and sport, with the exception possibly | :31:58. | :32:04. | |
of music. We know our young people have the X Factor. We have to | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
understand the barriers they face in this post Brexit, low growth world | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
which means they will hold several different jobs in their lifetime, | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
two of which have not yet been invented. It is in that environment | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
that understanding where access to finance makes the difference. It is | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
not just catchment areas, but the options for families to be able to | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
subsidise their children. It is also about understanding in today's | :32:38. | :32:43. | |
disruptive world have the back of mum and dad can be the option | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
between taking the leap between one carrier and the next. We cannot | :32:48. | :32:55. | |
afford to ignore this challenge. Where previous generations sought to | :32:56. | :32:58. | |
ensure their children could advance up the ladder, the next generation | :32:59. | :33:05. | |
have to access multi-ladders. Many are being taken away just as they | :33:06. | :33:10. | |
are being created. They need the contacts and the confidence to get | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
their foot through many doors. One great hope for us should be the | :33:16. | :33:18. | |
entrepreneurship amongst young adults. What do we have to offer to | :33:19. | :33:25. | |
them? Whether you are educated at University or want to start a new | :33:26. | :33:31. | |
business, the bank of mum and dad offers not just money, but contacts | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
and networks in a world where access to internships of unpaid experience | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
all too often do not have defined outcomes. It is time for us to ask | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
how we ensure 100% of all 18 numerals can take out a loan for the | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
pathway they want to take. We have to make sure every child has access | :33:52. | :33:57. | |
to that internship opportunity, not just those with parents who can get | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
them in the door. We have to ask why the last government got rid of the | :34:02. | :34:09. | |
Child trust fund. Michael Young talk about a meritocracy and that is why | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
grammar schools are such an outmoded way of thinking. The future will be | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
about those many doors that we want children to walk through and to make | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
sure that the bank of mum and dad is open to every single young person, | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
not just the few. We have to reduce the time limit to three minutes. | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
Social mobility for me is one of the most fundamental objectives of an | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
education system and a government. It runs deep in my veins. Last week | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
I had to give a tribute to my father who very recently died and without | :34:45. | :34:52. | |
his commitment to my education as somebody who, like my mother, left | :34:53. | :34:57. | |
school at 16, I would not have had the opportunity to break free from | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
the pattern of manual work, work in service or growing plants as he did. | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
In fact, each morning when I leave my flat I see a friend letter from | :35:07. | :35:14. | |
King George VI in 1943 to my great aunt Maud who worked as a maid in | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
Buckingham Palace and I regard that in three generations someone from my | :35:21. | :35:24. | |
family can move from being made to a member of Parliament is a function | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
of the social mobility that should exist in our country. Before it is | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
suggested that somehow being an MP is the summit of human achievement, | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
I do not believe that is the case. But I do believe education is about | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
choice and I want to address the core motivation behind those who | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
scheduled the debate today that somehow grammar schools inhibit | :35:50. | :35:58. | |
those choices that restrict social mobility to a chosen few whilst | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
consigning children who go to non-grammars to a future without | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
those opportunities. Education is not about the type of school, it is | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
about instilling a fundamental belief in the Valley of hard work, | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
it is about access to high-quality teaching, rigorous standards in | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
education whatever of school. It is all about parental support and | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
encouragement. My father passed his 11 plus and got some O-levels, but | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
whereas his parents did not see the point of further study, his grandson | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
sees a different focus as my sister and I tried to take advantage of | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
every learning opportunity. Let's see that social education and | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
mobility is not just a function of school type, but less value the | :36:47. | :36:50. | |
framework, the teaching, and the resources. | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
I want to challenge the notion of stigma. They believe that if you do | :36:55. | :37:01. | |
not pass the 11 plus you are consigned to a different life | :37:02. | :37:04. | |
trajectory. It is said by some that the child is labelled a failure. | :37:05. | :37:09. | |
That is not my experience looking at the secondary schools in my I want | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
to challenge the notion of stigma. They believe that if you do not pass | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
the 11 plus you are consigned to a different life trajectory. It is | :37:18. | :37:19. | |
said by some that the child is labelled a failure. That is not my | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
experience looking at the secondary schools in my a very important point | :37:23. | :37:32. | |
that the age of 11 should not be the cut-off point that defines the | :37:33. | :37:34. | |
future of a child. Does he support the proposals that some colleagues | :37:35. | :37:36. | |
have referred to this afternoon that there should be multiple entry | :37:37. | :37:39. | |
points into any I totally welcome of academies, and the range of options | :37:40. | :37:41. | |
that exist. There is a lot of mobility between those schools. A | :37:42. | :37:44. | |
lot of transferring at sixth form. But it is also wrong, I think, to | :37:45. | :37:47. | |
suggest we should have targets for work children go when they leave | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
school and I welcome the value of academies, and the range of options | :37:53. | :37:55. | |
that exist. There is a lot of mobility between those schools. A | :37:56. | :37:57. | |
lot of transferring at sixth form. But it is also wrong, I think, to | :37:58. | :38:00. | |
suggest we should have targets for work children go when they leave the | :38:01. | :38:02. | |
target university. We need to work hard to generate parity of esteem | :38:03. | :38:04. | |
for higher-level apprenticeships, vocational education, and all types | :38:05. | :38:06. | |
of higher going to university. We need to work hard to generate parity | :38:07. | :38:09. | |
of esteem for higher-level apprenticeships, vocational | :38:10. | :38:10. | |
education, and all types of higher we should enable movement to these | :38:11. | :38:13. | |
different settings and different schools for their sixth form is | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
testimony to the enduring quality of their academic A-level offer. The | :38:18. | :38:20. | |
fact that others choose the fact that so many young people go to | :38:21. | :38:23. | |
grammar schools for their sixth form is testimony to the enduring quality | :38:24. | :38:25. | |
of their academic A-level offer. The fact that others choose the sixth | :38:26. | :38:28. | |
form is a reflection of how they provide for diverse needs that | :38:29. | :38:30. | |
grammar schools do not suit sixth form is a reflection of how they | :38:31. | :38:32. | |
provide for diverse needs that grammar schools do not suit every | :38:33. | :38:42. | |
range of to my way of thinking we need to recognise that social | :38:43. | :38:44. | |
mobility is achieved by embracing the broadest possible range that and | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
the widest context we can provide for our young diversity, and the | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
widest context we can provide for our young social mobility is an | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
issue for the white working discuss in this it is an issue that we have | :39:00. | :39:09. | |
failed to discuss in this and the GCSE benchmark last year. That | :39:10. | :39:11. | |
isonly 32% of working class white British students receive free school | :39:12. | :39:13. | |
meals and the GCSE benchmark last year. That and 47% of Pakistani | :39:14. | :39:28. | |
students, all also receiving free school meals. This is because the | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
educational attainment of white working class students has improved | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
a much more slowly than almost any other ethnic group over the last ten | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
years. I could take members of this House to the grammar schools next to | :39:42. | :39:47. | |
my constituency and I will show you classes of young Tamil kids, first | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
and second generation, and free school meals, because their parents | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
understand the importance of education, and they live the | :39:58. | :40:00. | |
immigrants dream, which many members in this House have shared and | :40:01. | :40:07. | |
benefited from. But it is our own white working class kids who like | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
not getting the benefit of that and the issue, I suggest, is so much | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
bigger than the type of school. It exists for all social inputs. But | :40:18. | :40:24. | |
what we do know from the education select committee report into | :40:25. | :40:27. | |
underachievement of white working class kids is that going to a good | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
school disproportionately affects poor white kids. And there are | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
schools out there who are doing a brilliant job and who are changing | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
lives. In so many cases members should have a look at the Harris | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
Academy chain in south London. Last year 56% of white British students | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
nationwide secured five they - C GCSEs. But in Harris, 65% of | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
students secured the grades, just five years ago the school had been | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
under special measures. Now, under the excellent leadership of a strong | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
principle the school has undertaken quite an unimaginable trans | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
formation, and Harris has a staggering 73% white British | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
students securing these great. Yet again in the rate of success of the | :41:24. | :41:31. | |
school is incredible. In 2008 only 17% of students achieved these | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
grades but under the leadership of the principle the school is now | :41:35. | :41:42. | |
judged outstanding by Ofsted. , the schools should be our ideals, not | :41:43. | :41:46. | |
whether they are mainstream, grammar, or academies I am | :41:47. | :41:54. | |
enormously grateful for the schools my constituency but also grateful | :41:55. | :41:56. | |
for all those people who lead our schools and teach. I feel keenly the | :41:57. | :42:05. | |
importance of everybody, every child having a chance to succeed. I feel | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
it never more than when I visit schools in my constituency or when | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
dropping off my children at school. When you see those faces in the | :42:15. | :42:18. | |
playground or lined up in assembly, full of hope and potential. The | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
question today is how we best nurture that potential and enable | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
every child to make the most of their talents. From preschool | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
through primary school, secondary School, further education, every | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
stage is an opportunity, but indeed at every stage there is a risk that | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
some children may do relatively less well but a fear of difference in | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
results must not try policy as I fear it does for those opposite. | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
There is a clear consensus in the House about the importance of | :42:54. | :42:55. | |
preschool and early years education, the importance of primary school. | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
And progress is being made in those areas, particularly standards in | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
primary schools. But there's more to do and particularly so that children | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
who arrive already with good language skills in their first | :43:08. | :43:09. | |
language, which is not at moment always the case. But today we are | :43:10. | :43:16. | |
talking primarily about selection, opposition MPs have been attacking | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
academic selection. Oddly they attack it but not any other forms of | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
selection. They have not countered the point about why they are happy | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
with selection for sport or arts. And they do not make it clear where | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
they stand on existing grammar schools, they appear to have a | :43:33. | :43:37. | |
pretty confused policy. I represent a constituency where we have | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
excellent grammar schools and they are extremely popular with parents, | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
so I would ask the members opposite to listen to parents who like those | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
schools and understand why. There has been a significant | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
misinformation put out about the achievement in the education system | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
in Kent, children there achieve above national average in GCSEs, the | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
system does well, and we know that within that system children on low | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
incomes, free school meals, pupil premium, are arguing especially well | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
to enable our children to make up the gap between themselves and other | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
children with greater advantages. I will give way. Can she inform the | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
House of what proportion, what amount of children who go to grammar | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
schools, go on to university, or Russell group universities? We know | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
children are more likely to go to Russell group universities if they | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
attended grammar schools but also in Kent we see an increasing number of | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
children who have received pupil premium, attending grammar schools. | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
So Kent is working at widening access. | :44:43. | :44:55. | |
I welcome the points in the government Green paper to widen | :44:56. | :44:59. | |
access so that more children have a chance to attend excellent grammar | :45:00. | :45:01. | |
schools. One of the critical things is whether primary school head | :45:02. | :45:03. | |
teachers support their pupils in getting into grammar schools. | :45:04. | :45:05. | |
Schools that do make a huge different, those that don't, that is | :45:06. | :45:07. | |
a huge disadvantage to the children. So I would like to see children | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
supported to go to the best school for themselves. We also have a | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
grammar schools that favour in their admissions criteria children on low | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
incomes and do an outreach to make sure the children who have the right | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
academic potential to do well in grammar schools get a place and make | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
the most of that potential. I would like to emphasise, where we see | :45:29. | :45:33. | |
selective and nonselective schools working so well together if they are | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
part of a trust, an excellent example of that is the Invicta | :45:39. | :45:41. | |
trust, I would encourage the Secretary of State to visit, so she | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
can visit a comprehensive School and a grammar school in one go and see | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
what excellent results both of them are getting for their pupils. Before | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
I conclude I should mention the importance, underlying all of this, | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
of high quality teaching, something that academies and grammar schools | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
are doing so well. Making sure that all the children who go to those | :46:07. | :46:13. | |
schools can truly succeed. I want to thank you for the opportunity to | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
speak in this vital debate, it gives to the heart of how we grow and | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
shared prosperity for all. We live in a divided nation and those | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
divisions are becoming deeper and more entrenched. Children in this | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
country should feel they have a society and a government that is on | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
their side. Poverty is on the increase and social mobility has | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
stalled. I want to share the perspectives from my constituency. A | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
dose of reality for what life is like on the ground. The lives of | :46:45. | :46:53. | |
thousands of young people are being blighted by family poverty. And low | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
educational attainment of inflows from family stress. Schools which | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
can and should be engines of opportunity and mobility are | :47:04. | :47:06. | |
themselves struggling and now find themselves a feeling that welfare | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
gap. I want to highlight the number of schools in my constituency who | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
have helped with research on how we can come together as a local | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
community to support them much more as they struggle, in particular | :47:20. | :47:22. | |
Cranford community college, Spring West Academy, and reach academy. The | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
social mobility commissions report last week was a grim read. Britain | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
has a deep social mobility problem which is getting worse. According to | :47:33. | :47:41. | |
the commission and those born in the 1980s are the first generation since | :47:42. | :47:45. | |
the Second World War to not start their careers with higher incomes | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
than their parents and immediate predecessors. We also know that more | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
than one third of our young people nationally, and the same in | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
Hounslow, in my constituency, are leaving school without the | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
equivalent of five good GCSEs. That is a matter of shame for us all. | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
There are 900 people in Hounslow alone year. The recent conversation | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
I had with head teachers about the impact of benefits changes and | :48:16. | :48:18. | |
rising family poverty are giving way to consistent themes. A picture | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
emerges of a family struggling to make ends meet, not always been able | :48:25. | :48:30. | |
to afford food, children arriving at school hungry, stress, overcrowding, | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
damp conditions, and an inability to work. And a rising family debt where | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
parents must borrow money for school uniforms and shoes. One teacher told | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
me that the school hand out money for shoes two or three times a day. | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
There is no getting away from the fact that government cuts are making | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
life harder for families and schools. The choices made by this | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
government and the previous Chancellor show there can be no | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
greater false economy than underfunding schools. It is time the | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
government did more than just rhetoric. It is time to understand | :49:06. | :49:13. | |
that it is the reality of the choices they make that are impacting | :49:14. | :49:16. | |
on the lives and prospects of children across this country. I have | :49:17. | :49:19. | |
sat for hours listening to one opposition member after another | :49:20. | :49:21. | |
criticising government policies and try to offer a few policies of their | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
own. The interesting thing for me is that not one opposition speaker has | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
mentioned the fact that for the last 18 years they have been implementing | :49:32. | :49:34. | |
the policies in another corner of the United Kingdom, where I come | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
from, Wales, and in any reasonable comparison on the difference between | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
education systems between England and Wales, England comes out on top, | :49:45. | :49:48. | |
and I say that as a former Welsh comprehensive pupil with three | :49:49. | :49:50. | |
children going through the state system in Wales at the moment. The | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
comparisons are absolutely clear. Fewer teachers take time off for | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
sickness than in Wales. More money per head is spent on pupils in | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
England than in Wales. Children in England have a much better chance of | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
getting into university, this headline from the BBC says, top | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
grade A-level performance falls in Wales. That was only a month or two | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
ago. Pupils have the best chance of getting into better universities and | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
their first chance honours degree than in England and Wales. Why? | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
Because in Wales Labour have followed the same outdated policies | :50:29. | :50:32. | |
they are trying to suggest we impose in England. They scrapped testing. | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
They don't like selection. They don't like classroom assessment | :50:38. | :50:40. | |
because they think it puts teachers under pressure. And they don't want | :50:41. | :50:43. | |
to give the choice that my honourable friend wants to give to | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
parents in England. Nobody has to take my word for it. People can look | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
at the Independent reports, the OECD organisation that works and | :50:54. | :51:01. | |
education systems around the world, within the United Kingdom, which | :51:02. | :51:03. | |
clearly shows England's doing far better than Wales. They can look at | :51:04. | :51:05. | |
the recent report showing Wales is far behind England in areas such as | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
English language. And if that does not convince them, neutral reports, | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
they can listen to the former Labour education ministers in Wales | :51:15. | :51:18. | |
themselves, who said, we have taken our eye off the ball. Or another | :51:19. | :51:24. | |
education minister, a Labour education ministers in Wales, who | :51:25. | :51:28. | |
issued an apology to the learners of Wales for his own government | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
failure, because of their failed policies. The reality is that Labour | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
members like to promise a nation fit from cradle to grave but as far as | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
education is concerned they have delivered a failure from the nursery | :51:45. | :51:46. | |
to the bursary. I will give way. He is painting a bleak picture of | :51:47. | :52:06. | |
education in Wales. Those quotes are some considerable years out of date | :52:07. | :52:10. | |
and in the last five years significant improvement has been | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
made in GCSE and A-level results and the gap has closed significantly. I | :52:15. | :52:21. | |
notice he says the gap has closed, he did not say that Wales is doing | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
any better than England. One of the newspaper headlines are referred to | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
was only a couple of months old. There are still very many problems | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
there. The reality is that in England we have rejected this sort | :52:38. | :52:43. | |
of left wing, anti-selection, anti-testing, anti-choice dogma | :52:44. | :52:46. | |
which Labour have been following since the 1960s and which is | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
completely out of date. That is why we are going to bring high standards | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
to pupils in England and Wales. It is why Labour members did not want | :52:58. | :53:00. | |
to talk about their failure in Wales. It is why they are having to | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
apologise to their own constituents by their own failures and it is why | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
the members of the public know that this government can be trusted on | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
education, the economy, defence and law and order. We have put public | :53:16. | :53:22. | |
services at the heart of our agenda and will continue to do so and will | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
proudly shout from the rooftops at the enormous successes we have | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
delivered in terms of education and health in public services for the | :53:32. | :53:38. | |
people of England. The evidence and the adverse effects of poverty on | :53:39. | :53:44. | |
educational attainment and achievement is undeniable. My own | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
constituency has one of the highest child poverty rates in Scotland. In | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
some parts one of three children live in poverty. Data shows children | :53:53. | :53:59. | |
living in poverty are much more likely to face social, emotional and | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
behavioural differences, be overweight and to have multiple | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
problems and all these factors will have an impact on future levels of | :54:08. | :54:13. | |
attainment and achievement. Poverty ruins childhood. I am proud of the | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
Scottish Government is focusing on closing that attainment gap and the | :54:18. | :54:20. | |
First Minister has made education a priority. Higher proportion of | :54:21. | :54:28. | |
entrance to Scottish universities are from our poorer communities. The | :54:29. | :54:36. | |
gap between the most and least deprived communities has reduced. | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
Part of this is down to the fantastic work of many of our | :54:43. | :54:47. | |
universities and colleges that are working on positive routes into | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
higher education. I would like to pay tribute to the Ayrshire College, | :54:52. | :54:58. | |
and the University of the West of Scotland, all have campuses in my | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
constituency. They have encouraged and supported students in the | :55:04. | :55:08. | |
transitioning between further and higher education. But more needs to | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
be done and more is being done. When you see the attainment gap starting | :55:13. | :55:18. | |
long before children get to school, it is clear we need to focus on | :55:19. | :55:25. | |
early learning. Whilst the UK Government pursues grammar schools, | :55:26. | :55:28. | |
