Browse content similar to 25/05/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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rent are getting proper consumer protection including from landlords | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
who unreasonably withhold deposits. Order, order. Yes, points of order, | :00:00. | :00:19. | |
at least a three course meal in my experience. Point of order. Thank | :00:20. | :00:26. | |
you. I just heard the Chancellor say let's debate the substance and not | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
the process in our debates over the EU referendum. I've tried to do | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
exactly that. I've written numerous questions, I'm getting answers that | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
say, talk to the hand. I approach the procedure committee who admitted | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
I've not had substantial answers or any answers to some of my questions. | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
What more can be done? They are trying to muscle -- muscle asked to | :00:50. | :00:59. | |
make sure we don't get answers. I'm ashamed that the government's | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
behaviour. I'm very grateful to the honourable lady for her point of | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
order and for her courtesy in giving me advanced notice of its thrust. I | :01:08. | :01:15. | |
also note she's expressed herself in very forceful terms, expressing her | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
disappointment in the government. She is most assiduous in pursuing | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
this matter and what I'd say to her is this - it is, to put it mildly | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
regrettable that the Department for Business innovation and skills is | :01:32. | :01:38. | |
late in responding to a request from the procedure committee. That should | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
not happen, and if there is a whip on the Treasury bench, he or she | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
should note it is unacceptable, and if there that message should be | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
relayed to the relevant whip come sooner rather than later. I'm sure | :01:55. | :01:59. | |
that this lapse, which would be very unsatisfactory, not least to the | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
chair of the procedure committee and his colleagues on the committee will | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
have been noted on the Treasury bench, and I hope it will be duly | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
communicated to the Secretary of State. The honourable lady has | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
tabled questions that are orderly, and they wouldn't be on the order | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
paper unless they were orderly, so they should receive replies. And | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
they should receive replies quickly. My advice to the honourable lady is | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
to look for those replies each day from now on, and if she doesn't get | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
them, I rather imagine she will return to the subject. That in the | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
interest of propriety, the department should now provide those | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
answers. Its performance is unsatisfactory. And it is - I don't | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
want to use the word shameful - it is unsatisfactory. | :02:55. | :03:02. | |
Yesterday the house had a comprehensive debate on the | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
Government's foreign policy and in particular its raw in arms deals | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
with Saudi Arabia. I put it to the Government an urgent investigation | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
it should take place showing UK bombs have been used in Yemen. | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
Yesterday the Foreign Secretary stated the Ministry of Defence is | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
urgently investigating the allegations and I believe there will | :03:27. | :03:29. | |
be an urgent question on this shortly. This morning the Ministry | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
of Defence gave a statement to the BBC World Service which contradicts | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
the Foreign Secretary's comments. The Ministry of Defence statement | :03:43. | :03:45. | |
says, we are not launching an investigation. We are seeking urgent | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
clarification from Saudi Arabia as to whether or not these weapons were | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
used in the recent conflict and that is our usual policy. Have either the | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
Foreign Secretary or head office asked you if they can come to the | :04:01. | :04:06. | |
house and clarify the position? Law, not request to issue a clarification | :04:07. | :04:14. | |
has been to me. If memory serves me correctly, the line of the | :04:15. | :04:17. | |
governments that law investigation is underway -- law investigation is | :04:18. | :04:26. | |
underway was put by the Defence Secretary in response to the urgent | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
question yesterday. That is a different stance from that's | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
proffered by the Foreign Secretary at oral questions. It is not | :04:39. | :04:47. | |
entirely novel for there to be different statements on the same | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
subject emanating from representatives of different | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
Government departments. If a minister thinks, in the light of the | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
facts, he needs to correct the record of what he said, and I think | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
the honourable lady has the Foreign Secretary in mind in this context, | :05:07. | :05:13. | |
doubtless he will do so. If he does not, it is presumably because he | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
judges there to be no need. In a bad situation at the honourable lady | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
must table questions -- and that situation the honourable lady must | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
table questions if she wanted elucidation. On the 19th of May the | :05:29. | :05:37. | |
Shadow Minister for Europe, the member for North West Durham, | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
visited solely in my constituency where she gave a radio interview in | :05:42. | :05:45. | |
which she despaired what my constituents... I must ask the | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
honourable lady what on earth what was said outside the chamber could | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
tap to do with me in the chair? I think it reflects badly on every | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
Member of Parliament. All sorts of things reflect badly but it has | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
nothing to do with the chair. If the church took responsibility for what | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
was said outside the chamber I would have a very large responsibility. . | :06:12. | :06:25. | |
-- if the cheer. -- if the chair. I am grateful, Mr Speaker. When my | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
right honourable friend von Gordon raised the issue of the family and | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
my constituency the Chancellor said he would write to the member. Can I | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
point out the family are due to be deported in the next few days and I | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
am concerned about the timeliness of the letter, if that was to be | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
written. Can I asked the Speaker at what routes are open to me to make | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
sure this case is urgently addressed through the Home Secretary to | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
respect what was put in place at the time the family came here, the | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
post-work Visa would be in place and we don't report this family who are | :07:04. | :07:11. | |
a credit to the Highlands? My short answer to enquiry is if the matter | :07:12. | :07:20. | |
is urgent in his judgment he knows the recourse available. It would | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
then be for the cheer to judge whether or not the matter was | :07:25. | :07:35. | |
urgent. -- the chair to judge. No, he does not have a point of order. | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
It's one thing to play with one's all here, it's another to play with | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
somebody else's. -- own hair. We will leave it there for now. I | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
wonder if there was a point of order brewing but not on this occasion. | :07:52. | :08:00. | |
Another time. I'm sure he was being helpful. The clerk will read the | :08:01. | :08:13. | |
others of the day. Queen's Speech motion, debate on question. I | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
informed the house I have selected is an amendment be in the name of | :08:19. | :08:24. | |
the Leader of the Opposition. I call Angela Eagle. I just reeling from | :08:25. | :08:37. | |
the prospect of public hair up playing and whether we should end | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
this house have a rule against it. Last Wednesday we saw the age old | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
said audit of the State Opening of Parliament and it was done with the | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
usual pageantry and executed to perfection. The only flaw was the | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
one thank Her Majesty has no control over and that is the consent of the | :09:01. | :09:10. | |
speech itself. After the build up and said on it it was yet another | :09:11. | :09:15. | |
anti-climax. It outlined a mere 21 bels, from a Government with a | :09:16. | :09:21. | |
majority barely one year into its time in office. It is running out of | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
steam before its eyes. You could sense the dismay on the benches | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
opposite. It was described as sparse and the bland, threadbare, thin | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
gruel, uninspiring and vacuous. And that was just the verdict of the | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
Government's all underwhelm backbenchers. Others were less | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
diplomatic. The right honourable member, sold recently a senior | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
Cabinet minister, called a watered-down, blaming a Government | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
that has surrendered to the helter-skelter of the EU referendum | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
campaign. Ex-Tory Cabinet Minister Michael Portillo was more scathing | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
about the first majority Conservative Government since 1992, | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
telling Andrew Newell, after 23 years of careful thought about what | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
they would like to do in power, the answer is nothing. He went on to | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
say,. Of course. Do you think the introduction of the national living | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
wage is nothing? I think the introduction of the national living | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
wage is a porn because it is not a living wage. An increase in wages -- | :10:33. | :10:45. | |
is a con. It does not apply to those under 25, describes itself as | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
something it is not so we have scepticism about how useful it will | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
be. Of course. Does the honourable lady consider is nothing, fairer | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
funding for schools which will affect, not on the effect on the | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
house, but many members opposite. The Labour Party once supported this | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
policy. What is the current position? We must look at the policy | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
on schools against the background of what the ISS said was a real terms | :11:15. | :11:23. | |
cut of 8% in the budget. What the IFS said. The volume of an | :11:24. | :11:35. | |
