05/02/2012 Sunday Politics South East


05/02/2012

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In the south east: and how thousands of homeowners and flood

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risky areas could be left high and dry in a stand-off between the

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1754 seconds

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I'm Rob Smith and this is the Sunday Politics in the South East.

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Coming up in the next 20 minutes: Vocational studies on the scrap

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heap. As an East Sussex skills centre looks set to close, we find

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out how the Government's new rules on school league tables will hit

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learning the South East. With me in the studio today are Hastings and

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Rye MP Amber Rudd and former MP for Gillingham and Rainham Paul Clark.

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We will get on to schools in a moment, and also take a look at a

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major row over flood risk and home insurance, but first Pfizer.

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It is a year since the company announced it was pulling out of

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Kent, with the loss of 2,500 jobs. It all looked bleak at the time,

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but now the site is showing signs of life. 650 Pfizer jobs are

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actually staying on the site, which is now called the Discovery Park,

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and about to be sold to new buyers. So all's well that ends well?

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and delighted that clearly 650 jobs will stay there, and a survey has

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shown that 1,000 out of the 1,500 made redundant have found other

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jobs. But none of us should underestimate the effect it has on

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families, individuals, knocking confidence and having to get

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through that. It is incumbent on all of us in positions to help.

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enough being done? My thoughts are that it is difficult to see that is

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the case when you have economic policies leading to even higher

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unemployment than before. These are very difficult times. This week we

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have had an announcement of another pharmaceutical company that is

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shedding a few hundred. Amber Rudd, it is a tough ask to

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bring top-end science jobs to Kent. Has the Government actually done

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enough? An enormous amount has been done. It was a devastating blow to

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the area when Pfizer announced this. But the Sun which task force came

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together, which has cross-party, and it has been very successful.

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And it is now under offer for expanding with another business.

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There is a lot of good news. Find. -- thank you. I mentioned that

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there is a major row brewing over flood risk and home insurance. In

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fact something of a stand-off between the coalition government

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and British Insurers has developed, which could mean that tens of

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thousands of homeowners in the region will be left without flood

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cover next year. A number may even lose the value of their homes or

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breach the terms of their mortgages. Helen Drew went to meet some of

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those likely to be affected. Flood seems 12 years ago in a

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village in Kent. A high water mark on the 16th century house is a

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subtle reminder of those floods. But for the owner of this house,

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memories are all too stark. started in 1999, Christmas Eve. It

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is etched in my memory. It is dreadful because you see the water

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coming in, and you cannot stop it. You have to just wait for it to

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Galway. And then you're left with half of a river inside your

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possessions. It may she very nervy, and you're constantly looking at

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the weather forecast. -- it makes you very nervy. One in six homes in

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England is at risk of flooding. Kent has the third highest risk...

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There is also the increasing problem of surface flooding which

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often happens in our urban areas where street drains are not able to

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cope with heavy rainfall. This offence Kent more than any county,

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with an additional 70,000 homes at risk. If things like this happen in

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the future, there is a chance that homes will not be insured. There is

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an agreement in place at the moment between the government and the

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insurance industry which means companies have to provide insurance

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for the vast majority of flood risk properties. In return the

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government provides love -- flood defences. The agreement ends next

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year. Insurers say they might not insure certain homes without

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government support, especially considering that spending on flood

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defences fell by 27% in the first year of the coalition government.

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We have to be clear that if no agreement is put in place, there

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could be 200,000 people across the country, including many in Kent and

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south-east, he struggled to access insure and -- on acceptable terms.