the Scottish Government is making sure that each child has access to | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
the same opportunities. Does she agree with me that the education | :55:34. | :55:40. | |
system in Scotland which prioritises the ability to learn, not the | :55:41. | :55:44. | |
ability to pay, enables more children to go to university as | :55:45. | :55:52. | |
opposed to the English system? Absolutely, I agree with what she is | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
saying. Our curriculum is combining academic excellence with the | :55:58. | :56:02. | |
attitude and skills for success and giving young people the opportunity | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
to gain vocational qualifications without them being perceived as | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
second best. We are making sure every child has the ability to | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
pursue their full potential. We are working hard to improve life | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
chances, but ultimately our efforts are tackling the symptom and not the | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
cause of inequality. The Prime Minister says our government is | :56:28. | :56:30. | |
committed to fighting injustice wherever it arises. Poverty has a | :56:31. | :56:36. | |
devastating impact on the lives of young people in the UK. We live in a | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
society where the rich enjoy the trappings of wealth and the Pru rely | :56:42. | :56:47. | |
on charities. This government is driving people further into poverty | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
while offering to siphon a few of the brightest put kids for a place | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
in grammar schools and pretending this is equality. Finally, a two | :56:57. | :57:04. | |
tier system is totally unacceptable. In January this year, the opening | :57:05. | :57:12. | |
ceremony of the new ?25 million new academy was cancelled because the | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
teachers were strike. The same day a window cleaner came to my surgery | :57:17. | :57:20. | |
and said he could not send his bright sun to the local grammar | :57:21. | :57:24. | |
school in Gainsborough across the border in Lincolnshire because he | :57:25. | :57:28. | |
could not afford the ?400 it would cost to get him there every day. | :57:29. | :57:33. | |
This year 55% of the children in my town are going out of town to | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
school, the 50% who can afford it, not the 50% who might need it the | :57:40. | :57:44. | |
most. It is no coincidence that new work and Sherwood as a district has | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
amongst the lowest levels of social mobility anywhere in the United | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
Kingdom. The story of our secondary schools is a near complete | :57:55. | :57:57. | |
description of the failures of our state schools since the 1960s. The | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
destruction of a successful grammar school established in 1531, the | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
pre-emption of places at the good schools in the neighbouring better | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
off towns with articulate parents with the resources to work the | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
system to their advantage and can afford the cost of travel to them | :58:19. | :58:20. | |
because the options were not available to them in their own town. | :58:21. | :58:26. | |
The flight of middle-class parents to Lincolnshire for grammar schools | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
where one needs 500 to ?1000 a year to bust your child to the school. | :58:31. | :58:37. | |
The toleration of failure, or at least consistent underperformance, | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
with a great deal of complacency with lines like, what do you expect? | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
It is only new work. The gradual decline in aspiration and a | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
pervasive culture of low expectations, the kicking away of | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
the ladder out of ignorance and poverty by neglect and complacency | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
dressed up as egalitarian, progressive educational policy. Will | :59:02. | :59:07. | |
my honourable friend agree that this culture of low expectation, this | :59:08. | :59:13. | |
self bigotry is exactly what needs to be changed and what this | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
government stands up against? I could not agree more. In Newark | :59:19. | :59:21. | |
social inequality is not the problem, it is the symptom of a real | :59:22. | :59:28. | |
malaise. The condition of education in this town has been allowed to | :59:29. | :59:33. | |
reach an appalling level. In diagnosing the problem there are | :59:34. | :59:38. | |
many solutions. A lack of choice of school, an unwillingness to | :59:39. | :59:41. | |
intervene and an unwillingness to embrace selection in any form even | :59:42. | :59:47. | |
when parents are crying out for it. In my town, armed with a range of | :59:48. | :59:52. | |
tools under this government, we are starting to make progress and I am | :59:53. | :59:57. | |
convinced we have finally turned the corner. We have intervened to remove | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
the Academy sponsor which was not working and brought in a number one | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
school in the county to run the school thanks to a conservative | :00:07. | :00:11. | |
policy. Next year in September we will open a new free school in | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
Newark which I have the leisure of being a governor of. The school will | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
be committed to the highest standards of education, discipline | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
and committed to repatriating parents from across the county who | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
have had to send their children away. The dioceses that runs the | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
other school in the town, the Magnus, have now increased their | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
commitment to driving up standards, driven by the competition and choice | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
that we are now putting into the system. The apprenticeship level is | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
forcing a long overdue conversation between the employers in the town | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
and the schools. The common thread that runs through all these policies | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
is parental choice. Parents in my town want the choice to send their | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
children to the school that suits them and their needs and not to be | :01:02. | :01:10. | |
told by others that only a privileged few who can afford the | :01:11. | :01:12. | |
bus fare or the fees at the private school deserve it. I do not want to | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
repeat the many points made by members. I would like to indulge in | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
a moment of pedantry. The subject of this debate is social mobility and | :01:24. | :01:28. | |
it is not a one-way ticket, you can go up or down. There was a lot of | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
social mobility in the great depression and most of it downwards. | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
The happiest societies are not necessarily those with the greatest | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
level of social mobility. Secondly, many of those who go on about social | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
mobility are quiet on the subject of social inequality. The assumption is | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
it is acceptable as long as there is some level of social mobility. I | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
have a problem with that assumption. It is easier in some ways to court | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
it a wider distribution opportunity than a wider distribution of wealth | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
even if there is some evidence that societies without vast differences | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
in wealth are happier. But vast differences in wealth between | :02:20. | :02:22. | |
individuals in modern societies are growing. When we examined the wage | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
ratios of those at the top and the bottom of businesses compared to the | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
60s and 70s, we can see this happening. It is hard to believe | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
this is due to some sort of super talent, which is why we should all | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
worry that hard-working people, the less talented in an affluent society | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
cannot gain a decent standard of living where people are struggling | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
in a gig economy with poorer housing prospects and living hand to mouth, | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
even if there is some prospect of social mobility. Education, no | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
matter how good, cannot make us all talented and cannot give us all the | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
same life chances. Even to improve those chances it is not sufficient | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
at times. Often we need cultural changes that go beyond the child, | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
changes in the community, the parents and the society. Housing and | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
economic growth, low crime rates, local empowerment, are all key | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
determinants of mobility and social aspiration in any area. Education by | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
it self is rarely sufficient, which is probably why, despite many | :03:37. | :03:43. | |
schemes and many millions spent in education, we failed to produce | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
across-the-board improvements. Yes, it is possible for educational | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
achievement, but we are second bottom in the league for deprivation | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
and there is a connection somewhere. I have heard it said that the magic | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
ingredient we need here is a grammar school, middle-class, Tiger parents | :04:02. | :04:09. | |
want this. I have heard it said that Knowsley has never had a grammar | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
school. That is false, it pioneered a comprehensive education and I had | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
the privilege of going to a grammar school in Knowsley. The grammar | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
school recipe has been tried. It did not produce a noticeable result. | :04:27. | :04:33. | |
Thank you for calling me at the end of this debate. There is a gaping | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
hole at the centre of the opposition case. If grammar schools are good, | :04:39. | :04:46. | |
it is a good principle, why would they be opposed to losing them? On | :04:47. | :04:54. | |
the contrary it is a bad idea and a bad principle, so why are they | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
committed to abolishing them? Surely if it is good, then a cap or a ban | :05:00. | :05:06. | |
is a crazy way to proceed in terms of widening opportunity and choice. | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
If it is a bad idea, why should we allow them to exist? Why should we | :05:12. | :09:17. | |
Which is why recent child care interventions are so important. On | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
top of the childcare plans outlined by my honourable friend from Glasgow | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
North West. Every nursery in the poorest local area is having an | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
additional teacher or childcare place for 2018. And it was written | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
announced that funding changes will be made to follow the child, another | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
welcome intervention. Every child in Scotland will receive a baby box, a | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
box of essential item to help level the playing field in the first days | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
of their lives, starting mixture. But if we are serious about | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
improving social mobility in helping along people the government must do | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
more in other areas also. I hope the Autumn Statement will see a greater | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
investment in good quality, affordable social housing, and we | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
should also expect plans on how the UK Government will overturn the | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
stagnation in average wages that we have seen since 2009. Education | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
policy can help children out of poverty to some extent. But we | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
cannot expect teachers to fix everything for us in this regard, | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
the real change will come when the government commits to addressing the | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
causes of child poverty, low incomes, Social Security cards, and | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
insecure work. Thank you for calling me during this debate. To me, the | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
conundrum is how we break the grammar school system, is perhaps | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
the preserve of the middle-class, but at the same time, we must not go | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
backwards to what I recall the apartheid system that used to be in | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
place. I reference that because I myself failed my 12 plus, as it was, | :10:56. | :10:59. | |
and went to a secondary modern School, in a small town where there | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
two schools, divided by a hedge. The state school was such that the | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
siblings were unable to talk to each other across the hedge because the | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
grammar school head would refuse to countenance it. You left school at | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
16 and you were told by your teachers that there was little point | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
going on to do A-levels because why would someone like you passed them? | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
I ignored that advice and I am glad I did. I certainly wasn't a vote for | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
a return of a grammar school system that takes us back to those days. | :11:32. | :11:41. | |
Equally, we have a huge problem with grammar schools now been the | :11:42. | :11:43. | |
preserve of a middle-class. Where I represent, in East Sussex, we ride | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
on the border with Kent. In my daughter's primary school a quarter | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
of the class move to the grammar school, leading to a brain drain | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
from East Sussex. Those children will either go to a school that was | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
based on ability, or -based, therefore only parents that can | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
afford the increased House prices will see their children go to that | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
school. Or a further school will be based on real pure ability. So only | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
those parents that can afford the tuition, the rail fare, or indeed | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
the prep school fees, to have got those children to school the first | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
place, will be able to enjoy it. Therefore I would maintain that the | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
current system does not work. Therefore, do we stick or twist? I | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
was surprised by the opposition spokesperson's speech, I expected | :12:31. | :12:38. | |
the opposition to state that the system does not work at all and | :12:39. | :12:41. | |
should be abolished, because if they wish to continue with the status quo | :12:42. | :12:43. | |
then the middle-class preserve is that which they are inadvertently | :12:44. | :12:46. | |
supporting. So perhaps somewhat reluctantly I welcome the shift | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
toward the government approach on expansion of grammar schools. The | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
situation is so bad with social mobility that something must be | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
done. Research in the last 50 years which I have spent the last couple | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
of days reading through is completely inconclusive as to | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
whether the competence of all the grammar system is better or worse. | :13:06. | :13:12. | |
What is undeniable is that social mobility statistics are so bad that | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
something must be done but I call on the front bench to consider that by | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
creating more grammar schools, therefore perhaps turning his back | :13:21. | :13:22. | |
to the towns with a choice of two schools, that we do not | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
inadvertently moved back to a situation where it is either success | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
or failure. It must be success for all regardless of the entrance | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
tests. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. Last week in my capacity as | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
the chair of the social mobility all parliamentary group are heard a | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
damning indictment of the status quo, for too long we have been too | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
ready to accept that those from poorer backgrounds proportionately | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
do worse, for too long we have allowed privileged connections to | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
override ability and potential, and for too long we have diluted | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
ourselves that economic growth translate into increased prosperity | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
and opportunity for all. Yes, let's invest in children for their early | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
years, that a school system offering opportunity for all, but don't kid | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
ourselves that will be enough if we still have a country where access to | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
opportunities completely closed off to sections of society. The social | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
mobility all-party Parliamentary group are conducting an enquiry and | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
the report is due out soon and we have seen many similarities between | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
the evidence we have heard and the commission findings. One such area | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
was internships. Too often they are a way to get a foot in the door but | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
not just that, the only way to open the door at all, they have become a | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
further compulsory step into many professions, but by their very | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
nature they exclude many. Too often these placements are determined by | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
existing connections, family or business contacts, and a foot in the | :14:58. | :15:00. | |
door is often available only to those who know someone on the other | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
side of it. Another area where we found remarkably consistent evidence | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
is in terms of young people's aspirations, they need role models | :15:09. | :15:11. | |
and mentors from the community who have been there and done it to say | :15:12. | :15:15. | |
to them, you can be whatever you want to be, but for too many it is | :15:16. | :15:23. | |
simply not on the radar. The evidence I heard persuaded me it was | :15:24. | :15:25. | |
simply not enough to encourage companies to do more, we must make | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
sure social mobility is on a par with career prospects and rightly | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
challenge things when minority sections do not get equal | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
opportunities, so we should not do the same here, we cannot allow the | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
situation to continue where your background is likely to be the | :15:40. | :15:42. | |
biggest factor in determining your chances of success in life, I would | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
like to see companies producing data every year on how many people they | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
have recruited from the most disadvantaged backgrounds and | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
crucially how many people who have addressed it in that company, we | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
need a publicly available record as to what individual companies do, | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
only then we would see the change in attitude we need, the UK stands | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
alongside the USA is having the lowest social mobility of advanced | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
nations and we only need to look across the Atlantic to see where | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
ignoring these issues for successive generation leads, be in no doubt, we | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
are heading the same way, I feel it when I speak to people, the anger, | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
the frustration, the helplessness at the lack of opportunity around them, | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
and they feel the same or worse for their children, automation and | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
artificial intelligence will narrow the gap further in coming years, and | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
we need to work further now before it is too late. We have had a good | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
debate this afternoon but what is clear is that the government | :16:44. | :16:46. | |
obsession with new grammar schools is simply a rehash of failed | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
policies from the past, policy is not fit for purpose from the digital | :16:52. | :16:57. | |
age in the 21st century, as pointed out by my friend from Manchester | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
Central and the MP for Rochdale, pure dogma, as pointed out by the MP | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
for Bradford South. The government has no answers to the real | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
challenges facing our schools. While they waste time and energy on the | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
new grammar schools they have nothing to say about falling school | :17:18. | :17:19. | |
budget, a crisis in teacher recruitment, and the fact that | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
there's not enough good school places. They would segregate our | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
children. And our education for a privileged few. And a second-class | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
education for rest. The member for Glasgow North West spoke | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
passionately of her personal testimony of her father who failed | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
the 11 plus. As for the number of Wolverhampton South East in his | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
excellent speech, policies should be designed for tens of millions, not | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
the few. I give way to my honourable neighbour, the MP for Altrincham | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
south. I thank my friend and neighbour for giving way. Will he | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
take the opportunity to make it clear, will a future Labour | :18:01. | :18:02. | |
government scrap existing grammar schools or not? Yes or no? I always | :18:03. | :18:10. | |
like to debate with my honourable neighbour, it was great that he was | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
in my constituency visiting sale Grammar School just the other week, | :18:14. | :18:19. | |
where I go in and speak to the children regularly, this current | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
government is nationalising and privatising the current system at | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
the same time, what Labour will do, and what the honourable members from | :18:28. | :18:30. | |
the debate in the mid-90s should remember is that we will introduce a | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
system of subsidiarity back into the education system and it will be to | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
local people to decide, and we will not having nationalised system. I | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
need to make progress. I have answered question. The front bench | :18:45. | :18:52. | |
opposite have provided no evidence whatsoever of how extra grammar | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
schools will increase social mobility of our young people. Issues | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
more pronounced in the Midlands and the North, is the member rightly | :19:01. | :19:05. | |
pointed out, and I cannot agree more. Let me be clear, citing | :19:06. | :19:11. | |
evidence about access to Russell group universities is a complete red | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
herring. A corrupt use of statistics, and failing to compare | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
like with like. Let me provide evidence from the government's own | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
Chief inspector. Sir Michael Wilshaw said that in Hackney the attainment | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
gap between those eligible for free school meals and their colleagues is | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
14%. In Kent, which retained a selective system, the member for | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
Havisham and mid Kent is in her place, and the gap is 34%. In Kent, | :19:41. | :19:47. | |
just 27% of pupils are eligible for free school meals and get five good | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
GCSEs compared with 45% in London. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
said that those in selected areas who do not pass the 11 plus do worse | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
than they would have done in a comprehensive system. Research by | :20:04. | :20:09. | |
the education policy Institute has shown that once the data is | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
controlled for prior performance Grammar schools do not actually | :20:14. | :20:20. | |
improved results, even for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The | :20:21. | :20:22. | |
issue has divided the party opposite, for sure. Many senior MPs | :20:23. | :20:29. | |
coming out against the plans. The minister currently working with a | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
previous minister who did not want it and now working for a Secretary | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
of State who does want it, and orders from the Prime Minister. And | :20:38. | :20:40. | |
the former Secretary of State, who spoke eloquently in this debate, | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
does not believe in it. My neighbour in altering, and sale West, he needs | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
to remember that Trafford has an excellent primary school system, I | :20:52. | :20:54. | |
taught many of your children, I will have you know, that is why you have | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
such good results in your constituency! And the primary system | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
isn't selective. Turning to social mobility, the honourable member for | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
Feltham and Heston said, this will be the first generation since the | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
Second World War that will be less well off than their parents. The | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
government have failed to build an education system that provides | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
opportunity for all. Under this government the system is mediocre | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
and falling behind, as pointed out by the member for Dudley North. They | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
are increasingly obsessed with structures, rather than what matters | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
most, the quality of education for young people. We have scandal after | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
scandal in our multi-Academy trusts, they cannot even get to grips with | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
the structures they are putting into place. There is no effective | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
governance, as the Department for Education creaks under the strain. | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
Declining budgets and chronic shortages of teachers and places. | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