legislation is not an indication of the quality. I certainly agree | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
quantity is not all and I will come onto the details of those bills as I | :11:41. | :11:47. | |
make progress through my speech. The ex-Tory Cabinet Minister Michael | :11:48. | :11:55. | |
Portillo said the Government is in palaces because the only thing that | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
matters to them is saving the Prime Minister's career by winning the | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
referendum. He concluded, in what would be a damning epitaph for this | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
administration, that majority the bright Minister secured last year, | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
it is all for nothing. The Government has nothing to do, | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
nothing to say and thinks nothing. We have this nothing Queen's Speech | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
before us. If you are eye-catching announcements designed to distract | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
from the emptiness of the programme. Presented with the possibility of | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
driverless cars on our roads in four years and even private spaceports. | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
There is still no sign of a decision on the much more pressing issue of | :12:41. | :12:45. | |
airport capacity for the travel millions must now undertake. We were | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
told there would be a legal right to access digital broadband but there | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
is no clear route to resolve the scandal of the Government's total | :12:54. | :12:58. | |
failure to provide adequate digital infrastructure for all. Despite | :12:59. | :13:02. | |
being a fifth largest economy we still languish at 18th in the world | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
for broadband speeds. Perhaps it is a sign of how toxic things are | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
within the Conservative Party that even this self-described uninspiring | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
managerial and vacuous legislative programme has already caused yet | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
another Tory backbench rebellion. The Government has already caved and | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
by agreeing an amendment to the motion before us which will exempt | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
the NHS from a Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership. We on the | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
side of the house of long called for the Government to exempt the NHS | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
from three deals and we are glad they have now agreed -- from trade | :13:41. | :13:47. | |
deals. It is interesting to see what this divided Government are now able | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
to agree on. The only things they seem to be able to unite on flogging | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
of a valuable public assets such as the land Registry in the back | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
Registry which actually makes money, and unleashing the full force of the | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
market on higher education. This rebellion on the trade deal follows | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
other areas such as forced academisation, cuts to tax credits | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
for the low paid, cuts to payments for the disabled, tax relief resist | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
reform, saw packs, tampon tax, Sunday trading, fox hunting ban, | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
scrapping their own criminal courts charge, recommending some child | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
refugees to the country and how soon. This does not even include the | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
Chancellor's latest budget fiasco, which remains unresolved and seems | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
to contain a ?4 billion hole in his arithmetic. I'm happy to give way. I | :14:48. | :14:55. | |
am surprised that six minutes into her speech on the subject of | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
education, skills and training she has failed to mention the first | :14:59. | :15:03. | |
paragraph of the Queen's speech was about life chances. In circumstances | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
where we know half of the people in prisons who I don't have no | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
education at all and in circumstances with the Queen's | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
speech talks about education in prisons and social care, I believe | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
the Queen's Speech has something of real substance in it. I will get | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
onto that but this is a debate on the entirety of the Queen's Speech | :15:28. | :15:30. | |
and I am entitled to say what I like about any little bit of it. The can | :15:31. | :15:37. | |
make her own speech if she catches me Speaker's I and I will thank if | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
she let me make mine. I am here to make my point and I intend to do so. | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
The emptiness of the current conservative agenda, outlined in the | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
Queen's Speech, is apparent with the PR hyperbole which accompanied its | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
announcement. We have two mind the gap between rhetoric and reality. | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
Whilst they boast about their credentials as a one nation | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
Government, they are cutting support for working people and giving the | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
richest tax cut. They think ?450,000 for a starter home is affordable and | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
they are doing nothing effective to solve the housing crisis or soaring | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
rents. They boast of the life chances, as indeed the honourable | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
lady has just done, but in 2016, in Saudi Britain, homelessness is | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
soaring, millions are forced to resort -- in Tory Britain. There is | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
a widening attainment gap between different areas on the contrary, | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
millions more people are struggling to see the doctor and cuts in | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
funding me this is likely to get worse. The Prime Minister's life | :16:49. | :16:56. | |
chances agenda is either a joke or a con. How do you improve life chances | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
by abolishing shouldn't maintenance grant for the purpose, increasing | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
tuition fees and barely mentioning further education colleges and your | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
plans at all? How do you agree to attainment by fiddling the school | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
structures and ignoring low morale, chronic teacher shortages and | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
growing pressure on school places? The proposals have to be judged on | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
the context of the funding settlements for education, as I | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
mentioned earlier. The 16 - 19 age have seen a 14% fall in the funding | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
provision since 2010 and educational capital spending fell by 34%. | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
I hesitate to interrupt such a positive speech she is making but | :17:45. | :17:51. | |
she's having a busy day. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to rally a | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
little support for the Hereford University project which will | :17:56. | :17:58. | |
deliver the very life chances that I know she and I can unite in | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
supporting. The honourable gentleman should invite me to visit it and me | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
and him can go together so that I can see what is going on in | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
Herefordshire. Now, Mr Speaker, the Institute of fiscal studies have | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
percolated there is likely to be an 8% fall in funding per pupil between | :18:18. | :18:24. | |
now and 2020 in the School Centre. After a modest 0.6% rise in funding | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
per pupil in the last Parliament, don't say I don't put the figures | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
accurately on the record and give the government credit where it is | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
due, 0.6% for the first five years of the coalition, -8% for the next. | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
With adult and part-time education have seen huge falls in numbers | :18:46. | :18:49. | |
participating because they simply cannot afford to pay. Yet... I give | :18:50. | :18:56. | |
way. One of the things this government is trying to do through | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
the Queen's Speech and its new bills is to introduce new universities | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
which will give so many more people an opportunity to get the education | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
they need. Would my honourable friend join with me in looking at | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
students across this country right at this moment are very concerned | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
that there are threats to universities right now, with unions | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
going on strike and destructing teaching and exams. I've got one of | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
my daughters about take a finals. Would she agree this is not | :19:26. | :19:29. | |
acceptable behaviour? The first thing to say is I think some of the | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
threat is, if it isn't properly looked at, and we will have to look | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
at the Bill when it comes in greater detail, with the so-called new | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
providers, which and tried and untested and we will get into | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
talking about that particularly we get into the Bill itself. By the | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
way, I haven't done so, but I'd like to acknowledge the fact that the | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
honourable gentleman has taken the Secretary of State's place. I know | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
he is on his way to mum by to help talk to Tata about the crisis facing | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
the steel industry in our country, and might I say that it is about | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
time as I wish him all the best with the work that he's doing. So it is a | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
pleasure to welcome the honourable gentleman to the despatch box in his | :20:23. | :20:28. | |
stead. Mr Speaker, there is nothing in this Queen's Speech on the | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
growing funding crisis affecting schools. There is no mention of | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
adult up Skilling, which is a particularly difficult admission. | :20:37. | :20:39. | |
Without action in these areas we went tackle the skills urgency which | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
is holding back our economy. Unfilled vacancies have risen 130% | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
since 2011 with skills shortages accounting for over a third of | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
unfilled vacancies in key industries. I'm happy to give way. I | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
thank the right to honourable lady not least for once describing me as | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
a Eurosceptic Mart on before of the house. In terms of skills, why does | :21:06. | :21:14. | |
she think it has taken a Conservative government open in new | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
university technical College in Peterborough, opening in September, | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
whereas in benign economic times we saw massive increases in youth | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