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Insurers to have to price risk as accurately as the camera will find

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it difficult to produce premiums which are affordable to people and

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at the highest risk of flooding. Insurers have to make a profit, and

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have to charge prices that affect This house has been flooded twice

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in the last 12 years, at a cost of �130,000. Its owner, who has since

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joined the National flood for them, was insured, but she is worried

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what would happen if she could no longer get cover. It would be a

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real worry in many ways. First of all I would feel very vulnerable if

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the house for the -- flooded. How could we call with putting it back

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together? That in itself is a very serious worry. But there are other

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implications. Our mortgage requires us to have buildings insurance in

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place, but if we do not have it in place, have we defaulted on the

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lending terms? What would it mean if we want to sell the home? One in

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six homes are at risk of flooding, and it could have a huge impact on

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the whole property market. The end of the existing insurance agreement

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could mean a growing torrent of people cannot claim for fun --

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flood damage. Or worse than that, they may be in breach of their

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mortgage terms without an insurance policy. If the Government prepared

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for this? Joining us is the MP for Dartford,

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Gareth Johnson, who has over 300 floods -- flood risk homes in his

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constituency. Who should cover the risk of flooding? There is a

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collective responsibility here. The government has his role to

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negotiate. I understand the negotiations are ongoing with the

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Association of British Insurers, so a deal that can be found between

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insurance companies and governments will be can insure people living in

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flood risk areas. There is no reason at we cannot make sure there

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is affordable insurance available for each of the households. How can

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you do that? We could come to an agreement with insurance companies.

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We are working with private companies with local councils and

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the environment agency to make sure these things are in place. You

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mentioned Pfizer, and they are investing �30 million in Kent on

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flood defences. But this is a private company. There is a

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collective responsibility. There is opportunity for Pfizer to

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contribute, which they have decided to do with the Kent County Council,

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and central government who are putting in the lion's share of this

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amount of money. It should be public money that under rates all

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this. I have always taken the view that there is a collective

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responsibility when it comes to flood defences. We will have a role

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to play. I accept the central government has the lion's share,

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and that is why we are putting in the lion's share of money. Why is

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there an impasse at the moment? Could the government just trying to

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save some money? The Association of British Insurers and answerable to

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the insurance companies. The Government is trying to do the best

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for householders, and that is what we want to concentrate on. There

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are negotiations going on, and we are optimistic that an agreement

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will be reached in those negotiations. We are hopeful that

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it can be reached by the spring. There should be some sort of

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protection to householders on living flood plains, and we have to

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make sure we're able to have some sort of security in their hands.

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Let us turn to the guests and the studio. The last thing people need

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is uncertainty over what is going on. Of course. But we also cannot

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be pushed around by the Association of British Insurers, they are a

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lobby group. We do not want the taxpayer just rolling over

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effectively and saying, OK, we give in, the it is absolutely right that

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the government should negotiate and be cautious with taxpayers' money.

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But if you wait too long and looked at Lewes, it cost �80 million to

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put right, but it only cost 3 million to put the flood defences

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of. We are not rushing into an agreement with the lobby group in

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order to appease everyone. We are going to get the best deal. I agree

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that government should rightly negotiate and agree on a statement

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of principles that we introduced with the insurance industry, back

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in 2009. Of course I should be negotiated, but you cannot cut and

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make cuts that go too deep and too quickly, because that is what this

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is about. The Environment Agency, the Government's own body, in 2009,

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said that they would need and 9% increase between 2011 and 2015 to

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maintain the flood defences that are required to protect the

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household you are talking about. Let us go back to Gareth Johnson.

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Ultimately, whether it is through taxation or higher premiums we are

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going to have to pay extra to sort out this problem? The Environment

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Agency has said they can continue particularly with the capital

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programme that they're going to be able to protect householders. The

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government has a duty of care to those people who do not live and

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flood plains, who do not want to subsidise those households that do

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live there. We need to have a balanced approach to ensure the

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government is playing its role, and have to ensure that the taxpayer's

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interests are looked after, a whether they come from flood plain

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a real sorry elsewhere. -- areas or elsewhere.

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In the week Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that more

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than 3,000 vocational qualifications will no longer count

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towards school league tables, the Sunday Politics South East has

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learned that Wealden Skills Centre which provides vocational training

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for a group of schools in East Sussex, faces closure through lack

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of funding. Is the Government right to focus on academic performance

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over practical achievement? And what impact will this change of

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emphasis have on education in the region?