They have failed to invest in our young people at every stage of their | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
education. Schools are facing their first real-time cuts since the 90s. | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
Spending on education has been cut time and time again and student debt | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
continues to rise. The government policies are no more than a series | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
of roadblocks against aspiration and social mobility. The impact of these | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
policies is clear to all but government. 71% of state school | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
students went on to university under a Labour of a man and last year it | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
fell to 62%, down from 66% the year before. We remain fully committed to | :22:42. | :22:47. | |
ensure all of our young people are given the opportunity to succeed in | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
whatever educational path they choose and their opportunities are | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
based on what they can aspire to and not on what they can afford. We will | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
be fearless champions for every child as pointed out by the member | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
for Leicester West. Figures published last week show for the | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
third consecutive year school leaders, there is a complete problem | :23:13. | :23:17. | |
with recruitment across all roles from teachers to senior leaders. | :23:18. | :23:23. | |
Overall a very high proportion of posts were difficult to recruit two. | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
62% recruited were filled with a struggle and respondents were unable | :23:30. | :23:36. | |
to recruit to 17% of all posts. Recruitment difficulties for the | :23:37. | :23:39. | |
middle leadership roles in schools are pronounced. For post teaching | :23:40. | :23:46. | |
and learning and special educational needs, only 17% of roles were filled | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
with ease. High housing and living costs remain a serious barrier to | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
recruitment in London and the South East. The cost of living is becoming | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
increasingly problematic nationally. There has been a 7% rise in school | :24:02. | :24:09. | |
leaders citing this reason for the problems faced. Difficulties in | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
recruiting means 41% of responding schools have had to cover lessons | :24:16. | :24:18. | |
with senior leadership staff, 70% have had to use supply teachers at | :24:19. | :24:26. | |
higher costs. I must make progress. Madame Deputy Speaker, I mentioned | :24:27. | :24:35. | |
funding earlier. According... According to the National Union of | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
Teachers and the Association of teachers and lecturers, as I said | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
England are experiencing the largest real terms funding cuts in more than | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
a generation. In real terms schools will lose a huge amount of money | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
rising to 2.5 billion by the year 2020 and 92% of schools will have | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
their funding cut. The average cut for primary schools will be 96,000, | :25:00. | :25:10. | |
going up to secondary schools. The Secretary of State chanters from a | :25:11. | :25:13. | |
sedentary position. There is a website she can go on and see this. | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
Budgets are protected only in cash terms, rather than real terms, | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
meaning schools budget is at the mercy of rising pressures, pupil | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
numbers and inflation. Schools are now worried about being further | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
punished with the fair funding formula that the government have yet | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
to consult on. The Minister has refused to guarantee that no school | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
will lose out. This amounts to chaos and confusion. I need to thank | :25:45. | :25:53. | |
everybody who has contributed to the debate. I have not agree with | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
everyone, the member for working on, the member for Croydon and south, | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
the member for Fareham, Eddery and shots, Bexhill and Battle. The | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
member for Ellesmere Port, can I wish him a happy birthday today. The | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
member for Walthamstow, the member for Salisbury. I am sure the whole | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
house joins with me in wishing his family all the very best on the loss | :26:20. | :26:27. | |
of his father. I am sorry to hear that. Mitcham and Morden, the member | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
for Monmouth who always effectively seems to run down his own country. | :26:32. | :26:39. | |
The member for Carrick Cumnock, Europe and Spelthorne even. Madame | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
Deputy Speaker, we have a government front bench team that require | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
special measures, and government failing on the selection, failing on | :26:48. | :26:53. | |
social mobility, failing on the recruitment and retention of | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
teachers, failing to provide enough good school places and letting our | :26:58. | :27:08. | |
future generation down badly. Madame Deputy Speaker, improving social | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
mobility has been the driving force behind our reforms to the education | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
system over the past six years and thanks to these reforms and the | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
tireless work of hundreds of thousands of teachers there are now | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
1.4 million now good or outstanding school places than in 2010. The | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
government has given powers to teachers and heads to deal with | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
disruptive behaviour. We have created the education endowment | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
foundation to promote the use of evidence -based teaching practice. | :27:41. | :27:45. | |
We have rewritten primary and secondary curriculum is to raise | :27:46. | :27:50. | |
expectations and the focus has halted the drift away from those | :27:51. | :27:55. | |
important core academic subjects, adrift that was particularly marked | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
in areas of disadvantage. We have removed over 3000 so-called | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
equivalent qualifications that too many children from disadvantaged | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
backgrounds were being misled into taken instead of GCSEs and we have | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
improved the quality of technical qualifications and promoted an | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
improved the importance and status of apprenticeships, 624,000 starts | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
since May 2000 and 15. We have revolutionised the teaching of | :28:27. | :28:31. | |
reading in primary schools. Systematic synthetic phonics gives | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
children a flying start with reading, writing and spelling. | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
147,000 more year one pupils are on track to becoming full readers than | :28:42. | :28:49. | |
in 2012. Despite improved practice and a growing number of good places, | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
there are still parents who do not have a choice of a good school plays | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
for their child. Fewer than half of pupils have a good or outstanding | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
school within five kilometres of their home. As the Prime Minister | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
said, if you are white, working-class boy you are less | :29:09. | :29:11. | |
likely than anyone else in Britain to to university. White British boys | :29:12. | :29:18. | |
on free school meals have now been either the lowest or second lowest | :29:19. | :29:23. | |
performing ethnic group every year for a decade. This is why we are | :29:24. | :29:27. | |
consulting on a range of measures to look at more ways to increase the | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
number of good school places, serving communities that have yet | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
fully to benefit from our reforms. We want the education system to help | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
build an even more meritocratic Britain and we want to use the | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
knowledge and expertise of our universities and independent schools | :29:47. | :29:52. | |
to benefit our schools system. We want to remove restrictive | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
regulations that remove pupils from going to the schools. Reintroducing | :29:58. | :30:05. | |
Grammar schools is potentially a transformative idea for | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
working-class areas. We know grammar schools are vehicles of social | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
mobility for those pupils who attend them, almost eliminating the | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
attainment gap between pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and their | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
peers. Pupils in grammar schools and make more progress compared to | :30:25. | :30:33. | |
similar pupils. An aggregate score of 0.334 grammar schools compare to | :30:34. | :30:39. | |
a national average of zero. 82% are rated as outstanding and in a school | :30:40. | :30:44. | |
system were over 1 million pupils are not getting the education they | :30:45. | :30:48. | |
need, it cannot be right to prevent more good and outstanding selective | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
school places from being created. The key is to make the alternative | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
schools just as good and that is what we are delivering. We recognise | :30:58. | :31:03. | |
that grammar schools can do more to promote social mobility. Young | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
people are six times less likely to go to Oxbridge if they grow up in a | :31:10. | :31:15. | |
poor household. In the North East not one child on free school meals | :31:16. | :31:20. | |
went to Oxbridge after leaving school in 2010 and yet of the state | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
school pupils securing a place at Cambridge, 682 came from | :31:26. | :31:30. | |
comprehensive schools and 589 from grammar schools, almost as many come | :31:31. | :31:37. | |
from the 163 grammar schools as come from all the comprehensive schools | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
put together. We know disadvantaged pupils from grammar schools are | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
almost twice as likely to go to a top Russell group universities. The | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
government is committed to ensuring this country works for everyone, not | :31:53. | :31:57. | |
just a privileged few. Strict conditions apply to grammar schools, | :31:58. | :32:05. | |
including ensuring more black pupils are admitted, we will introduce | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
social mobility in Britain. I want to thank my honourable friend and I | :32:12. | :32:21. | |
want to give my condolences to the death of my honourable friend's | :32:22. | :32:26. | |
father. The honourable member for Glasgow North West let the cat out | :32:27. | :32:32. | |
of the bag when she said the SNP's view is not just against grammar | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
schools, but also against setting and streaming viability within a | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
school. This is not within the mainstream opinion and it explains | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
why attainment gaps have widened in Scotland. I listened carefully to my | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
right honourable friend the member for Loughborough as I learned to do | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
in the two years when she was my boss at the Department for | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
Education. She is right, we have to tackle underperformers wherever it | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
exists. She is right we have to ensure every child is being offered | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
and academic common knowledge rich curriculum. We will take on board | :33:10. | :33:16. | |
seriously representations made about the policies in the consultation | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
document, including those that relate to selective education. My | :33:21. | :33:26. | |
honourable friend, the member for Bexhill, made the point it is about | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
making alternative schools just as good as the selective ones, a point | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
made by the right honourable friend the member for Woking. Grammar | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
schools and comprehensive schools can coexist together with both | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
delivering a very high academic standards as we see in his | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
constituency. Since 2010, more pupils have benefited from our core | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
academic curriculum. Increased numbers of pupils have a good or | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
outstanding school plays and parents have a wider choice of type of | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
school for their children. But these opportunities have not yet been | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
spread widely enough. We want to create a meritocracy where every | :34:09. | :34:11. | |
child has access to an education that will take them as far as their | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
talents will allow. That is why our consultation document is looking at | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
every possible way to provide new, good schools, particularly in areas | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
that need to improve. I worry about those will 1.25 million pupils. The | :34:30. | :34:36. | |
time is now and it is why we need to do more than we have been doing over | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
the past six years to improve education standards for those | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
pupils. I worry about the social mobility commission's finding that | :34:46. | :34:48. | |
not one pupil eligible for free school meals in the North East went | :34:49. | :34:55. | |
to Oxbridge in 2010. I worry about the so-called missing talent, highly | :34:56. | :35:00. | |
able pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who leave primary school | :35:01. | :35:04. | |
with results weight above the average, but who achieve | :35:05. | :35:07. | |
significantly less well than similarly able but more advantage | :35:08. | :35:13. | |
pupils. Nationally 78% of level five pupils go on to achieve the eve | :35:14. | :35:21. | |
that. But from those from disadvantaged backgrounds, that | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
figure is 52%. You should be as concerned as we are and you should | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
be looking at every option and asking how we spread the excellence | :35:31. | :35:33. | |
that we see in our schools to every part of the country. You should be | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
more concerned about the education and these children are receiving. If | :35:39. | :35:46. | |
you really care, you will look at the proposals in the consultation | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
document and take seriously the suggestions of how to eradicate | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
inadequate school provision wherever it exists. We will take seriously | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
the responses to that consultation. We will listen to views and we will | :36:01. | :36:07. | |
understand the concerns, but on the clear understanding that our joint | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
endeavour is to promote social mobility and ensure that a child's | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
one chance of an education is not sacrificed on the altar of political | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
posturing. The question is that the original words stand part of the | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
question. As many as are of that opinions they eye, on the contrary | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
say no. Clear the lobby. As many of the opinion that say Aye. | :36:33. | :38:32. | |
The contrary, No. Tell us for the Ayes and Noes. -- tellers. | :38:33. | :44:39. | |
In order, order. We Ayes, 263, we Noes, 210. | :44:40. | :49:46. | |
The Ayes to the right, 263, the Noes to the left, 310. The Noes have it. | :49:47. | :50:09. | |
Unlock. The question is that the proposed words be there at that, as | :50:10. | :50:19. | |
many other opinion say Aye? Of the contrary, No? The Ayes have it. We | :50:20. | :50:28. | |
now come to the second opposition Day motion in the name of the Leader | :50:29. | :50:35. | |
of the Opposition. On the NHS funding. I inform the House that Mr | :50:36. | :50:39. | |
Speaker has selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister. | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
And I call Jonathan Ashworth to move the motion. I grateful, Madam Deputy | :50:45. | :50:51. | |
Speaker, I beg to move the motion in my name and that of my right | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
honourable friends, may I begin with reminding the House that six years | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
ago the Conservative leader promised to cut the deficit and not the NHS. | :51:01. | :51:10. | |
The previous Chancellor, who told us he would properly fund public | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
services. And investment in public services would, but for tax cuts. | :51:15. | :51:21. | |
Will my honourable friend give way? Go on, then. He is most generous. My | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
honourable friend may have missed something. Did the Chancellor not | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
say he would wipe out the deficit by 2015? My honourable friend is eagle | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
eyed. I congratulate him for reminding us that they should have | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
balanced the books by 2015 and they completely failed on that pledge. | :51:44. | :51:50. | |
The new Prime Minister promised us we will be looking to ensure that we | :51:51. | :51:56. | |
provide the health service that is right for everyone in this country. | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
Fine words, that it is by their deeds that they will be known. What | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
did we get? An NHS that is going through the largest financial | :52:09. | :52:13. | |
squeeze in its history. Far from protecting the NHS through the years | :52:14. | :52:18. | |
of this Tory government, NHS spending will represent an average | :52:19. | :52:24. | |
annual increase of just 0.9%. A decade of barely any increase in | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
spending despite an ageing population with increasingly complex | :52:29. | :52:37. | |
needs. By 2017, NHS spending head-to-head will be falling under | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
this Conservative government. Trusts ended last year in deficit. But the | :52:43. | :52:47. | |
second year running it was 2.54 billion and it will be at least 675 | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
million by the end of this financial year. I will give way. Is this the | :52:54. | :53:00. | |
explanation for the secret plan in County Durham to cut the number of | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
beds for frail, elderly people by 20%? My honourable friend makes an | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
important point and we will be coming on to these secret plans as I | :53:12. | :53:17. | |
developed my speech. But we will be spending less on the NHS as a | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
proportion of GDP than Germany, France or the Netherlands. Matrons | :53:22. | :53:28. | |
grants have been repeatedly raided with billions allocated to capital | :53:29. | :53:33. | |
routinely switched to revenue to plug gaps. The maintenance backlog | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
is so bad it is at 5 million in repairs. In a few moments. The | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
former Education Secretary needs to come down. Public-health barges | :53:44. | :53:52. | |
which fund budgets to tackle teenage pregnancy, anti-smoking | :53:53. | :53:53. | |
interventions, sexually transmitted disease infections, this | :53:54. | :53:58. | |
public-health budget will be cut by 9.7% by the end of this Parliament, | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
a completely false economy leading to greater demands on the sector. As | :54:04. | :54:12. | |
my honourable friend, the member for Worsley outlined last week, the | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
adult social care budget has been slashed. I am extremely grateful. | :54:17. | :54:23. | |
That house would take him somewhat more seriously if he did point out | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
that by 2019 and 2020 the real terms increase in spending on the health | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
service will be ?10 billion and during the last election his party | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
only promised to increase spending in this Parliament by a quarter of | :54:42. | :54:50. | |
that, ?2.5 billion. The right honourable gentleman was the | :54:51. | :54:53. | |
minister who took the Health and Social Care Act through this | :54:54. | :55:00. | |
Parliament which wasted ?3 billion on a top-down organisation. He | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
should be apologising to the House. I want to make progress. We are | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
seeing unprecedented cuts to social care. People over 65 accessing | :55:10. | :55:15. | |
publicly funded social care will fall. Public spending on social care | :55:16. | :55:24. | |
is set to fall to less than 1% of GDP by the end of this Parliament. | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
The former Conservative pensions Minister appointed by David Cameron | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
said, we are sleepwalking into a crisis and the NHS will not be able | :55:36. | :55:39. | |
to pick up the pieces of a broken system. I have given way. The | :55:40. | :55:47. | |
honourable gentleman can check Hansard tomorrow. The scale of the | :55:48. | :55:56. | |
financial pressures engulfing the NHS... I thank my honourable friend | :55:57. | :56:03. | |
for giving way. That he agreed that when funding is cut, our hospitals | :56:04. | :56:09. | |
seek to raise cash in other ways by an unacceptable level of car parking | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
charges which the government promised before the last election to | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
clamp down on? My honourable friend is running a brilliant campaign on | :56:20. | :56:22. | |
this and I hope the Minister replies to that point. The scale of the | :56:23. | :56:29. | |
financial pressures... I am going to make some progress. The scale of the | :56:30. | :56:37. | |
financial pressures engulfing the NHS is such that the chief executive | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
of NHS providers said the gap between what the NHS is being asked | :56:44. | :56:47. | |
to deliver underfunding it has available is too big and is growing | :56:48. | :56:54. | |
rapidly. The Kings have said, it signifies a health system buckling | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
under the strain of huge financial and operational pressures. In the | :56:59. | :57:07. | |
most damning statement the National Audit Office concluded that | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
financial problems in the NHS are endemic and this is not sustainable. | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
Even the former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said, in 2010 we knew | :57:16. | :57:21. | |
we had to implement a tight budget squeeze for five years, but we never | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
thought it would last for ten. I will give way. Surely he has seen | :57:26. | :57:33. | |
the report from the Nuffield Trust which shows very clearly that there | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
is only one part of the United Kingdom that has seen a real terms | :57:39. | :57:43. | |
cut in NHS expenditure and that is Wales under a Labour government. | :57:44. | :57:49. | |
They will be a cash injection in Wales in 2017 whereas spending in | :57:50. | :57:56. | |
the NHS in England will be levelling out and falling in 2018. That is the | :57:57. | :58:06. | |
reality. I will give way. In Enfield we are assured of 84 GPs going | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
forward and we have just had a hospital crisis at the North | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
Middlesex where there were not enough doctors for our A to be | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
safe for patients. The only thing we hear about is the sustainability and | :58:23. | :58:27. | |
transformation plan locally which as far as we can see is not only | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
secret, but also is about taking ?22 billion out of the NHS. My right | :58:33. | :58:37. | |
honourable friend is absolutely right and she is a brilliant | :58:38. | :58:40. | |
campaigner for the health service in Enfield. The point she makes is | :58:41. | :58:45. | |
incredibly well made and I hope the Secretary of State response to her. | :58:46. | :58:52. | |
Things are so bad for the Health Secretary that the NHS chief | :58:53. | :58:56. | |
executive told the Health Select Committee that 2018, 2019, will be | :58:57. | :59:02. | |
the most precious year for us. We will have negative per person NHS | :59:03. | :59:09. | |
funding growth. That is the chief executive of the NHS. Will the | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
health Minister listen and respond, or will we get what we saw in the | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
Sunday newspapers, briefing against him when we heard that they are | :59:21. | :59:26. | |
gunning for him and they are going to fix Mr Stevens? I hope the | :59:27. | :59:29. | |
Secretary of State will repudiate that briefing when he's response and | :59:30. | :59:35. | |
distances himself from it. The only people who do not accept the need | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
for more money for the NHS is the Prime Minister and the Secretary of | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
State. But we anticipate what he is going to tell us and the honourable | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
member for Chelmsford alluded to it. He will tell us we have this | :59:50. | :59:53. | |
generous Conservative government that has not only given the NHS the | :59:54. | :59:58. | |
money it asked for but it will persist with the fiction the NHS is | :59:59. | :00:04. | |
receiving an extra 10 billion. But we all know, and I suspect in | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
reality the Secretary of State himself knows, because he distances | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
himself from the figure when he does his interviews, but we know that | :00:14. | :00:17. | |
thanks to the Health Select Committee that this 10 billion claim | :00:18. | :00:23. | |
is completely bogus. It is a claim universally derided and discredited. | :00:24. | :00:30. | |
Of course I will give weight to the former Education Secretary. The | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
chief executive of the NHS who he has just welcomed mention welcomed | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
that additional ten billion and said it gave the NHS the extra headroom | :00:41. | :00:48. | |
we need. Will he repudiate his criticism and welcome that ?10 | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
billion extra funding? The chief executive's comments speak for | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
themselves. When are we going to get our ?350 million a week? That is | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
when we are talking about repudiation? What is it the Tories | :01:05. | :01:12. | |
saying one thing before the people vote and saying something completely | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
different after the people have had their say? The continued use of the | :01:20. | :01:27. | |
figure of 10 billion for additional help spending up to 2021 is not only | :01:28. | :01:34. | |
incorrect, but risks giving a false impression that the NHS is awash | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
with cash. She is only sat a bit further down, you can have a word | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
with her if you disagree with that. The Secretary of State hopes we do | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
not notice that he is stretching the time frame over which he presents | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
this funding allocation. He hopes we do not notice the definition of NHS | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
spending has been redefined by the most recent spending review. He | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
hopes we do not spot he is cutting billions from public health budgets | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
and other departments of health funding streams by 3 billion. Mr | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
Speaker, we have noticed because we have spotted the Secretary of | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
State's conjuring act. We have seen this Tory trick before, robbing | :02:21. | :02:25. | |