unemployment and young people who didn't want to go to university left | :21:28. | :21:32. | |
on the sidelines? Well, I'm glad to see that despite being a Eurosceptic | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
Marta, the honourable gentleman is still alive and kicking, and doing | :21:37. | :21:42. | |
his thing on the Tory backbenches. I have to say to him that it was a | :21:43. | :21:49. | |
Labour government that started university technical colleges, and | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
I'm glad now he is having one in his own area, but I think that he is | :21:53. | :21:59. | |
being rather churlish in talking about our record, when we actually | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
created the university technical college concept. The government has | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
if very large target for apprenticeships come about 30% of | :22:08. | :22:13. | |
those starting don't actually finish the course. And 96% are level two or | :22:14. | :22:21. | |
three with lowly numbers attending apprenticeships. I understand level | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
two and three are important to attain, but even more important for | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
the future Health and Wellbeing Boards our economy is expanding the | :22:31. | :22:41. | |
higher degree level apprenticeships. And grateful to my honourable | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
friend, and she will remember that in the last Parliament I introduced | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
up private members bill, the apprenticeships and skills public | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
procurement bill. Isn't there a real opportunity being missed here that | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
with public procurement and major engineering project in particular | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
that we really ought to be getting more anchor our taxpayer Buck in | :23:01. | :23:07. | |
getting proper, decent, high-quality, advanced, and further | :23:08. | :23:16. | |
level apprenticeships tied into those public procurement contracts? | :23:17. | :23:18. | |
I couldn't agree more with my honourable friend. I Menard fire of | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
his, especially as I've seen those recent pictures of him abseiling | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
down a very tall buildings so my admiration has grown even more. His | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
bill was an extremely good one, and I think it is important the | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
government does think much more carefully than it has to date about | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
how it can tie in the money it spends in public procurement with | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
skills creation. The Business Secretary is going to have to do | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
that if he's going to save a prosperous future for British Steel | :23:52. | :23:53. | |
and he should think about doing it in a locked more areas. It is a to | :23:54. | :24:01. | |
boo that needs to be broken. I'm very grateful for giving way. Does | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
she share the concern of those that worried that the government's 3 | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
million apprenticeships target will only be achieved if the quality of | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
what is being offered in this apprenticeships being diminished? | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
I'm afraid I do share that worry about the very large quantities | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
target to which the government has set and wants to pass by all | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
accounts. When I go to talk to business, which I do regularly up | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
and down the country, that of session with quantity, rather than | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
quality, causes some real worries and I hope the Minister will be able | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
to tell us today that he's got some ways of dealing with this because I | :24:45. | :24:50. | |
have come across some extremely dubious actresses, if I can put it | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
that way, with one of the apprenticeships, which I'm glad the | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
enterprise act has closed that loophole, but will need pretty | :24:59. | :25:07. | |
forceful and enforcement otherwise we will seek abuse. Would she accept | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
that social clauses within public sector contracts, which have worked | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
very effectively in Northern Ireland and Scotland, could be used much | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
more widely, and I don't even contradict EU rules, so they don't | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
even have that excuse on this occasion, and they could ensure | :25:29. | :25:31. | |
public money is used to ensure the skills base of the country is | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
increased? I couldn't agree more with the comments that the | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
honourable gentleman has made. It is absolutely right that social clauses | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
in procurement have really important role to play. I make one observation | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
that I have made over my time in Parliament, and that is that those | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
involved in public procurement can be very risk averse. All too often, | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
they don't think about the extra things they can get out of the money | :26:05. | :26:11. | |
the government is spending in committing to particular projects, | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
and they often use the excuse of EU procurement rules as a reason for | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
not being creative enough with the way in which they pursue | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
procurement. Now... No one, Mr Speaker, argues with the state today | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
in the higher education and research will of widening access and | :26:35. | :26:36. | |
participation in higher education. That is what we all want to see. We | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
on the side of the house object strongly to the approach the | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
government has taken in both the white Paper and the accompanying | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
Bill. The Business Secretary appears to believe that the solution to | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
widening participation is to inject market forces into the provision of | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
higher education, allowing new, untried, and providers to start up a | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
cheap degree awarding powers, and securing university status and he | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
wants to force students to pay for it all through higher Jewish and | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
fees. Yet there is absolutely... I'm happy to give way. I'm very grateful | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
to my honourable friend to giving way, and she's making an excellent | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
speech. Does she agree with me that also these reforms to hire education | :27:23. | :27:30. | |
and deregulation risk the excellent reputation that UK higher education | :27:31. | :27:32. | |
institutions have internationally, and that help us attract | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
international students into this country? There is, if I might call | :27:37. | :27:45. | |
it a brandishing with the risks that my honourable friend has raised with | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
particular suggestions in both the White Paper and the Bill. And we on | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
this side of the house will want to study in great detail and ask a | :27:56. | :27:58. | |
great deal of serious questions about the potential consequence of | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
what the honourable gentleman has suggested in the White Paper, and | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
what is present in the Bill. The rear is absolutely no evidence that | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
competition of this sort will lead to higher standards or a better | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
solution students. It is likely to entrench privilege and elitism even | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
more in the system his proposal, the proposal before us in this Queen's | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
Speech the regulates entrance to what this government sees as a | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
market in higher education. And this is taking a gamble, as my honourable | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
friend said, with the UK's international reputation for | :28:39. | :28:40. | |
providing the highest standards of degree education and also means that | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
any student studying at one of these probationary degree awarding | :28:47. | :28:48. | |
institutions, whatever they will be, will be taking a very personal | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
gamble, too. It's unclear what will happen if it all goes wrong or who | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
will pick up the pieces. After trebling Jewish and fees to ?9,000 a | :29:00. | :29:03. | |
year, this government now wishes to raise them again. The government | :29:04. | :29:06. | |
have chosen to remove the cap on Jewish and fees and to tie the | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
capacity to raise fees to very dubious proxies for what they've | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
called teaching excellence. Nobody objects to teaching excellence, Mr | :29:17. | :29:20. | |
Speaker. It is like motherhood and apple pie. Except motherhood and | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
apple pie is a lot at easier to define than teaching excellence. You | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
see motherhood fairly obviously. Apple pie, or once you've cut it | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
open to check there aren't any blackberries in it, but it is a lot | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
harder to know what teaching excellence is. Now, the | :29:40. | :29:49. | |
government... Has chosen various proxies, such as the subsequent | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
employment record of graduates. Student retention is another one, | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
and satisfaction surveys. I will give way, but in a minute and I want | :30:01. | :30:08. | |
to finish my point about the subsequent employment record of | :30:09. | :30:11. | |
graduates. There are many reasons why people have good or bad | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
subsequent employment records. And many, many of them have got | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
absolutely nothing to do with the teaching excellence of those schools | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
or universities they attended. For example, some people with | :30:26. | :30:28. | |
disabilities are routinely discriminated against in our labour | :30:29. | :30:31. | |
market, and it's very difficult for them to have very, very successful | :30:32. | :30:39. | |
subsequent employment records. That may have absolutely nothing to do | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
with the way they were taught or the standards of excellence of their | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
teaching. Many women, likewise, especially if they leave early to | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
have children have a very different subsequent employment record to what | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
they might have had if they hadn't left to have a family. It is well | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
documented, for example, those from the black and ethnic minority | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
communities are discriminated against in our labour market. It's | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
clear also when one looks at the figures that those who have exact | :31:14. | :31:19. | |
need the same qualifications, but from the black and ethnic minority | :31:20. | :31:23. | |
communities are discriminated against and have less successful, in | :31:24. | :31:28. | |
many, many cases, less successful subsequent employment careers, so, | :31:29. | :31:36. | |