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Paul Clark, we do not need educational facilities closing at

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the moment. Absolutely not. No one is arguing that there should not be

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a review or revaluation of this. Their head teachers I have spoken

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to agree. But what this message sent out is that actually the

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courses that many of the young people are doing today are going to

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be sitting exams and being assessed for, are worthless. That is what

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the Government is saying. In all the coverage, I saw things like

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fish husbandry picked on. I had a quick look to see how many fish

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farms there are in Kent. There are 15, they are providing jobs,

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employment, sustainability, environmentally and hands and. I'll

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be going to throw all of those out? Those are worthless, according to

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the Secretary of State. He is trying to go back to a 1940 sh

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vision of what education should be. Absolutely not. It is what it is.

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It is not GSEE equivalent when it something says it is. Let's call

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GSEE -- GCSEs what they are. Fish husbandry is not equivalent to

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three GCSEs. But if you want to employ someone as a nail technician,

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you do not worry too much of they have a fine grasp of Tudor history,

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you want them to be trained in what they're going to do if. But you

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must be expecting them to have English or maths the stock no one

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is suggesting that English or maths should not be there. We're saying

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you cannot send out the message to people studying in those areas.

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There are 3,000 of them which have been wiped off the face of

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importance for young people and for the country, and not important as

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much as studying with its ancient history on economics. Half of the

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schools in my constituency, less than 10% of the young people do a

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modern language. I want to see that going back up. History and

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geography have fallen off the cliff, and we have to be clear that these

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are more rigorous subjects that people could benefit from. But if

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you make vocational qualifications seem worthless, people will not

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want to do a them. No one is saying they are worthless. But that is the

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message. It is a message you keep on saying. It is a message that

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keeps on being sent out, and I have spoken to teachers who say that the

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message going out to both them as professional people to youngsters,

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is that doing these are worthless. In the eyes of the government, you

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will not recognise them in any shape or four. They are not

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recognised when going on to college or university, and some people have

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to wake up to the truth at that stage. We need to be honest with

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them that what they're getting could give them a career, but not

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College. How do you differentiate between academic and vocational?

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Some people are not academic. not agree with that. Even if you

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want to going to fish husbandry, you need to make a good curriculum

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vitae, you need to have good maths or French or German. You need to

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aim higher for the young people even if they wanted want to

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vocational training. But that is another point put to me. There does

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seem that as far as the Secretary of State is concerned, if you

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cannot actually have a written test on a subject or that is not the

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prime way of testing, then it is not of any value. It is not because

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we know that many people are best judged through continuous process

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and practical exercise. That is as important as it is in having an E

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grade GCSE in modern history, economics or what to do. I do not

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agree with that. At GCSE in history or geography is more valuable.

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is not when you are contributing to the coffers of our country. This is

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an argument we can keep coming back to! Let us get a 62nd round-up of

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events in the region. -- 60-second. Amber Rudd praised her local

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council's housing policy. Even though it isn't done by the

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opposition. They are encouraged to tackle derelict buildings, which we

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are doing well, despite having a Labour council.

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No such loving among some of the members of her own party. What

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exactly has he vetoed? Another MP thanked him for saving

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Pfizer. After a complaint this beer was

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Amber Rudd, you gave some unusual praise to your label councillors

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the stock yes, it followed someone else talking about the Conservative

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council. I have been pleased that the weary council has taken the

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opportunity to get funds for the new homes bonus, which is paid when

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you bring old homes back into use. In Hastings we have been doing that.

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I am delighted that Amber has seen the importance of Labour council.

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Will there be a Labour conservative coalition? I do not think so!

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Mark Reckless was talking about the Brussels treaty. What did you make

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of that? He had his great leader coming back just before Christmas

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to say, I have told the European leaders exactly what I think we're

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going to veto proposals, there are not going to use institutions, and

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they're not going to happen. One month later he came back to say,

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with an agreement that has signed up by 25 countries, the European

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