Peter to pay Paul. The results of the trick cuts and underfunding, | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
more pressure flowing through to the front line and financial stress | :02:32. | :02:39. | |
harming patient care. In all our constituencies ever lengthening | :02:40. | :02:41. | |
queues of the elderly and the sick waiting for treatment. We see across | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
the board the worst performance data since records began. He says | :02:48. | :02:55. | |
nonsense. What world is he in? Half a million patients waiting for four | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
hours or more in A in the past three months, the worst performance | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
in a decade, and he says it is nonsense. 350,000 of our | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
constituents waiting longer than the promised time for elective treatment | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
and he says it is nonsense. The number of people waiting for 12 | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
hours or more on trolleys has increased by over 700% since 2011, | :03:21. | :03:32. | |
2012. Why is it in 12 minutes he has yet to praise all those hard-working | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
nurses and doctors and other health professionals? Why is he constantly | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
talking down our great NHS, including the hospitals in Leicester | :03:43. | :03:48. | |
messy-mac I praise our doctors and workers in the NHS every day of the | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
week. But I suspect they will have more sympathy with the position I am | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
outlining. 80% of NHS staff think the NHS is currently under the most | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
pressure they can ever remember and 77% think there is less access to | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
resources putting patients at risk. OK, I will give way. If I can just | :04:12. | :04:19. | |
allow him to break off from reading his press release... We are moving | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
towards a consensus on this in that we do need to integrate between | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
acute, clinical care and adult social care. Why is it in 13 years | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
of a Labour government when there was a significant demographic change | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
why did they not bring forward a better precept for care in 13 years | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
of a Labour government? It beggars belief, we tripled investment on the | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
NHS and he and his friends voted against every penny of it. We had | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
the highest satisfaction levels on record. That is the difference | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
between a Labour government and a Conservative government. I am | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
grateful to the shadow minister. Can he explain why it is the Labour | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
government closed maternity and accident and emergency at Cory | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
hospital? Reconfigurations always go ahead. If he is so concerned, I look | :05:18. | :05:26. | |
forward to the honourable gentleman campaigning against the FTPs in his | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
area when they are published. I am aware members want to speak. We have | :05:31. | :05:35. | |
seen what the reality of six years of Tory government is all about. | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
They will be more staff cuts to come which will add further pressures. | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
For example, cuts to the Care Quality Commission means it will be | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
increasing its fees for NHS hospitals and other trusts and | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
providers. Some will have to pay over ?100,000. Reductions in | :05:59. | :06:01. | |
education will put more pressure on trusts and on the front line. We | :06:02. | :06:09. | |
debated cuts to community pharmacies which will lead to increased demands | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
on the NHS. Last week it slipped out, the privatisation of NHS | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
professionals which makes a profit for the NHS and ploughs the profits | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
back into the NHS, that profits will go to private companies. There is an | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
utter failure to deal with the crisis in adult social care and the | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
lack of planning for a population with complex needs will lead to more | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
demand on the NHS and deficits across the board. It is in this | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
context that the NHS is also expected to find 22 billion of | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
so-called efficiencies and completely redesign services across | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
England as part of the sustainability and transformation | :06:56. | :06:55. | |
process. Where SDP is about transforming | :06:56. | :07:04. | |
services in the interest of patient care, reversing fragmentation, we | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
will consider them carefully. We want to look at every single SDP to | :07:10. | :07:14. | |
see if they are genuinely jointly owned, tackle the crisis in social | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
care, guaranteed better access to care in the long and whether they | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
are transparent and financially viable. But what we know so far is | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
far from reassuring. What began as a project about transforming services | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
for patients and community services can now see from the 19 or that have | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
been published so far that the ground has shifted. It is now | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
obvious that they are more about closing the financial gap. Of course | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
the driving force behind SDP is the emergence in the last two financial | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
years of substantial deficits. They are not my words, they are the words | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
of Andrew Lansley just a few weeks ago. The areas we have seen, racking | :07:58. | :08:05. | |
up shortfalls, just that we have seen published, of about ?10 | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
billion, which can only be filled by cups, closing hospitals, downgrading | :08:11. | :08:16. | |
A, downgrading maternity wings, and withdrawing treatment. Across | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
the south-west... I give way. Does he agree with me that proposals to | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
downgrade A in an area like Warrington, surrounded by motorways, | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
as well as containing many people who suffer from health deprivation, | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
is a recipe for disaster, if people need to travel further for emergency | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
care, and will in no way to their care? My honourable friend is | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
extremely knowledgeable and I know she has campaigned vigorously on | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
this and the point that she makes is completely right. In Merseyside | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
Whittlesey hospitals merge. In London, lost, in Durham, | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
efficiencies to be found from staffing levels, and in Merseyside | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
and Cheshire where my honourable friend represents, the STB talks | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
enticing of exploration of a factory body. Doesn't that sound nice? So | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
with cuts to services, rock bottom staff morale, we approach the NHS | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
with the Secretary of State playing the part off Ashley. But the public | :09:19. | :09:28. | |
deserve better than a bargain basement approach. The Prime | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
Minister may have ruled out extra funding. I will give way. I have | :09:35. | :09:47. | |
listened with great interest to the honourable gentleman, and he has | :09:48. | :09:50. | |
spoken eloquently about his concerns about the NHS but he has not, in the | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
course of those 80 minutes, put forward a single positive policy or | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
explained where a single penny of additional funding will come from. | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
He secured this time for this debate, can he at least put forward | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
a positive policy for the NHS, or a suggestion of where the money comes | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
from? The honourable gentleman has a brass neck. We still don't know | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
where we will get the ?350 million from. The next time intervenes | :10:21. | :10:29. | |
perhaps he will tell us. Order, order. Enough, enough shouting. | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
Perhaps the honourable gentleman would like to tell me how cutting | :10:35. | :10:40. | |
the A at Southport and Ormskirk Hospital and giving local community | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
and acute services to converge on care can be a positive story for the | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
NHS? This is exactly the point we are making. My honourable friend is | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
absolutely correct. This is why we need to look carefully at all of | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
these SDP is, but all we see at the moment are glossy brochures telling | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
us everything will be all right, not to worry. We want transparency and | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
the Secretary of State should demand and insist that every single SDP is | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
published and we have details of the cuts. I would way to my honourable | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
friend. Is it one of the problems with local planning, a lack of GPs | :11:20. | :11:28. | |
at local level? And would it help of the health and social care act was | :11:29. | :11:36. | |
amended so that CCG NHS England can provide directly salaried GPs | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
instead of the situation at the moment where there are prevented | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
from doing so? This would be a practical example which would save | :11:45. | :11:50. | |
money, I believe, and increase local provision of GP services. My | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
honourable friend is absolutely right, GP morale is at an all-time | :11:57. | :12:00. | |
low and she correctly identifies another problem emerging because of | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
this act which was passed in this Parliament. My honourable friend | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
makes an important point and I hope the minister responsible. I will | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
give way but then no further. Is he aware that in Cheshire and | :12:14. | :12:16. | |
Merseyside not only have they refused to publish details about the | :12:17. | :12:24. | |
SDP but they have refused my freedom of information request for | :12:25. | :12:26. | |
information about the meetings that were held on it, and who was | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
present. Does that not simply give rise to the suspicion that the whole | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
process is driven by cups rather than a need to improve care. | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
Absolutely right, I must make progress, I am anxious that people | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
wish to speak. The Chancellor should respond to the growing body of | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
evidence tomorrow saying that the NHS has not been given the money it | :12:46. | :12:53. | |
needs. Tomorrow we need an end to the greatest betrayal in adult | :12:54. | :13:03. | |
social care. A long overdue and necessary investment is needed by | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
the NHS. They are shouting, whereas the coming from? But what sense does | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
it make to carry on cutting inheritance tax, capital gains tax, | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
corporation tax, costing the exchequer billions, and at the same | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
time failing to fund the NHS or give social care the money demands? The | :13:23. | :13:27. | |
Prime Minister lets the CBI now that she is prepared to give away | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
billions extra incorporations tax but then tells us there's no money | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
for the NHS. What is stopping the Chancellor acting tomorrow is not | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
financial constraint but ideological constraints, it is time to give the | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
NHS funding it needs, and I commend this motion to House. The question | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
is as of the order paper and I: Jeremy Hunt to move the amendment in | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
the name of the Prime Minister. I beg to move the amendment in the | :13:58. | :14:04. | |
name of the Prime Minister and I want to start by recognising the | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
fantastic work done by NHS staff up and down the country. This autumn I | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
met a mental health nurse who told me how she had had to cope with the | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
pressure of one of her patients throwing himself off a bridge the | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
day after a consultation. I think all of us in this House will have | :14:25. | :14:29. | |
stories of the incredible dedication of NHS staff, not just people doing | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
their jobs, but people putting their heart and soul into their work, | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
staying late, going the extra mile, sacrificing him time and holidays to | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
be there for patients. And as for last week got to recognise the NHS | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
staff from EU countries who do a brilliant job, including 26,000 | :14:51. | :14:56. | |
low-paid staff. Today we have heard concerns on funding, A I will | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
give way in a moment. I just wish to finish this sentence, if I may. We | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
have heard funding an AMD performance, waiting times, and I | :15:07. | :15:11. | |
want to answer them all. There are many pressures in the NHS today and | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
I want to recognise some successes. One of the things that damages | :15:17. | :15:19. | |
morale the most is when you do not give credit where it is due. Can he | :15:20. | :15:28. | |
explain why he is making scores of redundancies in North Staffordshire? | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
In my 15 years as an MP I have never seen the NHS locally in such a melt | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
down but the scorched earth policy of cuts and closures, and more to | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
come with this still secret SDP next year. When will the government | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
realise that the pressures on social care and the NHS as such are | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
unsustainable without decent for the funding and investment? Is he will | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
know it certainly would be unsustainable if we followed his | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
party's investment plans at the last general election but if you want to | :15:58. | :16:08. | |
know what is happening to staff, in the period that I have been Health | :16:09. | :16:10. | |
Secretary we have 5000 more doctors and 10,000 more nurses, that is what | :16:11. | :16:13. | |
happens when the government is prepared to invest in the NHS. What | :16:14. | :16:15. | |
the Shadow Health Secretary did not tell us, he talked about, and he's | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
right to say that we are not hitting the target and doing something about | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
it, but what he did not tell the House was that since Labour left | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
office we have recruited 1200 more doctors for A departments, a 25% | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
increase, more than a 50% increase for consultants, and every day we | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
are seeing, within four hours, 2500 more people. I give way to a junior | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
doctor. I thank my honourable friend for giving way. I am a junior doctor | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
of which you speak and I can say that morale is at an absolute | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
all-time low. We have a recruitment and retention crisis, and all the | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
fantastic staff we are being able to recruit, we are absolutely losing. | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
Because this government is not recognising and accepting the | :17:04. | :17:06. | |
fantastic workforce we have on the front line, and all the doctors are | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
leaving. With the respect I think she is on the wrong side of the | :17:12. | :17:24. | |
House. I started my speech by recognising the brilliant work done | :17:25. | :17:26. | |
by doctors and nurses, something the Shadow Health Secretary | :17:27. | :17:28. | |
conspicuously failed to do. Let's look at her hospital. Since 2010 it | :17:29. | :17:30. | |
has, I don't know if she is interested in hearing my response to | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
her intervention. Her own hospital, since 2010, has got 884 more nurses. | :17:36. | :17:42. | |
I am just finishing my... 240 more doctors. And her CCG has had a ?10 | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
million increase in funding. I will give way. I thank the right | :17:48. | :17:54. | |
Honourable gentleman for allowing me to speak again. I shall be making | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
reference, greatly, to Saint Georges, when I get a speed later, | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
but I think it is very unfair of him to bring it into this House because | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
it is because of this government, because of this government, that | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
Saint Georges Hospital is operated at a ?50 million deficit. Because of | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
this government we are now in special measures... Order, order. | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
The honourable lady is hoping to catch the eye of the chair later on | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
in the debate. There will be a five-minute limit. So those people | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
who are going to intervene must do so very briefly, and not very | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
frequently. And if they do so I am afraid they may not get to speak | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
later on. Jeremy Hunt. Amongst other things the Shadow Health Secretary | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
did not speak about was cancer. In 2010 we had the lowest cancer | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
survival rate in Western Europe. Since then, every | :18:48. | :19:03. | |
day, we refer for cancer tests 2200 more people, and 100 more people | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
start treatment every single day, cancer charities say it saves 12,000 | :19:08. | :19:10. | |
lives per year. On mental health he did not mention the fact that we | :19:11. | :19:12. | |
treat 1400 more people every day. With record dementia diagnosis | :19:13. | :19:15. | |
rates. I am very happy to give way. Will the opposition be more | :19:16. | :19:17. | |
straightforward and honest with the wider context by admitting the | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
demographic challenge that this government faces, as they would have | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
faced, that the number of over 60s will increase by 50% over 15 years? | :19:25. | :19:30. | |
And also, the appalling millstone of PFI, which they bequeathed to this | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
government, ?64 billion, impacting on front line care. He is absolutely | :19:35. | :19:42. | |
right to raise that point. And I think that people will be astonished | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
to hear the Labour Party wasting its time talking about a privatisation | :19:48. | :19:51. | |
of the NHS that is not happening, when they themselves are responsible | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
for PFI, the worst possible privatisation, that has done such | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
enormous damage. The other point that he did not mention is what | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
Labour left behind in terms of the quality and safety of care in our | :20:05. | :20:11. | |
NHS. The Francis Report showed massive problems including short | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
staffing, a culture of denial and cover-ups, not just at Mid-Staffs, | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
but Basildon, Morecambe Bay, many others, and since we have been in | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
office we have changed it, putting 31 hospitals into special measures, | :20:24. | :20:29. | |
more than 10% across the entire NHS, recruiting record numbers of doctors | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
and nurses, and they want to tell the House about one trust in special | :20:34. | :20:41. | |
measures, in Slough, the care was unsafe, so much so that less than | :20:42. | :20:43. | |
half the staff in the hospital were prepared to recommend careful their | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
own friends and family. I will just finish this if I may. They went from | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
six out of eight of their clinical areas requiring improvement or | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
inadequate, to all they'd been good or outstanding. They came out of | :20:58. | :21:00. | |
special measures, 15 hospitals in total have come out of special | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
measures, and we should all commend the staff who work incredibly hard | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
to turn those hospitals round. I will give way. He has the nerve to | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
talk about the inheritance of a previous administration when what we | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
inherited in 1997 was people dying on waiting lists, for over 18 | :21:20. | :21:30. | |
months. I have often, from this dispatch box, be prepared to praise | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
some of the achievements of the last Labour government, they did bring | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
down waiting times, but what they did not focus on was the quality and | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
safety of care. What we now know from the CQ senile regime which has | :21:44. | :21:49. | |
just finished its inspections is that 56% of hospitals are good or | :21:50. | :21:51. | |
outstanding. progress. Am I right in saying that | :21:52. | :22:32. | |
the Right Honourable gentleman talks about the inspection regime, but | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
this was not something he and his Government introduced. The Care | :22:39. | :22:40. | |
Quality Commission and that regime was introduced by the Labour | :22:41. | :22:44. | |
Government, as far as I am aware. The hospitals that end up in special | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
measures, as I know from North Middlesex Hospital, is because they | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
are underfunded, under supported and can't get the doctors they need. I'm | :22:53. | :23:00. | |
afraid that she is right to say the sea QC -- the Care Quality | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
Commission was set up by the last Government, but they did not have | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
independence from the Government in their inspection reports, and when | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
we tried to legislate for that, Labour tried to vote it down. We | :23:12. | :23:15. | |
have changed the system and it is working extremely well. I want to | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
move on to the substance of the debate - the funding of the NHS. I | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
want to congratulate the honourable member for Leicester South for his | :23:24. | :23:32. | |
courage and his confidence in confronting the issue of funding | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
despite inheriting a Labour policy to cut funding of the NHS by ?5.5 | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
billion a year by the end of the parliament. He is right that there | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
has never been greater financial pressure after the financial crisis | :23:46. | :23:54. | |
in 2008, the deficit, the growing demand from the ageing population, | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
so he must accept that it is all extraordinary that Labour wanted to | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
cut the NHS budget in 2010, and cut it from current levels in 2015. I | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
simply say that we could as a Government have chosen to cut NHS | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
funding from this year's level by ?1.3 billion, which would have been | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
Labour's plans, but if we had, we would have had to lay off 11,000 | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
doctors or 40,000 nurses. I am happy to give way. This is the problem | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
with the conservative script. They talk about NHS funding but | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
completely neglect social care. They have cut social care every year for | :24:39. | :24:41. | |
the last six years, taking support away from 500,000 older people, many | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
of whom are now trapped in hospital beds. Greater Manchester has a | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
shortfall of ?80 million in social care ?1 billion nationally. As he | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
raised this issue with the Chancellor, made an emergency bid | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
for funding, and can he tell us whether they will put more money for | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
social care this year? It is not a problem with our script but with | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
his, because he as Shadow Health Secretary sanctioned a policy that | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
would have given and the NHS ?1.3 billion less this year, and the | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
Shadow Chancellor in the last election said he would give not a | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
penny more to local authorities, whereas we are seeing social care | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
funding going up by ?600 million this year, more money into the NHS | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
and into the social care system and a Government that is committed to | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
funding them both. What is especially wrong about the argument | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
made by the Shadow Health Secretary, whom I do welcome to his first | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
Opposition Day debate, is that the Government has not honoured its | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
promises to the NHS. What did the Independent commentators actually | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
say at the time of last year's spending review? Simon Stephens, | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
only quoted, said, our case for the NHS has been heard and actively | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
supported. NHS providers he quoted said it was a good settlement for | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
the NHS. The Kings fund said it was a good settlement for the NHS. | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
Because of the Government's commitment to the NHS, we are | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
spending 10% more as a proportion of GDP than the OECD average, than | :26:14. | :26:22. | |
Norway, Finland,... I give way. I am grateful to my right honourable | :26:23. | :26:25. | |
friend because would he not agree that without that investment, since | :26:26. | :26:35. | |
2009-10 to last year, there would not have been 1.6 million more | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
operations within the NHS that benefit all our constituents? He is | :26:40. | :26:45. | |
right, and I want to congratulate him. He was part of the shadow | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
health team that persuaded the then Shadow Chancellor and Leader of the | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
Opposition that we needed to make this investment. Thanks to that | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
investment, the NHS is doing 5000 more operations every single day. I | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