having subsequent employment instead of teaching excellence already | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
breaks down. I give way. Has she seen the statement from universities | :31:43. | :31:43. | |
UK who say they welcome the plan is to maintain | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
the value of these and are looking forward to working with government | :31:49. | :31:50. | |
to develop Teaching Excellence Framework? They have also got grave | :31:51. | :32:00. | |
concerns and reservations about the route the government are taking and | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
for some of the reasons that I'm outlining now. Of course they going | :32:05. | :32:07. | |
to work with the government because they've got a White Paper in front | :32:08. | :32:11. | |
of them. There is a Bill on the table of this house and they want to | :32:12. | :32:14. | |
make it the best it can be but I wouldn't take that kind of | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
endorsement for bland agreement. Would she also agree with me there | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
is great difficulty of selling this concept of higher fees for students | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
at a time when universities haven't got to grips with inflation of the | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
salaries at the higher levels within the higher universities and many | :32:36. | :32:38. | |
students will simply see them being used as a means to fund wages? The | :32:39. | :32:48. | |
honourable gentleman makes a good point and I look forward to hearing | :32:49. | :32:51. | |
what the minister has to say about it. | :32:52. | :33:00. | |
I am grateful. She has been generous with her time. In circumstances | :33:01. | :33:07. | |
where we not one of the biggest single factors affecting a child | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
at's education is the quality of teaching, does she agree with the | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
principle it is appropriate to ensure we have excellence in | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
teaching and improve it, if we can? Yes but I am talking about how we | :33:20. | :33:26. | |
measure it and what it means. To be honest, if the honourable lady was | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
so concerned about the excellence in teaching C would be looking at Sure | :33:30. | :33:37. | |
start and early teaching, she would look at the problems we have with | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
teacher recruitment and she would look at a range of other things. | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
Nobody in this, as I said, in that house agrees, disagrees with the | :33:50. | :33:53. | |
concept of teaching excellence. It is how one defines and measures it | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
which is what I am trying to deal with known. We talked about | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
subsequent employment. The other two areas the Government looked at was | :34:03. | :34:08. | |
student retention and satisfaction surveys. There was a reason and a | :34:09. | :34:14. | |
student may not be satisfied with that institution which may not have | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
anything to do with whether it teaches in an excellent way not and | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
I think probably a lot more is going to have two be, a lot more work will | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
have to be done on these proxies if they will have any meaning. I look | :34:27. | :34:32. | |
forward to what the Minister will have to see about that because at | :34:33. | :34:35. | |
the moment it is a very dubious concept. Further to the points made | :34:36. | :34:44. | |
by the member, many people have given evidence to the business | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
select committee's enquiries into the teaching excellence framework | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
and many of the University vice chancellors were clear they want to | :34:54. | :34:56. | |
work with the Government to ensure needs to prove that might improve | :34:57. | :35:03. | |
teaching excellence. They need more time to ensure the metrics chosen | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
and the correct ones. Does she agree with me that would be more sensible | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
way forward for the Government? I know the select committee report | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
does outline sector has these entire reforms are being rushed to a | :35:16. | :35:22. | |
timetable that does not reflect best practice and I know there are a lot | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
of vice chancellors and others in the sector who are worried about the | :35:26. | :35:35. | |
implications. Just to say, she has made an argument about teaching | :35:36. | :35:38. | |
excellence and somebody who stored in university for six years as 15 | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
years ago there was a very little ambiguity, even then about student | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
satisfaction surveys as though someone was doing a decent teaching | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
job. There is even less now given all the other modes of feedback. | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
Even if there was not you could fill in the aggregate from the service -- | :35:57. | :36:04. | |
tale from the anchoring it. It is quite clear teaching can be | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
evaluated and it is quite proper it should be included in an evaluation | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
for student fees. I am not saying it can't be included I'm seeing the | :36:17. | :36:19. | |
proxies the Government have chosen have given cause for concern and I | :36:20. | :36:27. | |
tried to explain why and I think you have to think about how this works | :36:28. | :36:35. | |
through and we will be interested in what the Minister has to see about | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
this but I think if he is not... Let me finish this point first. If he is | :36:41. | :36:49. | |
not careful, he could end up introducing a range of results that | :36:50. | :36:59. | |
are not what he wants to see Andy could be paradoxical, disincentives | :37:00. | :37:05. | |
for excellence -- and they could be. Certain people always find it | :37:06. | :37:08. | |
difficult to good job subsequently in the labour market may become less | :37:09. | :37:16. | |
valid as students or less attractive as students to certain institutions | :37:17. | :37:19. | |
because of how these measurements are taken. That would be a utterly | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
backward step for the opportunities and life chances of a large number | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
of people already suffering disadvantage in our society. I think | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
the honourable gentleman at least ought to recognise that is a | :37:36. | :37:38. | |
possibility with some of these measurements. He is wanting to | :37:39. | :37:41. | |
indicate so I will give away again to him. It would be a consequence of | :37:42. | :37:50. | |
her arguments that it would be impossible to assess the teaching of | :37:51. | :37:55. | |
the Royal National College of the blinds in Hereford because it | :37:56. | :37:58. | |
teaches disabled people who suffer in the future life chances but no | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
one doubts that institution can be properly evaluated and indeed, it | :38:03. | :38:12. | |
does an excellent job. This is also a competition between universities | :38:13. | :38:15. | |
and there are some paradoxical results. If I were interested in | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
widening opportunities I wouldn't be worried about them and I think the | :38:21. | :38:22. | |
honourable gentleman ought to accept that. I give with. I am just going | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
to follow the point the Shadow minister is making. Obviously it is | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
aborted the metrics and process is right and appropriate but, just as | :38:33. | :38:41. | |
was the other thing, we're going through a process which is why the | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
white Paper states this is going to be phased in and piloted and it | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
recognises there will be an important process of consultation | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
and feedback. It is not entirely clear to me why the shadow minister | :38:54. | :39:00. | |
is expressing this as a concern that it will be imposed with no | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
consultation. Partially the speeds, it took six years for what she spoke | :39:06. | :39:14. | |
about and this will be done in only a couple. We must get this right or | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
there will be consequences but I don't think any people on either | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
side of the house would want to see. I am actually not wanting to get | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
into the second reading of the bill, I think that is not wise. I want to | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
get on and finish my speech. I tried to take a lot of interventions and I | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
think it's only fair on those who want to get into the rest of the | :39:42. | :39:44. | |
debate I get to the end of my speech. Education should not be | :39:45. | :39:51. | |
about shackling a generation with yet more debt, but I'm wishing that | :39:52. | :39:53. | |
balance to build a brighter future and that despite we on the side of | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
the house understand why that is the cost of higher education we cannot | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
allow market forces director worlds. These changes changes went ahead -- | :40:03. | :40:07. | |
if these changes went ahead with in the parliament it is likely fees | :40:08. | :40:11. | |
would have risen to ?10,000 per year and poorer students could face bills | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
of up to ?55,000 bursary for a three-year degree. This is | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
unacceptable and we will oppose lifting the cap. -- ?55,000 for a | :40:19. | :40:29. | |
three-year degree. Out onto the education Bill. We know this was not | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
the belt the Prime Minister wish to include in the Queen's Speech. He | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
told us it would include measures to force schools -- all schools to | :40:40. | :40:44. | |
become academies. Since then witnessed a humiliating come-down | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
when the Government walk up to the fact the plans were unacceptable. My | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
honourable friend has done a fantastic job and her front bench | :40:54. | :40:55. | |
position and pointing that out to the Government. We welcome that you | :40:56. | :41:02. | |
turn on the sake of the house and will continue to challenge the | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
Government on its fixation with the forced academisation of good or | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
outstanding schools. We also support the principle of moving towards a | :41:13. | :41:16. | |
better funding formula but it is essential measures are put in place | :41:17. | :41:19. | |
to assist those areas set to lose out. A new formula cannot disguise | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
the fact that over this Parliament school budgets face the highest real | :41:25. | :41:31. | |
terms cuts -- school budgets face the highest real terms cut since the | :41:32. | :41:35. | |
70s. The aim of the Government does not do seem to be to address the | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
shortage of teachers but when they knew the path of forced | :41:41. | :41:43. | |
academisation. This has nothing to do with improving life chances but | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
has a rather dangerous, shows the Government with a dangerous | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
obsession with structures at the expense of standards. A Government | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
that is ideological at the expense of other children's future. On the | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
children's social worker bill we will support measures to protect and | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
create opportunity for the most vulnerable children in our society | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
and look closely at the detail of the spill the proposals the | :42:12. | :42:15. | |
Government is putting forward. We must ensure when action is taking it | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