give way to my right honourable friend. He has been very gracious so | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
far in taking interventions from all sides and inciting independent | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
voices. Is it not the case that the independent King 's fund has also | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
pointed out that the sustainability and transformation plans he is | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
overseeing are the best hope of securing long-term improvement for | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
health and care in this country, and doesn't he agree with me that the | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
opposition to pay rather more attention to these independent | :27:26. | :27:29. | |
experts rather than repeating their own press releases? I think he is | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
right that just occasionally we should listen to experts, but only | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
very occasionally. In the spirit of listening to experts this afternoon, | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
let me tell you something else that he will agree with that the King 's | :27:47. | :27:53. | |
fund said, as we have the Leader of the Opposition here. It said, claims | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
of mass privatisation are exaggerated. Let's not go chasing | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
down rabbit holes. The result of this Government's commitment to the | :28:05. | :28:07. | |
NHS is that real terms spending per head has gone up by 4.6%, double the | :28:08. | :28:12. | |
rate of Scotland and three times the rate of Wales. He also mentions the | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
National Audit Office but he didn't mention that the numbers mentioned | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
in the report on last year's figures. He failed to mention this | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
year's numbers, published last week, showing 40% fewer trusts in deficit. | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
86% of trusts are hitting their financial plans, and the latest | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
figures on Friday showed that the deficit will fall 73% from last | :28:41. | :28:44. | |
year, and even lower than the year before. Why is that? Because of a | :28:45. | :28:52. | |
sustained effort by the NHS to tackle the problem. They don't want | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
to hear, but the truth is, the NHS is gripping the very problem that | :28:56. | :29:03. | |
the shadow minister called a debate on. The rate paid for agency nurses | :29:04. | :29:16. | |
is down 18%, followed come doctors, down 13%. The money we raised from | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
international visitors is up three times, from 84 million to 289 | :29:23. | :29:31. | |
million. Isn't it important to focus not just on the level of spending | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
but where we spend the money? As far as a long-term condition like | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
diabetes is concerned, isn't it essential that we focus on | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
preventative work, which in the long-term will actually save the NHS | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
a huge of money? It is absolutely right, and you know, in all | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
frankness, that is the argument that could be made from the front bench | :29:55. | :29:57. | |
this afternoon, and we would be having a much better debate. I give | :29:58. | :30:04. | |
way to my honourable friend can I congratulate him for the calm and | :30:05. | :30:07. | |
dignified way he is dealing with this debate, as a parent -- as | :30:08. | :30:14. | |
compared to the opposition. I would like to put in a plug for the local | :30:15. | :30:27. | |
Community Hospital is not just about my -- Community Hospitals, not just | :30:28. | :30:32. | |
in my constituency but across the country. They will continue to be a | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
vital part of provision in most of our constituencies. I will give way | :30:38. | :30:41. | |
to the honourable lady then I will make progress. If the Secretary of | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
State thinks that community hospitals are so important, can he | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
guarantee that the Richardson in Barnard Castle will stay open? I | :30:50. | :30:56. | |
think she will be happy that these decisions are made locally rather | :30:57. | :30:59. | |
than by the Health Secretary of either party. I just want to pick up | :31:00. | :31:07. | |
on one particularly extraordinary comment that the Shadow Health | :31:08. | :31:12. | |
Secretary made yesterday. He said, aggressive efficiency targets have | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
contributed to deficits. This is a curious thing to say, firstly, | :31:17. | :31:20. | |
because his own spending plans would have meant by 5p more of | :31:21. | :31:28. | |
efficiencies. I wonder how he would describe Labour's approach. | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
Secondly, I know we are all called on supporters now, but basic | :31:34. | :31:36. | |
economics suggests that efficiency plans don't increase deficits, -- | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
don't reduce deficits, they increased them. We want the money to | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
go into patient care. There was another danger in his argument, and | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
I think this is a mistake that it is very easy not just for him but for | :31:52. | :31:54. | |
many commentators to fall into, and that is the suggestion that this is | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
a uniform problem across the NHS, that the NHS is powerless to grip | :32:00. | :32:06. | |
without further Government intervention, when the reality is | :32:07. | :32:08. | |
that there was huge variation across the system. The deficits add good or | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
outstanding trusts are five times less than those of other trusts is. | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
If they all had the same financial performance as the good or | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
outstanding ones, we would have a service of nearly ?500 million. Half | :32:25. | :32:28. | |
of the deficits are from just 22 trusts, and we see these variation | :32:29. | :32:35. | |
on a specific level. The amount played her gloves, some trusts pay | :32:36. | :32:40. | |
?1.27, others pay just 50p for the same gloves. On waiting lists... I | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
will give way in a moment. On waiting lists, if you look at the | :32:47. | :32:49. | |
1000 people who are waiting more than a year for treatment, which is | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
unacceptable, there is just one person from an outstanding trust who | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
has been waiting that long. 93% are from trusts that require improvement | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
or rather inadequate. That is why we have a huge programme to help those | :33:03. | :33:06. | |
trusts improve and deal with challenges. On the initial -- issue | :33:07. | :33:15. | |
of financial management, in Wales, staff spend has increased 50% last | :33:16. | :33:23. | |
year, compared to England. I do recognise that, and I know it has | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
been going up in Scotland as well. It is short-sighted of both those | :33:28. | :33:30. | |
administrations not to work with us to tackle the problem. Otherwise, | :33:31. | :33:36. | |
staff living in border areas play off one system against the other. He | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
has been trying to blame hospitals for the deficit, but the point is, | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
the spend on agency staff has ballooned in England over the last | :33:47. | :33:50. | |
six years. The reason for that is because this Government and its | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
predecessor cut nurse training places and left hospitals in the | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
grip of private staffing agencies. It's simply not fair for the | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
Secretary of State to stand at the dispatch box blaming hospitals for a | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
problem of their making. I am not blaming hospitals, we are supporting | :34:09. | :34:11. | |
them to deal with the problem. The root cause of the problem was the | :34:12. | :34:15. | |
Francis Report and all those hospitals where bad problems were | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
being covered up and we wanted to sort it out, which means more nurses | :34:20. | :34:25. | |
on our wards. That is why we have 10,000 more nurses in the four years | :34:26. | :34:28. | |
I have been Health Secretary. Would he agree with me that the public are | :34:29. | :34:37. | |
finally starting to see through the usual Labour smoke screen of being | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
high on rhetoric, low one alternative solutions, and usually a | :34:42. | :34:44. | |
very patchy and poor delivery when given the job. My right honourable | :34:45. | :34:51. | |
friend's approach is a change in funding, which is what the public | :34:52. | :34:56. | |
are looking for. The two potential solutions we have had from | :34:57. | :34:58. | |
backbenchers, the honourable member for Leicester under former Chief | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
Whip, but not from the front bench. He is making an important point. I | :35:03. | :35:09. | |
want to wrap up my comments. He is right to hold the Government is | :35:10. | :35:13. | |
accountable for the funding of the NHS and social care, but it is a big | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
mistake to distil all issues around the NHS to the simple issue of | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
money, because that sub contracts responsibility for safe, | :35:24. | :35:25. | |
high-quality care to politicians, when if we're going to be the | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
safest, highest quality system in the world, it has to be everyone's | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
job, everyone's focus and commitment. Politicians, yes, but | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
doctors, managers, health care assistants, every single person | :35:40. | :35:42. | |
working in the NHS. The way forward is first of all to move to | :35:43. | :35:48. | |
accountable care models, the five-year view. I just say to the | :35:49. | :35:56. | |
House, because the Shadow Health Secretary brought up the question of | :35:57. | :36:00. | |
STPs, calling them secret plans, but 28 of the 44 had been published and | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
the rest will be published before Christmas. Many in this House | :36:05. | :36:10. | |
objected on all sides to the health and social care act because they | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
felt it didn't do enough to support integrated care. Now we have process | :36:15. | :36:18. | |
that is bringing together the NHS and the social care system, acute | :36:19. | :36:25. | |
trusts, primary care, at a local level. That is a big prize, and we | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
should support that, not try and make political capital. One final | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
point. Very grateful to the Secretary of State. In | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
Stoke-on-Trent, the CCGs set on the STP and we have still not seen that | :36:41. | :36:43. | |
report, but we have seen an executive summary. At the same time | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
as the STP are suggesting one thing, the CCGs are undermining it by | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
closing community hospitals. They are not working together but against | :36:55. | :36:55. | |
each other. That is exactly what we need to sort | :36:56. | :37:07. | |
out, and that is why we have the STP process, and the well-planned | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
strategy. I want to see this, if we stick with this process and have the | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
relentless focus on safety and quality of care, what are we going | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
to see? This parliament? 1 million more people accessing mental health | :37:26. | :37:32. | |
treatment, the transformation of services through GPs. Four week | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
cancer waiting time. That is going to save 30,000 lives, the weekend if | :37:36. | :37:46. | |
it tackled, more nurses and the NHS staying true to the promise made to | :37:47. | :37:54. | |
patients, 1948, that safe, high-quality care is going to be | :37:55. | :37:57. | |
available for everyone regardless of income. That is what the government | :37:58. | :38:04. | |
wants, I get everybody to support this motion. The question is that | :38:05. | :38:11. | |
the original words stand part... Before I call the right honourable | :38:12. | :38:22. | |
lady, the SNP spokesperson, we have calculated five minutes and we are | :38:23. | :38:24. | |
going to have to go down to four minutes. Pardon? Five minutes for | :38:25. | :38:39. | |
me... The speech limit has been calculated with her remains. The | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
longer that she speaks, the listing that everybody else has. -- her in | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
mind. That is disappointing with what I have prepared for today. I | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
think the NHS faces sustainability issues, across the United Kingdom. | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
The increase in demand, from an ageing population with increasing | :39:01. | :39:07. | |
complexity. The problem is that the way that you try to tackle that | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
demand, it is public hearings and also social care, so those people do | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
not end up in the most expensive place. We also have a lack of staff, | :39:18. | :39:27. | |
nurses and doctors, and our lack of training nurses, the threat of | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
losing some of the staff from the European Union. And the other threat | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
to sustainability, it is money. But money is what you could fix. The | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
others are going to take decades to fix, I training more nurses, | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
doctors, inventing a bonus. Finding better ways to look after the ageing | :39:49. | :39:57. | |
population. I welcome the idea of STPs, because it should be a | :39:58. | :40:07. | |
reptile, -- return to planning but the problem is that it has got to be | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
be still in patient centred care. And it is being discussed as though | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
it is coming from budget care. From the select committee, we were told | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
that the STPs had been given a figure that they had to meet by | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
2021. I do not think that is ever going to work. If you want to | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
decrease inefficiency, and increase efficiency then you have got target | :40:35. | :40:37. | |
the inefficiencies at the system, not just take an axe to the whole | :40:38. | :40:45. | |
thing. Because when hospitals run out of money and take action, it is | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
going to be poorly thought, immediate survival. It is looking at | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
the fat, the natural inefficiencies and some of that comes down to this | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
lack of integration. STPs provide a great opportunity and it is going to | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
be an opportunity that we look back and think that we have messed if we | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
do not take it properly. The Secretary of State has said no | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
privatisation for the NHS, but certainly marketisation and | :41:17. | :41:21. | |
outsourcing. I graduated in 1982 so I have lived through every single | :41:22. | :41:30. | |
inspiration, and that 9092 we were just skint. The NHS, 5% of GDP, | :41:31. | :41:40. | |
dropping to 4% over the 19 duties. Instead of increasing that, what we | :41:41. | :41:47. | |
had was just constant redesign. The internal market, GDP purchasing, | :41:48. | :41:56. | |
referring to clinics. If I decided that it was not such a call, GPs | :41:57. | :42:09. | |
would refuse to pay. Surgeons would send them. Patients fell through the | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
cracks. Some of them never got the second referral, and what we had | :42:16. | :42:18. | |
after that was that we started to have change and we went from 106 | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
authorities to 300 PCTs, even though the leaders of those PCTs embassy | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
money as the health authorities. People made authorities, and that | :42:34. | :42:43. | |
the mid 2000s, we went from 300 to 150. Again, redundancy and | :42:44. | :42:51. | |
transition. We started to have PFIs, the NHS has paid over 60 billion for | :42:52. | :43:02. | |
11 billion worth of buildings. This was not the correct thing to do. And | :43:03. | :43:09. | |
then we had the health and social care act, replacing them with 211 | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
clinical commissioning groups. This is putting power in hands of the | :43:14. | :43:22. | |
GPs. That was through the Freedom of information, with than 12% of the | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
majority on them. 47% do not even have a clinical majority. The idea | :43:28. | :43:37. | |
that the power of CCGs is giving power back to primary care is | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
fallacy. And this was through all governments. Independent treatment | :43:45. | :43:52. | |
centres given block grants. It was not patient choice. The GP had to | :43:53. | :44:02. | |
send the patient to the ICG. Trying to counter that by results. What | :44:03. | :44:14. | |
that don't do -- did do, was increase activity but the activity | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
is just growing and growing. Hospitals get paid for activity, not | :44:19. | :44:24. | |
if that was correct. In Scotland we abandoned trusts in 2004, abandoning | :44:25. | :44:34. | |
Primary Care Trusts in 2009. And if you look at the publication of | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
admin, this is all the NHS, it has fallen from 7.6% in six sevenths, to | :44:41. | :44:50. | |
6.7% in 15/16. With regards to public health at England, nobody has | :44:51. | :44:57. | |
any idea. It was estimated at that time is 14%. I would suggest that | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
the current market is more complex than it was then. I think things can | :45:03. | :45:14. | |
be done. Things can be done about recruitment. It is not limiting, it | :45:15. | :45:25. | |
is not national procurement. The logistics division is going to pick | :45:26. | :45:33. | |
items per ward and deliver them from a central depot, to ward. That | :45:34. | :45:41. | |
allows you to cut costs as was suggested at the carter review. Got | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
to keep down agency craters. -- prices. But why are we not asking | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
the bigger question, why are these nurses choosing to work for an | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
agency rather than the NHS? Is it that they are more money? | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
Flexibility? Family friendliness? Would we not be better to look at | :46:05. | :46:13. | |
how we let them work, because from the point of view of the quality of | :46:14. | :46:16. | |
the job and the satisfaction, all of them would prefer to beat the one | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
place rather than a different place every week. I things can be done. | :46:22. | :46:29. | |
Better use of community pharmacies, and hospitals. It is absolutely | :46:30. | :46:37. | |
crucial that the fund social care, so that elderly people are looked | :46:38. | :46:45. | |
after at home. I think SDPs provide potential but I am asking the | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
Secretary of State, instead of going on and on with marketisation, no | :46:50. | :46:54. | |
cost benefit analysis has ever been done and no evidence of benefit from | :46:55. | :47:06. | |
that, because that way they conceive 5 billion every year. That would | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
have a significant impact on the date. It has been suggested we need | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
to bring solutions. I am offering the ones I can think of from | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
Scotland and they recommending them to the Secretary of State. It is a | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
pleasure to follow my right honourable friend from central | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
earshot. I want to look at the current financial position, trying | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
to agree a settlement for the future in the house rather than having such | :47:32. | :47:40. | |
controversial debates. -- Ayrshire. Adding an extra year, 2014/15. But | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
also by transferring budgets to NHS England, and when the Secretary of | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
State refers to the NHS, it is actually NHS England, not including | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
public Els, public health education England. But these are crucial to be | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
considered. When we are talking about transferring public money from | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
public Els to NHS England, what we mean is cutting off the ability to | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
control the increase in future demand as my great honourable friend | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
has already referred to, these are significant challenges that are not | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
going to be addressed unless we invest. And also these are | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
front-line services. We can talk about public health as though it is | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
not front-line care, but it is, we are talking about addiction, sexual | :48:33. | :48:39. | |
health services and important costs for the NHS. But also the challenge | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
of health education England, the budget. These are front-line | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
services. Think about the 5 billion budget for him the education | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
England, 3.5 of that goes directly to the wages of Hill service doctors | :48:54. | :48:59. | |
in training, but deliver in front-line services. But again, cut | :49:00. | :49:06. | |
off from future sustainability because this is the budget that | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
sustains the existing workforce. It is crucial to front-line services. | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
The other way that the 10 billion is arrived at is by changing the | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
baseline from which we calculate the increases. And it has never been | :49:23. | :49:25. | |
more important than it is just now for the public to have confidence in | :49:26. | :49:33. | |
the data they use. So trying to get us to think about total health | :49:34. | :49:37. | |
spending, that is not being awkward but honest with the public. And | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
also, if you are arguing for more funding for health and social care, | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
it is difficult to argue that is necessary if one has put out a | :49:48. | :49:54. | |
figure, the 10 billion increase. It is important that we continue to use | :49:55. | :49:57. | |
the consistent bass lines that have been used in the past so that the | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
public can see what has happened. I am welcoming the fact that the NHS | :50:03. | :50:09. | |
has been relatively protected computer and -- compared to other | :50:10. | :50:18. | |
departments. But when Simon Stephens talked about welcoming the increase | :50:19. | :50:21. | |
that was granted he was clear at the time that this was dependent also on | :50:22. | :50:29. | |
the fair settlement for social care, and radical groups for public | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
service. Those two aspects have been lacking. I think both sides are | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
correct. I can see why the Secretary of State has arrived at the figure | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
of 10 billion but alongside that, whenever that has been used we | :50:44. | :50:50. | |
should also present the figure refers to of total health spending | :50:51. | :50:53. | |
because it has been in the past. I think that would help build the case | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
for an increase in funding going forward. I hope that as others have | :50:58. | :51:03. | |
commented at the Autumn Statement we have the uplift for social care, | :51:04. | :51:09. | |
because its impact on the NHS is profound. You cannot have a member | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
in this phase, with an surgeries, people coming to see them, and the | :51:16. | :51:20. | |
state of the care system has been a collapse. Even those who can afford | :51:21. | :51:28. | |
to pay can find it difficult. In my constituency, some villages have no | :51:29. | :51:31. | |
social care available because private providers cannot afford to | :51:32. | :51:35. | |
deliver that. I wonder if the right honourable lady as chair of the | :51:36. | :51:39. | |
select committee knows if that happens at other parts of the | :51:40. | :51:40. | |
country? We know it does, and we know from | :51:41. | :51:48. | |
the sea QC report that they see social care is being at a tipping | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
point, in a fragile state. We all it -- we owe it to our constituents to | :51:56. | :51:59. | |
agree where we go from here. Many have proposed a Royal commission for | :52:00. | :52:06. | |
looking at sustainability. I would say we have had those, setting out | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
what the options are. In the other place, they are looking at our | :52:12. | :52:14. | |
future sustainability, all the options. I would urge colleagues | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
across the house, rather than having a confrontational debate | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
continually, to agree the best way forward is for all parties to agree | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
that this is an enormous challenge. My personal belief is, we should | :52:31. | :52:33. | |
stick with our current, very equitable system of state funding of | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
the NHS, look at the various options in front of us, and agree between us | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
that we need to address this. We can't keep ducking it. We owe this | :52:43. | :52:49. | |
to all of our constituents to have a much more constructive tone in the | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
debate. It was reiterated today in the National Audit Office report | :52:54. | :52:59. | |
that the current position is simply unsustainable. And we can continue, | :53:00. | :53:04. | |
as I say, to just be shouting across the chamber about how much is spent. | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
We know this will be a challenge, whoever is in power, so I would urge | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
all colleagues to focus instead on a different approach. Yes, there is | :53:15. | :53:18. | |
more that can be done within the NHS. I'm afraid the elastic is | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
stretched far too tight for social care to make any more efficiencies, | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
in my view, and we now need to work together to see how we can fund | :53:27. | :53:35. | |
this. The NHS in Wirral is facing its greatest crisis, which is why I | :53:36. | :53:38. | |
am grateful to be called in the debate. Cheshire and Merseyside's | :53:39. | :53:46. | |
so-called sustainability plan was published last Wednesday, and it is | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
shocking in its complacency, Orwellian in its language, and | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
potentially devastating in its consequences. The Secretary of State | :53:56. | :53:58. | |
has described these plans as open and transparent, but Wirral and | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
Merseyside Council has had zero involvement in this plan. The first | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
they knew about it was when it was posted on the NHS website last | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
Wednesday. I want to make three quick observations about the flaws | :54:13. | :54:17. | |
in the STP process which have become increasingly apparent. The first | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
concern is that the NHS has been starved of money, so these plans are | :54:23. | :54:28. | |
more about putting the finances than reconfiguring the services. Second, | :54:29. | :54:34. | |
this has been a top down process, organised in a very secretive way by | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
the NHS. Third, the extremely tight deadlines imposed on the process | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
make it impossible to achieve any meaningful consultation or public | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
involvement. Let me turn to the plans which have been developed for | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
Merseyside and Cheshire, and the effects they will have on the | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
services in Wirral. The plan was published on Wednesday, confirming | :54:58. | :55:00. | |
that our local herbal -- health services have been massively | :55:01. | :55:03. | |
underfunded to the tune of ?1 billion. Far from providing the | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