as high-quality, has proper oversight and has the needs of | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
children at heart. We are clear up the child protection services should | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
never be run for profit. This Government has failed to provide | :42:30. | :42:32. | |
adequate adoption support. Local authorities are being starved of | :42:33. | :42:39. | |
support and social workers. Every child deserves a fulfilling | :42:40. | :42:42. | |
upbringing and I believed we all agree on that, but provides a solid | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
path to adulthood and we have a moral duty to tackle abuse and | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
neglect. This is Government which has ground to a halt just one year | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
after it was elected. The Government taken over by a referendum of its | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
own making. Consumed by its own poisonous infighting to present a | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
compelling vision for our country. The Prime Minister is contradicted | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
by his own junior defence and employment ministers and the | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
honourable member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip is taking time off | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
from his blunder bus tour to offer the keys to number 11 to at least | :43:20. | :43:27. | |
three different people. I don't know whether you are one of them, we know | :43:28. | :43:36. | |
all three. -- we know of three. I. Not without he approached the | :43:37. | :43:39. | |
Minister for higher education but know that people tell us when he | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
gets up. This is a Government which resorts to PR stunt and gimmicks and | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
we bought all their behaviour out for what it is. Order. The original | :43:49. | :43:56. | |
question was a humble address be presented to Her Majesty, as on the | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
order paper. Since when an amendment has been proposed, as on the order | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
paper, the question is the amendments be made. I call the | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
Minister of State for universities and science, Mr Johnson. As the | :44:11. | :44:19. | |
Right honourable lady the already said, the secretary of state is not | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
what is because he is in Mumbai where he is attending the board | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
meeting Tata and fighting for the interests of the UK's steel sector. | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
He would want to be here to champion this Queen's Speech and to expose | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
some of the shortcomings in the arguments we have just heard. I want | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
to dignify the suggestion of the quality of the Queen's Speech can be | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
measured by the number of bills in its. We let deregulatory Government | :44:45. | :44:52. | |
and all that legislate one strictly necessary. -- we are in the regular | :44:53. | :44:58. | |
Tory Government. Even if that were a regional benchmark it is worth | :44:59. | :45:04. | |
noting 21 build is higher than the average of 18 bills per session of | :45:05. | :45:10. | |
the last decade. -- 21 bills. But we won't go there. This Queen's Speech | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
that opportunity and life chances to education at the top of the | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
legislative agenda, ensuring every child goes to an excellent school | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
and there is barely funded one of the honour. Delivering high quality | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
employer led apprenticeships providing a clear route to | :45:29. | :45:32. | |
employment for young people and on the part of quality that were raised | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
by the right honourable member it is worth noting all apprenticeships | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
must be paid job with substantial training lasting at least 12 months | :45:41. | :45:44. | |
that develop transferable skill and lead to feel confident in an | :45:45. | :45:51. | |
occupation. And putting it high-quality university place within | :45:52. | :45:54. | |
reach of everyone with the potential to benefit. We have made huge | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
progress since 2010. 1.4 million more young people attending good or | :46:00. | :46:06. | |
outstanding schools, 2.4 million apprenticeships created and record | :46:07. | :46:09. | |
application rates to university. This Queen's Speech is the next step | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
in our long-term plan for our economy. I thank the Minister for | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
giving way. Can he explain why some young people going on apprenticeship | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
programmes and not actually being paid, they are being paid by our | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
costs. That amounts to around ?100 per week. Is that genuine page, in | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
his view? As I said, we are committed to high quality employer | :46:35. | :46:40. | |
led programme in which apprenticeships must be paid jobs | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
with substantial training opportunities that will equip them | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
to take on the full responsibility in that particular occupation. I | :46:48. | :46:57. | |
thank the Minister for giving way. In Macclesfield we have been | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
fortunate to see a major employer to consult the apprenticeships last | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
year. It is in some of the most important areas in our constituency. | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
Does he agree that approach with colleges taking a keen interest in | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
relevant local businesses is the way to establish more apprenticeships | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
and take that important initiative further forward. | :47:20. | :47:29. | |
Employers are continuing to drive up quality to provide the skills that | :47:30. | :47:34. | |
young people need. High quality apprenticeships will be embedded | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
further with the future established before the into jute of | :47:38. | :47:40. | |
apprenticeships and Ofsted will ensure providers continue to deliver | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
the high quality training expected. As to speak at, in her White Paper, | :47:45. | :47:51. | |
educational excellence everywhere, my right honourable friend sets out | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
this government's plan to drive up educational standards in England. | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
The government's goal is to achieve a school system where every school | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
is an academy by 2022 so that excellent teachers have the freedom | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
to give their pupils the best start in life. My honourable friend has | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
been clear we have listened and will not take blanket powers to force | :48:16. | :48:23. | |
good schools in strong local conduct... | :48:24. | :48:24. | |
good schools in strong local We will convert schools in the worst | :48:25. | :48:28. | |
performing areas where local authorities are unable to guarantee | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
their continued success. We will consult carefully on how these local | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
authorities will be identified and Parliament will have further | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
opportunities to debate our proposals. That is the basis of the | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
important legislation which my honourable friend will present to | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
Parliament. I'm extremely grateful for the Minister for giving way. | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
I've set up to academies and I remain a chair of governors of one | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
academy so I know full well that academy status can be one powerful | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
tool for school improvement but it isn't the only tool for school | :49:02. | :49:04. | |
improvement. Interim executive board, investment in teaching, new | :49:05. | :49:11. | |
curriculum are other tools. Why is he so assessed with 1-2 at the | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
expense of all the others? I'd point the honourable gentleman to the | :49:18. | :49:20. | |
White Paper which has a chapter on structure, and all the others are | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
about what makes great schools. Teaching, governments and so on. Mr | :49:27. | :49:33. | |
Deputy Speaker, turning to our universities, in the last parliament | :49:34. | :49:36. | |
we put in place the essential funding reforms that have set | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
universities finances on a stable footing and enabled us to lift its | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
Juden number controls. I'm grateful to the Minister for giving way. As | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
well as increasing the level of Jewish and fees, the government is | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
also proposing to extend them to students of nursing, midwifery... | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
This is the biggest shake-up in funding since 1968 and will | :50:01. | :50:03. | |
Beaminster give us a commitment those changes will be made on the | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
face of the education ale in order there can be a full debate in this | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
house and a vote on that measure? We are delighted that we are able to | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
put NHS bursary is on the same footing as has enabled a widening of | :50:18. | :50:24. | |
participation in higher education in recent years, said that we address | :50:25. | :50:30. | |
the shortage is that we've seen in the nursing profession as a result | :50:31. | :50:34. | |
of the current system. Turning to our universities, in the last | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
Parliament we put in place essential funding reforms that have set | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
universities finances on a stable footing and enabled us to lift | :50:44. | :50:45. | |
number controls that have been affecting nursing profession. We | :50:46. | :50:52. | |
committed to ensuring the committed success and stability of these | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
reforms and we also committed to ensuring that universities deliver | :50:57. | :50:59. | |
the best possible value for money to students. And we said we would | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
introduce a new framework of incentives to recognise universities | :51:06. | :51:07. | |
offering the highest quality of teaching. The Bill, introduced in | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
the Commons last week, will deliver on these and other manifesto | :51:14. | :51:17. | |
commitments. I'll happily give way. He will be aware that until this | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
month, Suffolk was one of the only counties in the country with no | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
university that fits that technical description, so can I offer him my | :51:27. | :51:30. | |
profound thanks and that of our county that he has given permission | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
for the creation of a brand-new University of Suffolk, and will he | :51:35. | :51:37. | |
congratulate all those that worked for this and join me in wishing them | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
well for the future. Yes, I'll happily join him in congratulating | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
the new University of. It is terrific that one of four counties | :51:47. | :51:49. | |
in this country that didn't have a university now does. There are three | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
others and we're hoping new institutions, which we are hoping to | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
encourage of similar quality to the University of offer, will soon come | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
in and cover the cold spots which we have inherited. Can I congratulate | :52:05. | :52:14. | |