appropriate resources to meet patient needs, the plan sets out | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
massive cuts. It confirms the existence of entirely new meanings | :55:15. | :55:17. | |
for familiar words and phrases in the English language, as well as | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
elevating management gobbledygook to a high art form. In NHS speak, we | :55:23. | :55:28. | |
now know that sustainability means closing all deficits in Merseyside | :55:29. | :55:32. | |
and Cheshire, which means ?1 billion of cuts. Openness and transparency | :55:33. | :55:36. | |
means developing these plans in secret and totalisation -- total | :55:37. | :55:49. | |
isolation... Sustainable is gobbledygook for mergers and the | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
downgrading of A The report aims to make these savings by merging | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
existing hospitals across the region, downgrading A services, | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
cutting access to maternity provision, and it makes the heroic | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
assumption that if care is provided closer to home, services will become | :56:07. | :56:11. | |
cheaper and demand will go down. The report is silent on the future for | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
Wirral acute services, despite its ominous observation that there needs | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
to be a review to determine future options for hospital | :56:23. | :56:25. | |
reconfiguration. But Wirral health trust's annual report let the cat | :56:26. | :56:29. | |
out of the bag when it confirmed that the merger of Arab Park and | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
parts of clatter bridge and the Countess of Chester is currently | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
being considered. It would leave Wirral devoid of any acute service | :56:40. | :56:42. | |
and the believe my constituents with increasingly difficult journeys to | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
access acute care at all. It is a fact that Wirral local authority has | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
had zero opportunity to be involved in the development of the plans, | :56:52. | :56:56. | |
despite the NHS planning guidelines for STPs asking those NHS managers | :56:57. | :57:03. | |
to develop -- those managers developing them to engage with | :57:04. | :57:08. | |
partners. It is a fact that the proposals contained within it are | :57:09. | :57:11. | |
unacceptable. The NHS needs more funding urgently. The STP process | :57:12. | :57:18. | |
must be slowed down so that there can be meaningful consultation, and | :57:19. | :57:20. | |
the Government should end the top-down planning in secret and open | :57:21. | :57:26. | |
up the process to involve the public and patients in their local | :57:27. | :57:31. | |
communities, and other statutory authorities and staff. That is why, | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, I have launched a petition to as the | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
Government to press the pause button on these plans so that they can be | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
properly considered by patients, the public and staff. It can be found at | :57:44. | :57:51. | |
www. SaveWirral. NHS .com. Please visit and sign the petition. | :57:52. | :57:56. | |
Together, we have to fight to save Wirral NHS. After that public | :57:57. | :58:04. | |
service announcement, it is a limit of four minutes. Thank you, Madam | :58:05. | :58:15. | |
Deputy Speaker. I want to make five proposals. First, prevention, which | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
we haven't heard nearly enough about in this debate so far today. It is | :58:19. | :58:24. | |
wholly unacceptable that a third of our children at the age of 11 are | :58:25. | :58:28. | |
now obese. We learned today that many children are consuming a bath | :58:29. | :58:36. | |
full of fizzy drinks every year. We know that the global matrix of | :58:37. | :58:47. | |
fitness puts England and Wales as poor and Scotland as even poorer. | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
One way to improve things is to extend the excellent work of Saint | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
Ninian 's primary School in Stirling who pioneered the use of the daily | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
mile, where all children run or walk one-mile at some point during the | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
day. This has had dramatic results in that school. Not one of the 57 | :59:09. | :59:14. | |
children is overweight. A significant reduction in coughs and | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
colds improvement in mental as well as physical well-being, and it has | :59:20. | :59:23. | |
been taken up across the Netherlands and Belgium. I would like to see a | :59:24. | :59:27. | |
lot more of it across our country. Second, on the issue of self-care, | :59:28. | :59:33. | |
there is a huge amount we need to do in terms of health literacy. I would | :59:34. | :59:41. | |
commend members to look at the report of the all-party | :59:42. | :59:43. | |
Parliamentary group on primary care and public health that came out in | :59:44. | :59:49. | |
March this year, which showed that in 2014 33.7 million visits to A | :59:50. | :59:55. | |
for self treatable conditions, and 52 million visits to GPs each year | :59:56. | :00:01. | |
as well, also for self treatable conditions. It is estimated that if | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
we could deal with that and people went to the appropriate place, we | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
would save over ?2 billion per year for the NHS. In terms of | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
gatekeeping, my third point, in our hospitals, I would commend the | :00:15. | :00:23. | |
initiative taken in Scotland, where having senior consultant input in | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
A led to a reduction of 30% in acute surgical admissions. My own | :00:28. | :00:36. | |
local hospital has also introduced a similar methodology for patients | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
with acute conditions, which is bearing fruit. Thirdly, in terms of | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
quality, which again, we haven't heard enough about in terms of this | :00:46. | :00:52. | |
debate, I would urge members to look more fully at the work of the | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
Getting It Right First Time initiative. It started in | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
orthopaedics, and the Government estimate that will save ?1.5 billion | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
per year. It is not just a financial saving, it is about better outcomes | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
for patients who in some cases may have been given the wrong operation, | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
had poor quality and had to have significant revisions. That project | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
is getting data across the country. Following oral and facial cancer | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
surgery, the rate of return for another procedure within 90 days, we | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
know, varies from 8.3% in some hospitals to over 80% in others. | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
That degree of variation is simply unacceptable, and if we could get a | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
higher level of quality, much better outcomes for patients, as well as | :01:49. | :01:56. | |
saving money to the NHS. Finally, an enhanced recovery programmes such as | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
the one in South Warwickshire, has led to significant increases in | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
productivity, with better outcomes for patients, and we need to see | :02:06. | :02:08. | |
much more of that across the whole of the country. The South West | :02:09. | :02:16. | |
London five-year forward plan published last week states its | :02:17. | :02:24. | |
intention to save a staggering ?828 million by 2020. Their contribution | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
to the attempted national savings of ?22 billion by 2020. This draft | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
sustainability and transformation plan published by the Southwest | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
London partnership doesn't shed very much light on how they are actually | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
going to manage that. Other than by reducing A attendance by 40% in | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
three years. This is a totally implausible aim, given it has not | :02:51. | :02:53. | |
been achieved by any health system in the world, let alone one that is | :02:54. | :03:00. | |
cash strapped. This unsustainable ambition brings us to the | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
long-standing proposal which has been so often denied, to reduce the | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
year -- to reduce the number of acute hospitals in south-west London | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
from five to four, even, God help us, three. It includes Saint | :03:14. | :03:21. | |
Georges, Croydon, Epsom and St Helier, which I have been fighting | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
from closure for the last 18 years. We know that these five acute | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
hospitals, Saint Georges Hospital will rightly be protected from | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
closure. It is also clear it is unlikely to be Croydon University | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
Hospital or Kingston, which leaves us just St Helier or Epsom, both of | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
which have been under threat before. No amount of vaguely worded | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
statements from the partnership will change the fact that the intention | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
is to close St Helier. It was stated, we need to review our Acute | :03:54. | :03:56. | |
Hospital to make sure we meet the changing demands of our population, | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
and to ensure that acute providers provide high-quality, efficient | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
care. We will need four Acute Hospital site in south-west London | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
and will undertake further work, including analysis of revenue | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
implications, on three, four and five site options. Not only will one | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
acute site definitely close, but commissioners are considering the | :04:19. | :04:29. | |
closure of two site. St Helier's closure was the main recommendation | :04:30. | :04:33. | |
in 2011, but this by colleagues on the Government benches, including | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
the honourable members for both Wimbledon and Twickenham, have been | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
taken in by the peddling of the myth that no hospitals will close. When | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
is a closure a closure? If you remove maternity and A from a | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
hospital, all the associated diagnostics and other services, is | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
that not a closure? To me, that is precisely what it is. I would like | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
to make it clear to this House, the Government, the partnership and more | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
importantly, to my constituents, that we have come together as before | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
as a community, to fight the closure of Saint Helly hospital, and we will | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
do it again. We will do it again, not only for the people who use it, | :05:13. | :05:18. | |
but for the people who use every hospital in south-west London, | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
because the closure of St Helier means the undermining of all those | :05:22. | :05:28. | |
other hospitals. I would like to start by commending all the | :05:29. | :05:34. | |
hard-working people within the NHS - doctors and nurses - and for the | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
increase in activity in our NHS over the past several years. The NHS has | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
never worked harder, we have never seen so many patients treated in our | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
NHS, and standards are certainly improving, but I think we have to | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
face up to the fact that in this is of morbidity and mortality are poor | :05:53. | :06:01. | |
-- the index. I am not satisfied with comparing the UK with the OECD | :06:02. | :06:10. | |
average. We should compare ourselves to countries like France, Germany, | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
Holland, Belgium and Denmark, where I'm afraid, our record, our | :06:15. | :06:21. | |
performance, is behind the curve. That's the challenge. Unlike my | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
honourable friend, the member for Totnes, I am cautious about this | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
figure of 10 billion. I urge some clarity around this on the front | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
bench. We need to make it very clear what this actually is. I commend the | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
Government for spending this level of money on our NHS, despite the | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
opposition from the benches opposite. If we are to a debate that | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
is collaborative and collegiate, I think we need to have a level of | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
humility from the benches opposite on this particular point, since it | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
is undoubtedly the case that that figure was opposed at the last | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
general election by Labour. We need to understand what 10 billion isn't | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
what it isn't. According to the Nuffield trust and the King 's fund | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
is more likely 4.5 billion. The reason for that was elegantly laid | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
out by my honourable friend, using a baseline based on prices. Whether or | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
not you include or exclude the money that has been removed from the | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
public health function of local Government, and from health | :07:32. | :07:33. | |
education England. I would contend, and I think she would, those monies | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
need to be included in the sum total of health care in this country, and | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
that is what our constituents would understand. That figure seems to me | :07:43. | :07:44. | |
to more reasonable. I am also worried about the 22 | :07:45. | :07:59. | |
billion of savings, that the five-year forward view was based on. | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
This is not likely to result in anything like 22 billion. The | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
savings, tested, that is just polite speak for non-achievable. We know | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
that from the transfer from capital to revenue and the sustainability | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
element and transformation fund, that is not sustainable in the | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
long-term. We do not want to rely on the sustainability. Tomorrow we must | :08:28. | :08:37. | |
look for the big cash injection, and then we need a long-term submission, | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
perhaps not royal commission because they take forever. But we need the | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
commission, having debate about how we pay for the health service given | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
the pressures. And the end to the triple lock. That could save 2.1 | :08:55. | :09:02. | |
billion by 2021. And then the interest of generational fairness, | :09:03. | :09:12. | |
Devon, -- given that the elderly use the most, we need to do all of this | :09:13. | :09:22. | |
with an the the NHS that is free at the point of need. Thank you Madam | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
Deputy Speaker. I have found the points that he made particularly | :09:29. | :09:35. | |
interesting. Long suspected proposals to downgrade Darlington | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
Memorial Hospital, confirmed by the leak of the transformation plan by | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
Hartlepool Council. I am grateful to this counsel for allowing the | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
document to enter the public domain. Darlington Memorial service | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
Darlington itself, population of about 100,000 but also serves | :09:57. | :10:01. | |
communities, from Durham, Yorkshire, beyond. Darlington is the closest | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
major town and I believe it is the largest army base in Europe, set to | :10:08. | :10:17. | |
expand. Hospitals have already been downgraded, changes are emergency | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
cover and maternity. And Windows changes were made, in the face of | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
enormous local opposition, residents had been given assurances that | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
Darlington was going to be seen. Darlington Memorial is special to | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
me, and maybe even more so for my constituents. I make no apologies. | :10:40. | :10:48. | |
Both of my parents were nurses, and we lived in the accommodation at the | :10:49. | :10:49. | |
hospital. My dad died at the hospital. My two | :10:50. | :11:05. | |
sons were born at the hospital, making regular and unexpected use of | :11:06. | :11:07. | |
the services. Some benefit to centralisation, I absolutely support | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
clinically driven decision-making and when cardiac services were | :11:13. | :11:15. | |
removed from Darlington to Middlesbrough, no campaign. It was | :11:16. | :11:22. | |
the correct choice for patients and I supported it. Major trauma already | :11:23. | :11:29. | |
at Middlesbrough but the argument is about centralising services when you | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
do not have problems with it comes, or the clinical game for patients. | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
It is wrong. And another concern is the amount of money being spent on | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
engagement activity with the local community to explain the plans of | :11:46. | :11:48. | |
downgrading and find out what the residents think. With written | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
Parliamentary questions, I have found that ?4.6 million has so far | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
been spent on such activities. This is a disgrace. Those responsible | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
should be held to account. They have wasted the public money. And | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
misleading them, nothing to show for it. In recent months a campaign to | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
save Darlington hospital has been growing. They have been out, | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
knocking doors, having coffee mornings, doing that for free. | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
Engaging 6000 people, doing a better job of engaging the public and doing | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
that for absolutely nothing. No clinical case for downgrading | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
services at Darlington hospital, everybody knows that and that is why | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
they are taking so much time and money trying to make up something to | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
persuade patients this is a good idea. And the SDP describing my | :12:44. | :12:53. | |
constituents as passive recipients, it is not helping. The trouble, the | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
nirvana that the SDP tries to support, as of yet unquantifiable | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
amounts of upfront spending and it is not going to be achievable. I | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
have an attachment to my local hospital. It goes beyond, but I | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
understand enough about how this process is unravelling to know that | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
the staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital and patience, my | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
constituents, deserve better. The National health service is and | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
always has been valued and cherished by my constituents. They expect care | :13:32. | :13:41. | |
to be provided free at the point of use. We are all deeply committed to | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
the future of the NHS, so long as it can continue to provide the quality | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
of care, and it cannot stand still and needs to transform the way that | :13:54. | :13:56. | |
it delivers services so that increased resources lead to better | :13:57. | :14:05. | |
care for patients. As a proportion of total government spending, it has | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
increased in every single year since 2010. Spending is now 10.1% higher | :14:11. | :14:21. | |
per head in real terms than 2010, and this has brought him spending | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
broadly in line with Western European neighbours. In order to | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
achieve best value from resources and the lover of the 22 billion of | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
efficiency savings, the savings that the NHS itself has identified as | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
achievable, it is necessary to reconfigure the way that Hill and | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
social services are the local level. This issue is huge. And in my | :14:49. | :14:56. | |
opinion, until we amalgamate the social care budget with the health | :14:57. | :15:05. | |
budget, to deliver their health reference service -- driven service, | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
we will struggle. I mention this not to cause controversy but highlight | :15:11. | :15:18. | |
decisions coming ahead. Local politics and empire protections over | :15:19. | :15:27. | |
budgets, hamper sustainability. A few weeks ago, the plan was | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
published, sitting at the ambition of the future and kill the care in | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
the region. This was building upon a significant amount of work that has | :15:39. | :15:46. | |
been done at the local level. These groups have been working together to | :15:47. | :15:49. | |
address challenges, facing the economy across the area. The | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
decision to proceed to the formal business case was met with | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
considerable concern from some members of the public who have been | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
vociferous in opposition to what they have received to be a complete | :16:03. | :16:10. | |
withdrawal of treatment at the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
Although the process has been challenging, I would argue it has | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
been absolutely essential. The current model are not sustainable. | :16:18. | :16:26. | |
And changes are required, to ensure that we have the local health | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
service that continues to provide excellent care. Some of the | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
sensational media headlines from the local press and my opponents at the | :16:36. | :16:41. | |
last general election, it can be easy to forget that these proposals | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
are not being put forward by politicians or the government, but | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
senior local clinicians and doctors. The people who best understand how | :16:53. | :16:55. | |
these local health services can best be delivered. Taking an independent | :16:56. | :17:04. | |
review, how it can directly lead to better care. And in my view, it is | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
them that we have got to trust with the judgment. But if we are to | :17:09. | :17:16. | |
proceed to transform the way that we deliver care, we have to improve the | :17:17. | :17:21. | |
way that we communicate any proposed changes and not keep scaremongering | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
about cuts. Especially when the annual NHS budget spent has been | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
increasing in real terms. Thank you. I want to talk about the Mel seaside | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
sustainability and transformation plan. The documents relating to | :17:38. | :17:47. | |
that. -- Merseyside. The plans are just feel of this unrealistic news | :17:48. | :17:57. | |
speak as feared. It was drawn up by managers in secrecy, already | :17:58. | :17:59. | |
implemented without any of the affected stakeholders and without | :18:00. | :18:07. | |
the people of Cheshire and Merseyshire being asked what they | :18:08. | :18:16. | |
think. We would see the hospitals being reconfigured, amalgamated at a | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
later date. It is planned to be rebuilt new to the Royal. But no | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
money available for the new building. The plans have entailed | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
the downgrading of hospital services, where many of my | :18:31. | :18:37. | |
constituents go. Some combination of all of them. Details not provided. | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
These shocking cuts have little chance of being accepted and this is | :18:44. | :18:46. | |
for a number of reason. It is absolutely apparent that the | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
Cheshire and Merseyshire SDP has been financially driven. This has | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
been admitted by those who drew it up. It has been accepted in an | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
interview in the Liverpool Echo. When asked what would happen, if | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
these changes were not made, they would not have enough money to run | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
the services, this is about managing rather than letting it happen. When | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
asked about cuts, she said that the financial component has been a | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
strong driver. The report, entitled sustainability plans for the NHS, | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
they have said that the original purpose of the SDP was to improve | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
efficiency of services. The emphasis from National NHS bodies has shifted | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
over time to focus more heavily on how they can bring the NHS into | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
financial balance. We can see this from the answers. The SDP has to do | :19:44. | :19:51. | |
with the pressure of almost ?1 billion gap. Making cuts in spending | :19:52. | :19:54. | |
to meet financial requirements is what is at the centre of these | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
plans. The people of Merseyshire, not deaf. They see this. The | :20:01. | :20:09. | |
Cheshire and Merseyshire SDP requires capital funding no longer | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
available. In Liverpool, the deficit of the hospitals is estimated to be | :20:16. | :20:24. | |
276.5 million. In the Liverpool Echo interview, it was suggested that the | :20:25. | :20:26. | |
City Council would provide the capital funding. I thank my right | :20:27. | :20:37. | |
honourable friend. The Wirral Borough Council was not asked to | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
participate at all. Was the Liverpool authorities? Neither | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
Liverpool, has been consulted at all about these plans. But when asked | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
about the money for the new hospital, it was said that limited | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
capital was available but options to explore. Councils can access | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
borrowing at a cheap rate. Liverpool City Council is expected to stump up | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
the money for what is supposed to be an important part of the strategy, | :21:11. | :21:14. | |
the woman's hospital. But this is the same council that has had 58% of | :21:15. | :21:21. | |
the money removed, by the Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
and in the Tory government since 2010. It relies on almost 75% from | :21:26. | :21:32. | |
government grants. The same council that already spends money on adult | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
services for the ageing population but can't raise only 147 million | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
from council tax. The same council that is expected to find another 90 | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
million savings over the next few years. Facing some of the biggest | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
choices to balance the budget. My second point is this. These plans | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
have been drawn up in secrecy by NHS managers and without consultation | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
from those supposed to help. Neither the Borough councils have been asked | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
what they think. And consequently, they have both said unsurprisingly | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
they are opposed to these plans. In Liverpool, the ruling Labour club | :22:15. | :22:16. | |