my honourable friend on the new University project in Herefordshire | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
which is under way. That is not merely aim to transform higher | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
education in my county. And to create extraordinary economic | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
potential. But also to innovate across the country as a whole in | :52:27. | :52:33. | |
areas of tying higher education together and using all the resources | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
of those different aspects towards greater in point but it. With the | :52:38. | :52:44. | |
support of colleges here and in America. In order to make that | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
vision happen, does he agree it's important not just for central | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
government to give a lead, as he has done, artful local government, | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
grants and central government guarantees, and private eye to come | :52:59. | :53:08. | |
together as a single hub? Thank you. We are delighted to be supporting | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
this great new venture in Herefordshire. The new model in | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
technology and engineering which addresses several long-standing | :53:18. | :53:20. | |
problems, skills shortages in engineering. We welcome this and we | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
welcome its arrival and collaboration with world leading | :53:27. | :53:29. | |
institutions from the United States, and we want to see more such | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
institutions, and I applaud the honourable member for Herefordshire | :53:35. | :53:41. | |
and his other Hereford MP Coley, no longer here, who has just left the | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
chamber, for their tireless work in championing this new institution. | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
England's universities rank among the best in the world. They generate | :53:52. | :53:55. | |
the knowledge, skills and attitude that fuel our economy and sustain | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
our open society but the world of higher education has changed | :54:02. | :54:03. | |
fundamentally since the last major legislative reforms of 1992, and our | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
system needs to meet new challenges. A rapid increase in jobs requiring | :54:09. | :54:14. | |
high and level skills has created a worldwide demand for more graduate | :54:15. | :54:18. | |
employees and for greater diversity of higher education provision. Yet, | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
in this country, we are still well below the OECD average for | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
university attendance, was proportionately fewer to university | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
to study at an undergraduate level than our main competitors. | :54:32. | :54:37. | |
First-time entrants were 48% versus 55% for the OECD average in 2013. We | :54:38. | :54:42. | |
also lagged behind when it comes to further studies. First entry rates | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
to Masters courses are only 15% versus 20% for the OECD average. We | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
are also far from eating our economy's needs for graduate level | :54:53. | :54:57. | |
skills. Between now and 2022, over half of job vacancies will be and | :54:58. | :55:05. | |
occupations most likely to have graduates. We need to remove | :55:06. | :55:09. | |
barriers to entry high quality new entrants to help meet the demand for | :55:10. | :55:14. | |
skilled graduates. Given the Minister has outlined the desperate | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
need for skilled graduate employees, why is his government so reticent to | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
reintroduce the post study work Visa for Scotland's? Mr Deputy Speaker, | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
we have a very successful international education export | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
sector in this country. We have a market share globally of over 10%, | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
which we are holding. We see annual growth in international student | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
numbers of between 3-4% a year. We are attentive to the need to remain | :55:47. | :55:50. | |
competitive but we have a successful international educational sector, | :55:51. | :55:58. | |
and we have to drive up the quality of the student experience on offer | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
in all our universities. I will give way. On the note of the skills gap | :56:03. | :56:11. | |
that he referred to, he knows that characteristically in the south-west | :56:12. | :56:14. | |
we are below productivity levels, and what would make a big difference | :56:15. | :56:20. | |
in my constituency is actually university to help skill up those | :56:21. | :56:23. | |
young people that I fear we're losing to other places, like | :56:24. | :56:28. | |
Hereford. I completely agree with my honourable friend. Universities are | :56:29. | :56:34. | |
read great driver of regional and local economic growth, and there has | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
been an LSE study that came out recently that demonstrated this very | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
strong correlation between opening new universities and significantly | :56:44. | :56:45. | |
increased economic growth. They estimate the doubling universities | :56:46. | :57:03. | |
is related to GDP. On skills, we all understood the government was going | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
to publish a skills White Paper. That appears to have been downgraded | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
to a skills plan. Has that change been made, and, if so, why? The | :57:12. | :57:20. | |
honourable member should wait a little bit longer and he will see | :57:21. | :57:24. | |
the full fruits of the work of my friend, the skills minister, and | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
colleagues in the Department of education, led by the expert panel, | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
chaired by Lord Sainsbury. At the same time, continuing with why our | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
higher education needs to meet new challenges, at the same time, the | :57:42. | :57:44. | |
system needs to be more innovative, so it meets the diverse needs of | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
learners of all ages and employers of all sizes. As promised in our | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
manifesto, we will promote more flexible learning, including the | :57:55. | :57:57. | |
provision of two-year degrees, and degree apprenticeships. And we need | :57:58. | :58:01. | |
the system to be delivering outcomes for those that go through it, and | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
for the taxpayers that underwrite it. At the same time as employers | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
suffer skills shortages, especially in highly skilled STEM areas, we see | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
20% of graduates winding up in nonprofessional rolls 3.5 years | :58:17. | :58:21. | |
after graduating. This graduate labour market mismatch is a waste of | :58:22. | :58:26. | |
their potential and Dave brake on our productivity as an economy. -- | :58:27. | :58:33. | |
and a break. What he agree with me that it's also important that we use | :58:34. | :58:38. | |
our local enterprise partnerships in order to invigorate where the needs | :58:39. | :58:44. | |
are and how we can meet those needs, and not Tony has my honourable | :58:45. | :58:47. | |
friend mentioned the University of Suffolk camp but my own West Suffolk | :58:48. | :58:52. | |
College has had an ?8 million stimulus from our new Anglia LEP. | :58:53. | :58:59. | |
Yes, we certainly agree with all of that. Universities are the heart of | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
many of the most successful LEPs and we want to see their good work | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
stimulator economic growth and relevant provision of higher | :59:10. | :59:12. | |
education in their local areas by universities. That's why at the | :59:13. | :59:18. | |
heart of this Bill our powers to make it easier for high quality new | :59:19. | :59:21. | |
universities and Challenger into douches to enter the sector and | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
award degrees, to drive up quality and to give applicants more choice | :59:25. | :59:30. | |
about where and how to study. There are some who say close the door to | :59:31. | :59:33. | |
new universities, put the cap back on student numbers, restrict the | :59:34. | :59:39. | |
benefits of higher education to a narrow elite. We've heard the same | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
arguments at every period of university expansion. In the 1820s, | :59:45. | :59:50. | |
UCL and kings were dismissed as Cockney universities. Today, they | :59:51. | :59:54. | |
are globally renowned universities. We heard it at the time, the Civic | :59:55. | :00:00. | |
colleges in Manchester, earning, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
Bristol became redbrick universities before the First World War, and we | :00:06. | :00:08. | |
heard it when the Conservative government of John Major was putting | :00:09. | :00:13. | |
through Parliament the 1992 act that created a wave of new universities | :00:14. | :00:19. | |
out of the politic mix. We need more universities again today. | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
Universities are great engines of social mobility, and formidable | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
drivers of regional economic growth, which is why I was so pleased to | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
welcome the announcement of the University of Southampton, and I'm | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
so supportive of the Hereford plans. These are just two good examples of | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
the challenge institutions we have in mind in opening up the sector to | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
new high-quality entrants, and we welcome support for our proposals | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
from sensible figures, such as Lord Mandelson, now chancellor of | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
Manchester Metropolitan, one of those very institutions that gained | :00:53. | :00:55. | |
university thanks to a Conservative government in 1992. As he put it, | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
who have recognised the essential contribution, a wide range of | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
institutions can make to our economic success and social mobility | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
in this country. I'm happy to give way. Well, thank goodness for that! | :01:09. | :01:17. | |
Just to make it clear to the honourable gentleman, nobody on this | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
side of the house objects to expanding the university sector. We | :01:22. | :01:30. | |
do have and we are right to ask about the speed of which that will | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
be done, how probationary status will work and what kind of gamble | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
that will represent, and we will go on asking those questions. The | :01:40. | :01:41. | |
honourable gentleman shouldn't set up a straw man or woman and tried to | :01:42. | :01:46. | |
accuse us of being against expansion. We aren't but it has to | :01:47. | :01:54. | |
be high-quality! I am delighted the Shadow Secretary of State is | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
supportive of new entrants, new challenge institutions. It is | :01:58. | :01:59. | |
exactly what the sector needs and I'm glad we have established that | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
important point of principle that you are supportive of new entrants | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
into the sector and that you believe in competition. But a good thing I'm | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
delighted to hear it. Can I just caution my friend the Minister not | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
to be so quick to assume the opposition will be as supportive as | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
perhaps they say today. Take a lesson from the expense of the | :02:23. | :02:25. | |
Labour Party when it came to introducing competition in schools | :02:26. | :02:28. | |
with the introduction of free schools. We faced extensive | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
opposition from Labour councils at local level, from vested interests | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
that even though they talk about improving the quality, they hated | :02:40. | :02:41. | |
the competition which delivered choice to parents and students. | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
I hope my right honourable friend will be proven wrong but I suspect | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
he may be proved right in the course of this bill when we discover the | :02:55. | :02:58. | |
true colours of the party opposite and it real desire to see | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
competition in the sector, which I somewhat doubt. The former Business | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
Secretary of state is right. The higher education Bill we introduced | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
last week represent an ambitious agenda for social mobility. Some | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
said when we reform the student finance but this person -- | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
participation would fall. Everyone on the opposite benches dead. That | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
is not the case. We have made progressive student loan system | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
ensuring finance is no barrier to entry, and that is working. Students | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
from disadvantaged backgrounds are going to university at a record of. | :03:38. | :03:46. | |
13% in 2009 to 15% in 2015. Labour were wrong then and wrong now. | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
You're now 36% more likely to go to university if you're from | :03:53. | :03:54. | |
disadvantaged backgrounds than in 2009. If the right honourable member | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
wants to comment on this I will happily take an intervention | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
nothing? OK. We are not complacent. The Prime Minister has set a | :04:06. | :04:10. | |
challenging call to double potatoes and -- -- participation rates for | :04:11. | :04:16. | |
disadvantaged by 2020. The Sutton trust shows only 3% of disadvantaged | :04:17. | :04:24. | |
pupils go to the highest universities. It's a product that | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
record was much indeed. That is why I have just written to the director | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
of the access giving him all the political cover he needs to drive | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
further progress in widening participation at the most selective | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
institutions in this country. Furthermore we are strengthening | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
access agreements more generally and they will now cover both access and | :04:49. | :04:54. | |
participation so students receive support the needs right the way | :04:55. | :04:57. | |
through their courses, not just at the point of entry. And we will give | :04:58. | :05:05. | |
the director fair access and participation in greater set of | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
sanctions to help ensure universities deliver the agreements | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
they have made with him. We know some students face additional | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
barriers in accessing higher education because, in some cases | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
their religious beliefs mean they are unable to take on | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
interest-bearing loans which is why, subject to Parliament, we will be | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
the first Government to introduce an alternative student finance product | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
that will support the students enjoy education. This, combined with other | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
measures, will help us meet our goal of increasing the number of people | :05:37. | :05:44. | |
from disadvantaged backgrounds, one third of whom are Muslim, going to | :05:45. | :05:46. | |
university. We are committed to increasing the number by 2020. The | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
Minister will know I have been writing to this department is about | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
compliant loans and the thing missing for students who are put off | :05:57. | :06:01. | |
by the failure to provide this product is a timetable for when it | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
will be available sharia compliant loans. Can he commits a timetable | :06:06. | :06:13. | |
for communities like mine can access these products? I congratulate the | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
right honourable member for her contribution towards this campaign. | :06:19. | :06:26. | |
This Government was the first to consult on how such a product and | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
what the man they might be for such a product. We now have a legislative | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
vehicle with which to introduce it and we are moving at full speed and | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
the sooner you let this bill through the house the sooner we can crack on | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
and deliver the alternative finance product you want to see. | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
Thanks to the reforms we are already making to part-time and postgraduate | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
study also a clear message to people in this country that it is never too | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
late to learn. This Government is transforming the funding landscape | :07:02. | :07:04. | |
for part-time and postgraduate study. We are, for the first time, | :07:05. | :07:10. | |
introducing a maintenance loans for part-time undergraduates in addition | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
to the tuition fee loans made available in the previous | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
parliament. We are continuing to reverse Labour's restriction on | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
studying for a second degree so you can get your student loan to take a | :07:23. | :07:31. | |
second part-time degree in a sub mac subject. We are introducing finance | :07:32. | :07:37. | |
for postgraduate study. -- STEM subjects. We are giving people the | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
opportunities they need to gain new skills at every stage of their | :07:43. | :07:53. | |
lives. Would-be Minister outline the Government's commitment to support | :07:54. | :07:55. | |
the interrogation of refugees, not just with English-language, -- not | :07:56. | :08:01. | |
least with English language, which is a crucial component in their | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
learning. We are committed to supporting refugees as they enter | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
higher education and will look closely at that any gaps, with | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
respect to English language provision. | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
Turning to a question any opposition's Amendment, could only | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
take the steps we have taken to wider participation in higher | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
education because the decision, the difficult decisions taken as a | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
Government to ensure our universities are sustainable | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
finance. They are. Total funding for the sector has increased from 22 | :08:36. | :08:45. | |
billion in 2009 - ten, two 28 million in 2014-15 and is forecast | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
to reach 31 billion by 2017 - 18. The OECD said or approach means | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
we're one of the few countries in the world to half of a sustainable | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
approach to financing in modern system of higher education. Our | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
economy needs a world-class higher education system and we cannot allow | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
a situation where our universities are once again underfunded. The | :09:08. | :09:14. | |
?9,000 tuition fee of 2012 has already fallen in real term value to | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
?8,500. If we leave it and change it will be worth ?8,000 by the end of | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
this Parliament. We want to ensure our universities have the funding | :09:25. | :09:31. | |
they need and every student receives the high quality experience for the | :09:32. | :09:34. | |
time it in higher education. I am not the First Minister to the | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
variability in teaching quality or imbalance between teaching and | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
research in the higher education system. Labour ministers for many | :09:42. | :09:45. | |
governments or many governments have made exactly the same point but it | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
will be a Conservative Government that will actually do something | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
about it. We want to shine a spotlight on good practice, give | :09:54. | :09:56. | |
applicants more information about the type of teaching and graduate | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
outcomes they can expect and raise the status of excellent duress | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
teaching and that is why we are implementing our manifesto | :10:06. | :10:08. | |
commitment to introduce a teaching excellence of famotidine up the | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
quality of teaching and spread best practice. -- excellence of teaching. | :10:12. | :10:19. | |
It's worth noting the irony that it was a Labour Government under Tony | :10:20. | :10:28. | |
Blair that in 2004 sensible Blake put in place new legal powers | :10:29. | :10:30. | |
allowing governments to maintain university fees in line with | :10:31. | :10:37. | |
inflation. For the 2017-18 academic year I can confirm the rate of | :10:38. | :10:43. | |
inflation apply to maximum fees applied to institutions | :10:44. | :10:44. | |
demonstrating high quality teaching us 2.8%. The measure we are using a | :10:45. | :10:54. | |
set out by measures introduced by Labour in 2006. The party opposite | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
might have changed their views on that entire era and no longer | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
support the policy it itself introduced but we on the scent will | :11:04. | :11:06. | |
refuse to allow students learning to suffer. -- are we on this side. | :11:07. | :11:17. | |
Allowing the value of maximum fees permitted by legislation to be | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
maintained in real terms is essential if universities are to | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
continue to be able to deliver high quality teaching. He is making a | :11:26. | :11:34. | |
very credible case and does he agree that if we do not find better | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
quality degrees through this system the only alternative is to taxation | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
or borrowing levied across the whole populist who do not necessarily | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
benefit from higher education? -- through the whole population. My | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
right honourable friend makes the point perfectly. The alternative to | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
what we're doing is in general -- greater burden on general taxpayers | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
who have lower lifetime earnings than those who benefited from a | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
university education. In the case of wood and they will lifetime earnings | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
?250,000 higher than nongraduates. -- in the case of women. For men it | :12:19. | :12:31. | |
is ?170,000. I find it interesting the Minister | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
is accepting that is a need to keep in line with increasing costs in the | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
university sector but does not accept the same for further | :12:40. | :12:48. | |
education in our school system. Our our Father education budget has been | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
protected and we to prioritise apprenticeships as one of our most | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
important policies and for the committed to achieving 3 million | :12:56. | :13:04. | |
high quality apprenticeships. There are also clear in the support for | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
our intention to link access to this limited inflation uplift to an | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
assessment of quality. A principle we have long accepted for the | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