has made it clear that they are going to oppose the SDP with cuts, | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
and the mayor has said publicly that he opposes the closure of the | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
woman's hospital and is going to campaign to keep the hospital. I | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
agree with them. Labour in Liverpool is only going to support | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
The current plans are being implemented, and that is another | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
thing that we cannot allow to go ahead without proper consultation. | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
Is the starting point I would like to come from is that funding in the | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
NHS must be used effectively and efficiently, and to that end, we are | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
expecting the NHS to deliver savings to deliver best value for money. | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
There are a number of issues relating to social care in the NHS | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
where there is scope for solving existing problems, ensuring that | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
better health care is delivered, and achieving sustainability. There is | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
no better place to start and did -- than bed blocking. | :23:21. | :23:33. | |
It decreases the availability of beds and has effects on patients, | :23:34. | :23:40. | |
particularly the elderly. In continence in over 65s increases, | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
and another 80s muscle wastage becomes equivalent to ten years of | :23:45. | :23:52. | |
muscle wastage in those situations. By September, the figure had reduced | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
to 113 people, improving the county performance to 108th, and massive | :23:59. | :24:06. | |
improvement of 50 places -- a massive improvement. It involved the | :24:07. | :24:18. | |
County Council and health providers working with people. It was also | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
achieved by putting 2 million into funding extra temporary care beds in | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
care homes where people could stay until they were ready to move back | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
to their own homes or move to a permanent care home, or receive care | :24:36. | :24:38. | |
in their own homes. That is something I would encourage, more | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
joint and positive thinking as we integrate social care and the NHS. | :24:44. | :24:52. | |
It is important... I will give way. Would my honourable friend agree | :24:53. | :24:57. | |
with me that one of the levers for discouraging bed blocking would be | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
to join up some of those budgets around health and social care as | :25:03. | :25:09. | |
well as health, social services? I agree with that, and that is what | :25:10. | :25:12. | |
the organisations in Oxfordshire had been trying to achieve. Second, in | :25:13. | :25:20. | |
relation to how we produce better hospitals, in my own area, a | :25:21. | :25:30. | |
hospital in Henley operates for the whole of South Oxfordshire and has | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
recently gone through a major re-provision. This is a hospital | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
that has an increased number of facilities serving a population of | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
the area, but the beds are not in the hospital. Although they are | :25:46. | :25:53. | |
limited in number, they are in an adjoining care home. This is the way | :25:54. | :26:04. | |
forward for local hospitals - better treatment of people in their home | :26:05. | :26:06. | |
through a system of what has come to be called... It saves the problems | :26:07. | :26:14. | |
already mentioned in relation to patients suffering when they stay in | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
hospital for a long time. It is not a view that has come from | :26:19. | :26:21. | |
politicians but from clinicians, both local and national. The | :26:22. | :26:28. | |
National clinicians are the Royal College of physicians, who are fully | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
behind this process. Actually, in the first instance, this is a method | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
that costs more but provides better value for money and increases | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
patient outcomes. The third area I would point to in this is what can | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
happen when you integrate the care, the star providing care that implied | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
by the County Council and employed by the NHS, and what this allows you | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
to do is to make sure that pay and service requirements for both groups | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
of people doing exactly the same job can be harmonised in a much more | :27:08. | :27:17. | |
positive way. I think that set out a good scope of efficiency in the | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
operation of social care and the NHS model. I agree with my honourable | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
friend that I would like to see them fully integrated, but until they | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
are, I have set out a very good method of being able to operate in | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
those circumstances and being able to cooperate in order to achieve the | :27:36. | :27:43. | |
outcomes I have mentioned. Briefly, on sustainability and transformation | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
plans, they focus on organisations working together and are the best | :27:48. | :27:50. | |
hope of improving health and social care services in the long term. | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
That's not my view but the view of the King 's fund, when they looked | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
at sustainability and transformation plans, and I fully agree with their | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
assessment of the situation and of these plans, which they, too, are | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
working towards achieving the same outcomes. The funding crisis in the | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
NHS is no accident. It is a political choice made by the Tories | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
for which patients and staff are paying the price in longer waiting | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
times, delayed operations and increasingly stressful working | :28:25. | :28:27. | |
conditions. It is driven by the Government's demands that the NHS | :28:28. | :28:33. | |
May 20 worth of efficiency savings, or cuts. It will cause huge damage | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
to the NHS. A report by the Guardian announced that thousands of hospital | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
beds are set to disappear, pregnant women will have to travel long | :28:46. | :28:54. | |
distances to give birth. Vital services will be removed. In the 20 | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
15th financial year, the NHS reported a deficit of ?2.45 billion. | :29:01. | :29:07. | |
We see the crisis is accelerating. The chief executive of NHS providers | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
said last week that the NHS cannot do all that is being asked to do in | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
future on these funding levels. The STPs are supposed to integrate | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
social care and health, yet the leader of Wirral Council has said in | :29:23. | :29:27. | |
the last day that he has not been given the opportunity to feed into | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
the development of the plan. It is of great concern to constituents | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
because it requires ?1 billion to be taken out of services. The impact | :29:37. | :29:40. | |
will be devastating. It is impossible that it would be | :29:41. | :29:43. | |
otherwise. There was recently a report proposing the closing of | :29:44. | :29:50. | |
hospitals in Chester, and there has been no denial that such a report | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
took place. It has been said the trust will explore role explore the | :29:56. | :30:03. | |
development of a single Acute Hospital within the next 10-15 | :30:04. | :30:13. | |
years. It's not clear what will happen. I have real concerns about | :30:14. | :30:24. | |
the future of Arrow Park Hospital, a major hospital valued by | :30:25. | :30:27. | |
constituents who use its services and reworked there. It is a major | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
employer in my constituency. The STP talks of reconfiguration and it is | :30:34. | :30:36. | |
no wonder people are wrapping arms about the plans. It appears to be an | :30:37. | :30:45. | |
idea brought from America, where there is no NHS. They have a strong | :30:46. | :30:52. | |
emphasis on cost reduction. The core issue is England people often pay | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
for social care but don't expect for health care except through direct | :30:57. | :31:07. | |
taxation. It points towards a desire to introduce an insurance -based | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
system in England. The Government is cutting the supply, I believe, to | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
create demand for private insurance in the marketplace, such as in | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
America. There is nothing in the STP to assure me this is not the case. | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
The document talks of increased customer satisfaction and | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
commercially sustainable clinical support services. If these go ahead | :31:30. | :31:35. | |
across England, we can expect to see A closures, hospital closures, | :31:36. | :31:37. | |
downgrading of services, patients waiting longer for services. I urge | :31:38. | :31:47. | |
the Government to use the Autumn Statement to address the | :31:48. | :31:49. | |
underfunding and give the funding the NHS needs. At that record level | :31:50. | :31:57. | |
of reading into the record, I appreciate that time is short and | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
the honourable lady wants to put these things on the record, but if | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
she speaks more slowly, it allows other members to understand what | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
she's saying and gives them an opportunity to intervene, and she | :32:10. | :32:15. | |
would some extra time. Speaking for myself, I was impressed by the pace | :32:16. | :32:25. | |
of that! I want to address the supply of practitioners, not just of | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
money, in this short intervention, and suggest to him that since we | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
have regulated so many more practitioners, so many more | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
practitioners should be available in the health service. The professional | :32:39. | :32:43. | |
standards authority chief has called for a much greater use of those on | :32:44. | :32:49. | |
his register. He says we all know we need to deliver new, innovative ways | :32:50. | :32:51. | |
to improve people's health will stop that means looking beyond the | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
traditional confines of our traditional system and the | :32:57. | :33:04. | |
traditional health professions. His 23 organisations regulate 20,000 | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
practitioners, and the organisations include the fur denigration of | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
holistic therapies, the acupuncture Council and others. -- the | :33:13. | :33:31. | |
Association of holistic therapists. There is far too little | :33:32. | :33:33. | |
communication with orthopaedic surgeons. There is an organisation | :33:34. | :33:40. | |
called arthritis and musculoskeletal Alliance, and I would ask my | :33:41. | :33:45. | |
honourable friend to look at this and see how much more effective | :33:46. | :33:52. | |
integration can be done. Now that nice recommend acupuncture for lower | :33:53. | :33:55. | |
back pain, I hope they will continue to do so. The third point is Brexit. | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
We have the European legislation to consider. Three directives need | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
close scrutiny when we take them over - the traditional herbal | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
medicines has struck out traditional Chinese medicines and others, the | :34:11. | :34:19. | |
food supplements directive, the food additives directive. Tougher | :34:20. | :34:21. | |
regulation will be needed when we get our hands on those. The Chief | :34:22. | :34:24. | |
Medical Officer wrote a report in the last Parliament about | :34:25. | :34:31. | |
antimicrobial resistance. One of the most effective ways to stop | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
antibiotic use is to use homoeopathic medicine, which has a | :34:36. | :34:38. | |
proven record in upper respiratory tract illness. We need to go back to | :34:39. | :34:45. | |
the 90s to look at the GP fundholding system which was | :34:46. | :34:48. | |
available in John Major's Government, fire doctors could | :34:49. | :34:56. | |
commission practitioners. At one clinic, using homoeopathic | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
treatments, they saved ?500,000 overall. When that the struck out by | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
the new Labour Government, they overspent the drug budget by ?1.5 | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
million. There have been a lot of attacks in the last few years on | :35:11. | :35:14. | |
homoeopathic, which has been an honourable and well served practice | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
of medicine with its own doctors regulated in this country and used | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
in 41 out of 42 European countries. An organisation called the good | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
thinking society, which is really one man and a dog, which spends | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
?100,000 a year, ?20,000 of which is from the taxpayer, through its | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
charitable status, which I think is a scandal. I say to my honourable | :35:44. | :35:46. | |
friend that he should not listen to the siren voices of this small, | :35:47. | :35:55. | |
badly representative group. We need to use this discipline and not allow | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
lawyers sending letters to clinical commissioning groups and others to | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
derail a very well established and popular system of medicine available | :36:06. | :36:07. | |
in the health service, that is, patio medicine. -- that is | :36:08. | :36:17. | |
homoeopathic medicine. All the wrong reasons, St George 's Hospital in | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
tooting has been in the news. First, they appeared on the front page of a | :36:21. | :36:24. | |
national newspaper because they require people to show ID before | :36:25. | :36:28. | |
coming and giving birth. Secondly, they were rated inadequate in a | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
recent Care Quality Commission inspection. Figures were released | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
showing one patient wanted 36 hours in A before being admitted. The | :36:38. | :36:40. | |
one question we are all asking is, why? | :36:41. | :36:49. | |
Why are roofs leaking? Why has the council being forced to cut almost | :36:50. | :36:59. | |
ten million from social care budgets than my local hospital trust have | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
the deficit of 50 million? The answer, lack of funding. We should | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
not be left with them minimum to function. We should be prioritising. | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
It is their health care system, Madam Deputy Speaker, we cannot take | :37:18. | :37:24. | |
risks. If we take risks, people die. The Health Secretary can point the | :37:25. | :37:30. | |
finger but it is not doctors, who go the extra mile, it is not trainees, | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
who have had bursaries slashed, it is the Conservative government to | :37:37. | :37:47. | |
blame. I have worked at the different governments, staff morale | :37:48. | :37:55. | |
at an all time low, patient morale at an all time low, and this | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
government has been failing patients. You know it. This story is | :38:02. | :38:10. | |
not a one off. It is happening up and down the country. When Labour | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
was in government, it was a truly national health service, more | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
doctors better equipment, new hospitals and happier patients. But | :38:21. | :38:27. | |
under this Conservative government, waiting times are rising, buildings | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
falling apart and patients' lives at risk. Life and death decisions based | :38:35. | :38:42. | |
on cost. The NHS is in crisis and it is becoming a disaster before our | :38:43. | :38:48. | |
eyes. The NHS was built by a Labour government, saved by a Labour | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
government and it is going to be a Labour government that is going to | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
rescue it. Thank you very much Madam Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to be | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
able to pick up from the right honourable lady. I find it | :39:05. | :39:07. | |
extraordinary that Labour members have the audacity to come to this | :39:08. | :39:11. | |
chamber and trumpet opinions about the NHS when they have had 18 years | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
of running the national Health Service at another part of the | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
United Kingdom and the performance indicators that looked at, NHS at | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
Wales has been performing less well than England. I do not want for one | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
minute people to think that I'm criticising NHS staff, and not | :39:33. | :39:42. | |
running down Wales either, I know where the blame lies. The Labour | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
Party, implementing the same policies that they are calling on my | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
right honourable friend to implement. You can simply get hold | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
of the Nuffield Trust report, and how these compare. This is an | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
independent report looking at a range of indicators. It is far | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
stronger than anything the Conservative Party could even | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
publish. Waiting times at Wales have lengthened since 2010, striking | :40:14. | :40:21. | |
rises in waits for common procedures such as knee replacements. When a | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
report like this is using language such as striking rises, surely | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
people should take notice. The striking rises are being caused by | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
the policies that they are asking my right honourable friend to | :40:35. | :40:37. | |
implement. It talks about the fact that mortality rates are the lowest | :40:38. | :40:47. | |
in England. People living longer in England. It talks about waiting | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
times. An absolute disgrace. The target waiting time of 26 weeks at | :40:54. | :41:02. | |
Wales, just 18 in England. But this report shows that some people are | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
waiting up to 170 days for knee replacements at Wales, as opposed to | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
70 at England. The funding at Wales has been cut. It is the only part of | :41:12. | :41:20. | |
the United Kingdom that has cut funding. But England, it has gone | :41:21. | :41:30. | |
up. And the shortage of GPs. 0.66. Stroke care... Once again, Wales at | :41:31. | :41:39. | |
the cleaning percent of patients spending maintaining percent of the | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
team at the units, as opposed to 51% at England. England, for MRSA, again | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
ahead of England. And he wants response team, 75% within eight | :41:52. | :41:58. | |
minutes at England, 65% at Wales. And one of the most shocking | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
differentials, that access to the cancer drugs, I have that | :42:05. | :42:06. | |
constituents coming to see me because they have to go sofa surfing | :42:07. | :42:14. | |
to get the standards of care that we on the side take for granted. And if | :42:15. | :42:22. | |
anybody thinks that the NHS of Wales, has the policies and is as | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
good as the English National Service, they should be allowing | :42:29. | :42:32. | |
patients to choose. I have been asking colleagues on the front | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
bench, allowing patients from Wales to have access. But unfortunately it | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
is not always possible. We should have a truly national Health | :42:44. | :42:46. | |
Service, people from Wales to be treated at England and indeed, | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
England to Wales. But I thought that my right honourable friend is going | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
to stick with the policies, deliver in these higher standards of care at | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
England, because it means that my constituents have something to aim | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
for and demand that the Labour Party at Wales can follow. A couple of the | :43:07. | :43:14. | |
people on the list are not in the chamber, they can be written to. The | :43:15. | :43:23. | |
last few speakers have six minutes. It is not often that you come last | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
and get more time to speak. The speeches today, from the right | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
honourable member have been exceptional. And we want to focus on | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
the good things that we have at their NHS, everybody acknowledges | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
that and the passion that comes from debating, and what constituents tell | :43:46. | :43:54. | |
us... With my right honourable friend share concern about | :43:55. | :44:02. | |
introduction of ACOs from STPs? These have come from America, seen | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
as insurance for health, and because people do not pay for health care, | :44:08. | :44:16. | |
but social care, concern about boring the boundaries. I thank the | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
right honourable lady for that intervention. And I agree | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
wholeheartedly. The Deputy Speaker mentioned about how fast you speak. | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
If you are trying to take away my record, I have been told that I did | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
more words in a minute than anybody else. I am the Hill spokesman for my | :44:39. | :44:49. | |
house, for the DUP, and I believe that the portfolio has got to be | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
balanced. It is the most difficult portfolio for anyone to hold, I am | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
glad I am not in the position of the Hill Secretary of State because I | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
would find it difficult to say that we cannot provide these drugs that | :45:04. | :45:12. | |
could prolong your life. And the right honourable gentleman who spoke | :45:13. | :45:19. | |
before, referred to the sofa, lottery taking place for those who | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
need to drugs. Access I am going to talk about that in my contribution. | :45:25. | :45:34. | |
I cannot sit back and the fact that the NHS needs more funding to keep | :45:35. | :45:46. | |
it running. This briefing, from Macmillan Care, sent chills down my | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
spine. By the end of this Parliament, one of every two people | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
will be diagnosed with cancer. Somebody in this chamber, Mr Deputy | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
Speaker, have experienced cancers and are survivors, and I am aware of | :46:02. | :46:13. | |
what interviews. It is based on the correct diagnosis, treatment, and | :46:14. | :46:22. | |
skill of the surgeons. Prayers of god's people. It is important. More | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
people are surviving, living for longer with us, and because of that | :46:29. | :46:32. | |
we have two one half million people living with, beyond cancer today. | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
But more must be done to help those with diseases and these forms of | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
cancer. I would ask the Minister in his summing up at the end if you | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
could give us some idea of the resources set aside for those with | :46:49. | :46:55. | |
diseases, rare cancer, because they have been increasing. You put them | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
together collectively, and I know that it is not infinite but we have | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
to have a focus on those with these rare diseases and rare cancer. I am | :47:07. | :47:14. | |
going to mention a lady... I hope she does not mind. Tremendously | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
courageous, from my constituency, and she has watched her son battle | :47:21. | :47:30. | |
cancer. Only to be told that she had pancreatic cancer, no treatment at | :47:31. | :47:33. | |
Northern Ireland. It was good to cost about ?100,000. And the people | :47:34. | :47:40. | |
of her area dug deep to fund this. The story is replicated I would | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
think for every member of this chamber. And the postcode lottery | :47:46. | :47:52. | |
said that she cannot have treatment because she is from Northern Ireland | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
but is able to access the treatment from other counties on the mainland. | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
This lottery is not what is needed. And this is something that needs to | :48:04. | :48:06. | |
be addressed by additional funding. She needs more than us ringing our | :48:07. | :48:13. | |
hands, and feeling sympathetic, she needs practical and physical help. | :48:14. | :48:18. | |
That is the only thing that will change her future, for her son. | :48:19. | :48:27. | |
Macmillan said one in four people face disability following treatment. | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
And this can many years. It is vital that they are able to access the | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
best care when they need it, and to ensure that the NHS will help to | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
meet the needs of cancer patients. This will assure us that resources | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
invested are done in the most effective way. This is key with five | :48:47. | :48:56. | |
year projections, and it is continued to grow to 13 billion. | :48:57. | :48:59. | |
That is the money that is just going to stand still, not going ahead. We | :49:00. | :49:09. | |
must act now, to ensure that this money is going to be spent as | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
effectively as possible to give the England, the native kingdom and | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
Northern Ireland the ability to deliver on the government manifesto | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
commitment. The health service currently spends more than ?500 | :49:23. | :49:28. | |
million on emergency care for people, on cancer alone. If you are | :49:29. | :49:35. | |
spending ?500 million on emergency treatment for cancer, something | :49:36. | :49:38. | |
wrong with the system. And we have got to address that, to be | :49:39. | :49:48. | |
effective. Such a vast amount of emergency care spending, it is | :49:49. | :49:51. | |
symptomatic of a system that is not due to what people taking control. I | :49:52. | :50:03. | |
conclude with this comment. Let us make the correct decision, the | :50:04. | :50:05. | |
government needs to sustain the NHS as it is, as that means taking | :50:06. | :50:12. | |
simple things like paracetamol of the prescription list to save 80 | :50:13. | :50:19. | |
million, let's do it. We can look at real issues are going to make | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
change, and be determined to be more efficient when possible. Cut red | :50:24. | :50:31. | |
tape than services. And we want to ensure that they NHS can withstand | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
the subject of cancer diagnosis, diabetes, heart disease and all | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
other major illnesses that are only worsening. I do not envy the task | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
that the Minister has but we have got to make these difficult choices, | :50:45. | :50:48. | |
decisions to take away the bureaucracy and restore funds where | :50:49. | :50:54. | |
it needs to go, cancer, rare diseases. | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
I would like to start by saying a huge thank you to everybody who is | :51:00. | :51:07. | |
out there in the system within our hospitals, within our GPs and within | :51:08. | :51:18. | |
our care homes. If it wasn't for them, and if you listen to this | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
debate today you might be under the impression that brilliant things | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
weren't going on, but nine out of ten people get seen within the | :51:27. | :51:32. | |
four-hour window at A, and that is to actually benefits nine out of | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
ten, and we need to balance how we see this discussion. I've heard | :51:40. | :51:42. | |
there are problems up and down the country, but in my constituency of | :51:43. | :51:48. | |
Bury St Edmunds, their West Suffolk Hospital has just received an | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
outstanding. And it has done that not for its buildings, not for all | :51:54. | :52:01. | |
sorts of peripheral things, but for its care. And that is the most | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
important thing we can ask anyone to give. I listened to the honourable | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
member for tooting who said things were better. I was diagnosed with my | :52:14. | :52:19. | |
second and third Cancers while Labour was in, and it was behind a | :52:20. | :52:24. | |
sheet. The radiotherapy machines weren't working because there were | :52:25. | :52:27. | |
not staff there. It is a problem that has been coming down the track | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
at us for ages, and actually, we don't do anybody a service if we | :52:33. | :52:38. | |
deny that it is a problem and it is looming. GPs have pressure in | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
Suffolk, and I talk to them recently. I engage with social care | :52:45. | :52:51. | |
- it is struggling. It is about the service, as my honourable friend | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
from Calder Valley said about every patient is a person, a daughter, a | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
mum, a dad, and we should remember that. The five-year forward view, we | :53:01. | :53:05. | |
listened and we came to the table with the money. Now, the demand has | :53:06. | :53:13. | |
outstripped us, but we need to look at streamlining the services. One | :53:14. | :53:20. | |
pot will help us understand whether blockages are in the system that so | :53:21. | :53:23. | |
many people, including the honourable member for Henley have | :53:24. | :53:30. | |
alluded to, then we can look at unblocking the system. Having people | :53:31. | :53:33. | |
on delayed discharge because you can't get into the community is | :53:34. | :53:37. | |
ridiculous, when you then have people at A being sent there by | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
GPs who can't get into the hospital to be treated. We all know the | :53:43. | :53:45. | |
problem, but let's look at the solutions. Prevention is also an | :53:46. | :53:54. | |
issue, but the motion today is far more than cash. 1948 is a long time | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
ago, and the system has always been a mix of private and public. It is | :54:01. | :54:07. | |
stronger today, but there are 1.4 million in its workforce, and that, | :54:08. | :54:14. | |
thank you, is is -- that thank you is especially to the junior doctors | :54:15. | :54:15. | |
out there. Working together would put the pot | :54:16. | :54:30. | |
of money, 92% that goes into the acute sector with the 8% given to | :54:31. | :54:35. | |
GPs, whom we are expecting to do more, and it would help to look at | :54:36. | :54:38. | |
the funds that are needed through social care. Moving people through | :54:39. | :54:45. | |
the system is tricky. We have an ageing population, co-morbidity, 70% | :54:46. | :54:48. | |
of the budget is spent on long-term conditions. 22.4 million people | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
visited A last year, up by some 600,000. I applaud the doctors who | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
are beginning to say, you can perhaps do odd things at home. You | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
don't always have to come and see us. And we need to be more | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
responsible for our own health. It is important that we look at new | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
ideas. The honourable member for South Wiltshire mentioned in the | :55:15. | :55:16. | |
Telegraph the other day that perhaps we should look at the triple lock. | :55:17. | :55:23. | |
Today, the interim chief exec of the NHS Confederation talked about using | :55:24. | :55:32. | |
the private sector more slickly. Moving patients around so that home | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
services are sorted, but we need to be able to talk about it. Let's | :55:38. | :55:40. | |
think about the future. A young medic on Friday told me how much an | :55:41. | :55:48. | |
operation had cost. Nine professionals for ten hours. People | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
need to understand what things cost. A young clinicians to me only | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
yesterday that when someone does not attend, perhaps they should be asked | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
to pay. They get sent a text. We have to have more responsibility. | :56:04. | :56:11. | |
66% of people in this country, with a looming diabetes crisis, RBC. | :56:12. | :56:18. | |
People drink and smoke too much. We have to think about what we want out | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
of the system and what we put into it. The honourable member for | :56:23. | :56:27. | |
Strangford mentioned 85 billion on paracetamol when they are 16p. | :56:28. | :56:30. | |
Should we be putting money in different places? If we treasure the | :56:31. | :56:37. | |
NHS, we should treasure ourselves and its resources. The rise in | :56:38. | :56:45. | |
cancer is linked to obesity. ?3.5 billion is spent on alcohol. The | :56:46. | :56:52. | |
system is in crisis, but we have ways of addressing it. I don't want | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
it to be a blame game, but the new doctors we have recruited, the new | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
nurses, we need to actually step up, talk about the problems and develop | :57:02. | :57:09. | |
a streamlined system. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. This has been at | :57:10. | :57:12. | |
times a high quality and also a passionate debate, which has made | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
clear there are concerns across the House about the sustainability of | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
the NHS. The Chancellor sadly couldn't be with us. I believe he | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
has a few other things on right now, but if he had been here, he would | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
have heard contributions from honourable members on all sides and | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
would be in no doubt about the severity of the challenges facing | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
the health and social care sector and of the dire consequences if he | :57:40. | :57:41. | |
does not deliver the rescue package needed tomorrow. We have heard | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
excellent contributions, and as a number of members and Right | :57:47. | :57:51. | |
Honourable members have said, we may have our political differences, but | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
we do appreciate the work our staff in the NHS do, as we appreciate | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
their work all public sector workers do. So thank you. The chair of the | :58:01. | :58:04. | |
health select committee both calmly and clearly explained how cuts to | :58:05. | :58:13. | |
parts of the health budget will be used to reach the cuts of ?10 | :58:14. | :58:16. | |
million. He failed to mention certain things today. It was pointed | :58:17. | :58:22. | |
out how many of these cuts are going to store up other problems in the | :58:23. | :58:28. | |
long term, and it was right to say that moving the goalposts does | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
nobody any credit. My right honourable friend, the member for | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
Mitcham and Morden, described cuts in her area as implausible and she | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
is going to fight the closure of the Saint Hellyer hospital. She rightly | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
pointed out that closing that will undermine other services and other | :58:47. | :58:50. | |
hospitals in her area. I have no doubt that her constituents will be | :58:51. | :58:53. | |
relieved that they have such a champion on their side. The | :58:54. | :58:58. | |
honourable member for Strangford spoke with passion about the | :58:59. | :59:01. | |
variation in treatment of cancer and the alarming statistics about | :59:02. | :59:09. | |
alarming increases in cancer. There is much more that needs to be done | :59:10. | :59:15. | |
in getting earlier detection. We were told there seems to be a focus | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
on consolidating services where there is no problem. She made it | :59:21. | :59:26. | |
clear that her constituents will be fooled into accepting a downgrade in | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
their local hospital. I have a say, her local health chiefs have won the | :59:32. | :59:38. | |
award for the worst use of today by calling patients passive recipients | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
of care. The right Honourable member from tooting brought her experience | :59:43. | :59:45. | |
to the chamber and said of the NHS is that everywhere we look, the | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
answer is a lack of funding. Staff morale and patient morale are at an | :59:51. | :59:53. | |
all-time low, and she should know what she's talking about. We also | :59:54. | :00:06. | |
heard from members, none of whom mention the deficit is their own | :00:07. | :00:07. | |
STPs are facing. I will give way. I am aware of the | :00:08. | :00:31. | |
financial challenges in my own area. There is a 26% increase in funding | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
in the STP plan after 2021, which I think is commendable. I am delighted | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
if the honourable member has seen his STP plan. Other members have not | :00:43. | :00:53. | |
got theirs yet. How much worse you think the deficit in South West | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
Wiltshire would have been had the Labour Party won in 2015 and | :00:57. | :01:05. | |
operated NHS spending by just 2.5 billion pounds rather than the | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
figure we currently enjoyed? Our manifesto was clear that we would | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
put in ?2.5 billion plus whatever else was needed. Research has shown | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
that if health spending had continued at the levels maintained | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
under the last Labour Government, there would be an extra ?5 billion a | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
year by 2020. The NHS is deteriorating on every headline | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
performance measure since the current Health Secretary took office | :01:37. | :01:38. | |
and is now facing the biggest financial crisis in its history, | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
with providers reporting a net deficit of almost ?2.5 billion last | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
year, a deficit only covered by a series of one-off payments and | :01:49. | :01:50. | |
accounting tricks that did not disguise the true picture of a | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
service that is creaking, a workforce stretched to the limit and | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
a Health Secretary in denial about his culpability for the shocking | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
state of affairs. While he rightly pays tribute to the work of staff, | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
he must know that his platitudes are not enough when morale is so low. I | :02:11. | :02:22. | |
asked my sister whether Liverpool had had any input into the | :02:23. | :02:29. | |
Merseyside and Cheshire STP. He is obviously also a member of the area | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
covered Sunni has Ellesmere Port been asked in any way, can he tell | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
us, in the developed the Merseyside and STP? I thank her for her | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
intervention. Only last week, Cheshire West put forward a | :02:50. | :02:52. | |
resolution indicating they were not satisfied with their level of | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
involvement in the STP. I don't think there is any council in the | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
Cheshire and Merseyside area that is satisfied with their level of | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
involvement will stop that includes conservative- controlled Cheshire | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
East Council. Faced with an unprecedented crisis, the Secretary | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
of State, what did he say to themselves when asked about | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
investment in the NHS over the next five years? He said, if you call it | :03:18. | :03:24. | |
?4.5 billion or ?10 billion, it does not matter. It might not matter to | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
him, but it matters to people up and down the country who are desperately | :03:29. | :03:30. | |
worried about the future of their local services. We know the | :03:31. | :03:39. | |
Secretary of State is all except the accusation of giving a false | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
impression that the NHS was awash with cash. The National Audit Office | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
said yesterday, with more than two thirds of trust in deficit in | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
2015-16, and an increasing number of candle and clinical commissioning | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
groups able to stay within budget, we repeat our view that the | :03:56. | :04:04. | |
financial problems are endemic. A joint statement was released this | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
week saying that the Department of Health's budget will increase by | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
just over ?4 billion in real terms between 2015-16 and 2021. This is | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
not enough to maintain the standards of the NHS, to meet rising demand | :04:18. | :04:27. | |
and to achieve the aims of the forward review. Every day we hear | :04:28. | :04:38. | |
more about the service crumbling after six years of underinvestment | :04:39. | :04:45. | |
and cuts to social care and health come home to roost. A new scheme | :04:46. | :04:52. | |
where heart attack victims might have to wait 40 minutes for an | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
ambulance. Young and elderly parents are dying because of worsening | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
responses to 999 calls. Ambulance figures are the worst on record, and | :05:03. | :05:04. | |
what did we hear from the Government this weekend? Is the only comment | :05:05. | :05:11. | |
was one purportedly attributed to one of the Prime Minister's | :05:12. | :05:20. | |
assistance. I have a suggestion, why don't they try fixing a NHS? It is | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
time to be honest about where we are and the true nature of the | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
sustainability transformation plans which have now finally started to | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
emerge. Let me be clear, we're not opposed to the idea of localised | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
strategic oversight of the NHS, but it is becoming increasingly obvious | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
these plans are putting money of everything else stop at the BMA set | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
out yesterday, there is a real risk that these plans will be used as a | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
cover for delivering cuts, starving services of resources and patient of | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
vital care. The documents released so far revealed cuts to hospitals, | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
services, beds and in some cases, staff. We are deeply concerned at | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
the lack of public, political and even clinical consultation, with two | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
thirds of doctors having not been consulted and a third of doctors not | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
even aware that the STPs exist. What a shambles! We are clear that | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
without adequate resource and, these plans will not lead to financial | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
sustainability and they will only serve to reduce services and create | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
longer waiting times. If they are so wonderful, as ministers say they | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
are, why won't they let us see them? The deliberate instruction not to | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
release any information about the plans has only increased concern and | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
cynicism among the public and was, I believe, a serious error of judgment | :06:43. | :06:44. | |
which this Government will come to regret. We therefore call on the | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
Government to publish those plans not already in the public domain, | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
and we are asking them to ensure there is a full consultation process | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
before any of the changes are implemented. Consultation with the | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
public does not mean presenting them with a complete plan and asking | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
whether they support it. The bigger the change, the better it is to | :07:05. | :07:08. | |
start early without consultation. You are already playing catch up, | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
but genuine engagement can start now. As we heard, we have major | :07:13. | :07:22. | |
concerns about the Cheshire and Merseyside STP. The rough three | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
fatal flaws - there are more about finance and patience, they are | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
secretive, and they run to deadlines that make consultation impossible. | :07:34. | :07:46. | |
It just seems that every local council has rejected the plans, or | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
not been involved, and indeed we have had little involvement with | :07:52. | :08:03. | |
anyone across the board. And the speech, runner up with worse use of | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
business speak, the financial component has been a strong driver. | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
This is all about money. Ministers need to try to stop putting wool | :08:14. | :08:22. | |
over our eyes, and be the extent of the crisis engulfing the NHS. Not | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
one senior commentator believes that the health and social care is going | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
to be sustainable without additional funding. The Nuffield Trust, health | :08:33. | :08:43. | |
select committee, directors and local government Association, | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
British Medical Association, NHS Confederation have been calling on | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
the government to address the funding gap. I do not know if that | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
list is long enough for the Secretary of State, does not seem to | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
be too hot when it comes to numbers, will he listen to them? And ensure | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
that the health and social care sector gets the funding that it | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
needs. This is the last chance, before the crisis over homes is. I | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
commend this motion through the house. I am very pleased to be able | :09:19. | :09:25. | |
to close what has been, an interesting debate. I would | :09:26. | :09:32. | |
characterise it as an occasionally high-pitched debate. In which a | :09:33. | :09:42. | |
number of Right honourable member 's have made constructive | :09:43. | :09:46. | |
contributions. The constructive contributions came from the right | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
honourable lady from Central Ayrshire, characteristically | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
impressive and the members on my side of the house. Also outnumbered | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
the contributions from backbench Labour members by four to three. A | :10:00. | :10:12. | |
third more. I have to ask the right honourable gentleman, where is the | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
support on his benches for this motion? We will have to see if they | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
are going to turn up to vote, certainly not going to turn up to | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
speak. This is close to most people in this chamber precisely because | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
alongside the contribution of those who work in the NHS, tonight he | :10:35. | :10:46. | |
tribute, -- to whom I pay tribute, it is the fun thing that keeps the | :10:47. | :10:49. | |
people going. This government is committed to the NHS, committed that | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
it should be free at the point of use. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. Is | :10:56. | :11:09. | |
it in order for the right honourable member, someone of interest, on | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
their side, the time limit was cut to four minutes... Order. It has | :11:15. | :11:34. | |
been put on the record, public record, nine opposition, eight | :11:35. | :11:35. | |
government, six Labour, eight conservative. The facts speak for | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
themselves. Each conservative backbencher, only six labour at the | :11:43. | :11:49. | |
opposition debate. What a shambles. I do not question the fact that the | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
NHS faces significant challenge, it is a consequence of the ageing | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
population. The determination to look after each and every NHS | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
patient with the high standards, these all contribute to this | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
challenge. Despite increasing pressures, the NHS is rising to this | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
challenge, carrying out more than 5000 operations every day. Handling | :12:15. | :12:22. | |
780,000 more accident and emergency attendances, that is 15.1% more than | :12:23. | :12:31. | |
the last quarter, when Labour were in office. To date as the | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
Conservative Party that is the party of the NHS. This is why we pledged | :12:36. | :12:42. | |
more than Labour and why we are delivering more funding with a | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
higher proportion of total government spending going to kill | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
each year since 2010. Some right honourable member 's have drawn | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
international comparisons. But I want to remind the excitable members | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
opposite, total spending in the UK is 9.9% of GDP, 10% above the | :13:05. | :13:11. | |
average and just above the European Union 15 average of 9.8%. Several | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
honourable member 's have also questioned focus. And I welcome | :13:19. | :13:30. | |
confirmation that the chairman of the select committee, she can see | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
how the Secretary of State has arrived at these numbers and | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
graciously conceded that both sides are correct. I want to focus on the | :13:40. | :13:49. | |
straightforward mathematics. What I clarified, the way that it had been | :13:50. | :13:52. | |
arrived at was not how the public would understand he'll spending. I | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
think the minister is perhaps taking what I said out of context. We never | :14:00. | :14:05. | |
claimed that we increasing the Department of the budget. Talking | :14:06. | :14:17. | |
about increases to the NHS. And for clarity, 14/15, NHS budget was ?98.1 | :14:18. | :14:26. | |
billion. 2021, it is going to be 119. For those members opposite who | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
cannot do the mathematics, that is at 21.8 billion increase. 10 | :14:33. | :14:44. | |
billion, in real terms. Delivering ten billion. We also listen to NHS | :14:45. | :14:52. | |
leader requests for the settlement and deliver upon this today, 6 | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
billion of the 10 billion increase coming by the end of this year, | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
including the 3.8 real-time entries. We also created the sustainability | :15:06. | :15:14. | |
and that has helped provide us move to the sustainable financial | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
footing. This is mainly going to be allocated to emergency care | :15:19. | :15:27. | |
profession. This takes me to the next important point. More funding | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
obviously welcomed, but attention has been drawn to rising deficits | :15:35. | :15:40. | |
from NHS providers. The Vicky Price that stronger financial management | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
is required and we have introduced riposte governance arrangements to | :15:46. | :15:52. | |
get things by contract. Extra investment, and the spending review, | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
as I have discussed, and freeing up local government, the measures set | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
out by NHS England and NHS improvement in July. Reducing demand | :16:06. | :16:14. | |
for acute care and driving efficiency and productivity across | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
the sector. It has been identified, large variations in efficiency | :16:21. | :16:32. | |
across English care hospitals. And variations, raised in a constructive | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
contribution. We agree with them, that we need to reduce the poor | :16:39. | :16:48. | |
performing trusts, get them to the average if not better. We are | :16:49. | :16:54. | |
beginning to see the fruits of this plan. The second quarter deficit | :16:55. | :17:06. | |
reduced to 640 million, 968 million improvement this year. Progress | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
halfway through the financial year therefore encouraging. But no room | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
for complacency. That is why the system is supported by investment to | :17:20. | :17:26. | |
help hospitals become more efficient and reduce the use of expensive | :17:27. | :17:32. | |
agency staff. Several honourable member is raised the transformation | :17:33. | :17:39. | |
plans. 28 of which have been published. The remainder will be | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
published by the end of next month. Half of the members opposite of the | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
Labour members opposite, spoke specifically about the SPT covering | :17:51. | :18:03. | |
Cheshire and Merseyside, but only one of those three was able to | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
attend the Westminster Hall debate, discussion about Cheshire and | :18:09. | :18:14. | |
Merseyside. And that SPT was laid by the Chief Executive of one of the | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
hospitals from Liverpool. I would strongly encourage right honourable | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
member to have a conversation with. I would also remind all members of | :18:25. | :18:34. | |
the house that any reconfiguration proposals... Order. If there is not | :18:35. | :18:43. | |
giving way, you will have to set back down. It is for the Minister to | :18:44. | :18:53. | |
choose. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. Any reconfiguration proposals that | :18:54. | :18:58. | |
are milch from the SPT will be subject to stature story -- | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
statutory consultation. I have already said I am not going to | :19:05. | :19:12. | |
engage with SPT readers so that they can play our part in considering how | :19:13. | :19:22. | |
these plans and I am not going to give way... However often that she | :19:23. | :19:33. | |
asks. If the honourable Minister wants to give way, he will, if you | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
want him to, you can ask but what we do not want, this side saying no, | :19:40. | :19:50. | |
yes... Give way if you wish. I have explained that I do not want to, I | :19:51. | :20:02. | |
have got limited time left, and SPTs have been regarded as the best | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
alternative for long-term improvements. The independent sector | :20:06. | :20:12. | |
has been raised, the taste for commissioning decisions must always | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
be the value provided for patients and taxpayers. The vast majority of | :20:17. | :20:27. | |
NHS care continues to be provided by public sector organisations, but | :20:28. | :20:29. | |
they should listen to the Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation, | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
representing providers who has today written in the Guardian of all | :20:35. | :20:42. | |
newspapers that the private sector providers that increase the system | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
capacity to respond to demand, help to meet waiting time targets and | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
enable investment that brings important benefits for patients, | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
most of whom entirely relaxed about who provides care, providing it is | :20:57. | :21:04. | |
high quality and remains free at the point of use. And I agree with them. | :21:05. | :21:10. | |
The Secretary of State and I have acknowledged that the NHS is facing | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
challenges and I recognise the challenges, but this government is | :21:16. | :21:22. | |
fully committed. The question now be put. Those of that opinion say aye. | :21:23. | :21:30. | |
Ayes have it. The question is that the original ones of the question, | :21:31. | :21:46. | |
say aye. Contrary, no. Subtitles will resume at 11.30pm. | :21:47. | :21:51. |