funding of research in our universities. It was a Conservative | :13:19. | :13:21. | |
Government that brought in the first research assessment exercise in 1986 | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
and it is now doubts our rigorous system of only funding excellent and | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
delivered up the quality of our research over the last three | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
decades. Look at the statistics. The UK recently overtook the US to and | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
trust among compilations for field within citations and back. With just | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
0.9 of the world's population and 3.2% of research and development | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
expenditure the UK accounts for 60% of whom more highly cited articles. | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
Now is the time to extend that -- 16%. We should link teaching | :13:56. | :14:04. | |
excellence not just a student numbers in the way we have long and | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
successfully done for research. There were two very interesting | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
omissions from the right honourable lady from the other side. One | :14:16. | :14:19. | |
involved the fact not one mention of what students want out of this which | :14:20. | :14:26. | |
is higher quality teaching. The second got massive omission, was if | :14:27. | :14:29. | |
teaching quality decreases then the fees at the crease as well which | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
gives a mass of carrot to all the universities to improve the quality | :14:34. | :14:40. | |
of teaching. We are putting in place the reputational and financial | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
incentives to spread best practice and the teaching excellence | :14:46. | :14:47. | |
framework will be an important part of that. The inflationary uplift and | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
we are allowing universities who demonstrate high quality teaching is | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
a ?12 billion investment in the skills base of this country over the | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
next decade. It is now up to the opposition to explain how they will | :15:04. | :15:07. | |
make this shortfall in university funding. Either it will mean cutting | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
resources from our universities, risking the sustainability of our | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
world-class sector and leading to do be introduction of aspiration | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
limiting student number controls, or it will be the classic Labour Party | :15:23. | :15:29. | |
response, which we are already beginning to see articulated to any | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
policy challenging, more spending, more taxes, more borrowing, more | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
debt. Members opposite might heed the words of Ed balls. He originally | :15:39. | :15:48. | |
told the Times that Labour, clearly did not find a sustainable way | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
forward for the financing of higher education. He described that failure | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
in the run-up to the last election as, a blot on Labour's copybook. | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
Indeed it is and the shame is the clearly still have not learned the | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
lessons. We are fulfilling our manifesto commitment to ensure the | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
continuing success of our reforms, balancing the interests of taxpayers | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
and students. We have struck a balance, numbers of disadvantaged | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
students are at record levels of university funding it up, research | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
funding is predicted this is a one nation Queen's | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
nation Government and through our proposals we are extending the | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
benefits of education to school pupils and students across the | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
country and we must never let the party opposite put that at risk. May | :16:36. | :16:43. | |
I remind the house after the SNP spokesperson there will be | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
five-minute limit on all speeches. I am grateful for this opportunity to | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
take part in this debate. Given the subject of the debate before I begin | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
in earnest, I should declare to the house my wife is a primary school | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
teacher in Scotland. I would like to put on record my welcome for the new | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
Scottish Government seem an odd spike the First Minister Nicola | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
Sturgeon last week and in particular new members of the Cabinet. -- | :17:12. | :17:21. | |
Scottish Government Cabinet. I look forward to working with all my | :17:22. | :17:24. | |
friends and colleagues in the interests of the people of Scotland. | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
It would be remiss of me not to pay tribute to College leaving the | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
Scottish Cabinet, which Lochhead, Scotland's rural affairs Secretary | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
for nine years and stood up for Scottish farming and the food and | :17:42. | :17:46. | |
drink sector. Also might constituency counterpart Alex Neil. | :17:47. | :17:56. | |
After driving infrastructure and health portfolios in his imaginative | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
and diligent way. I wish them all the best. | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
So far up the successive days of debate we have had had more far more | :18:06. | :18:13. | |
substance than the government's programme in itself. This was an | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
utterly vacuous Queen's Speech with very little cheer and even less of | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
relevance to the people of Scotland. The SNP is the widely acknowledged | :18:22. | :18:24. | |
effective opposition in this place and it put forward an alternative | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
Queen's Speech, an alternative programme for government and an | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
alternative to austerity. We have proposed 15 bills which we believe | :18:34. | :18:35. | |
the government should have considered as part of its programme. | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
These bills of substance and would have made a real difference to | :18:41. | :18:43. | |
people up and down these Isles who have been hammered by Tory | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
austerity, a political and ideological choice, not an economic | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
necessity. While the bills contained in the Queen's Speech regarding | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
education, skills and training and access to employment, the subject of | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
this debate relate to England I will certainly but they serve to | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
highlight the contrasting approach to these important matters between | :19:06. | :19:08. | |
the SNP, Scottish Government, which has independent power over education | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
and the Conservative UK Government. The great spectre hanging over the | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
higher education and research bill is that of students facing fees of | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
up to and is now more than ?9,000 per year. Scottish students access | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
their university education without fees. Members will be interested to | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
note that the right Honourable member for tartan, the chance of the | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
exchequer, promised that the Conservative Party when electing | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
government would scrap tuition fees altogether but what a Damascene | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
conversion we have seen. He wants to see tuition fees rise even further. | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
Following the elections in Scotland it is clear that the government's | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
Tory colleagues up the road falling suit -- right following suit, as | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
they are about back door taxes for students as well. Members opposite | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
and our colleagues in Scotland to benefit from free tuition now wish | :20:03. | :20:05. | |
to pull that ladder from behind them. The SNP government has | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
guaranteed free university tuition in Scotland had to maintain a | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
principle that access to university education must be about your ability | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
to learn, not your ability to pay. It is worth noting at this stage | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
that more of our population in Scotland is educated beyond school | :20:26. | :20:34. | |
than any other European country, at 46.5% educated at tertiary level and | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
a high percentage of young people now leave school for a positive | :20:38. | :20:39. | |
destination than any time on record. One area where the UK Government | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
sadly retains control over education in Scotland is in relation to the | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
non-EU graduate's right to remain a work in the UK after studying here. | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
Abolishment of the post-study work Visa for students was a regressive | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
step which has reduced our ability to retain world-class talents for | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
highly skilled and much-needed positions. It seems foolish, a | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
foolish position to take but it is a good idea for the students to | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
benefit from our world-class universities, but to disallow | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
ourselves from benefiting from their skills and talents once they have | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
finished their education here. The Smith commission report stated that | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
the Scottish and UK governments should work together to explore the | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
possibility of introducing formal schemes to allow international | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
higher education students graduating from Scottish further and higher | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
education institutions to remain in Scotland and contribute to economic | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
activity for a defined period of time. At the time of the Smith | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
discussions a letter was spent to representative organisations warning | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
that the removal of the UK wide post-study work Visa in 2012 had | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
resulted in a significant fall in the number of international students | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
coming to Scotland. At a time when it is crucial, as we heard from the | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
minister, who has left its place, that we address skills shortages in | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
key areas of industry, to improve economic growth it is extremely | :22:09. | :22:10. | |
disappointing that this Queen's Speech makes no mention of the | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
introduction of the scheme in Scotland. In 2015 the post study | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
working group set up by the Scottish Government to provide a view from | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
the business and tertiary education sector is on the impact of the | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
removal of a work scheme in Scotland at how such a scheme should operate | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
if introduced concluded that, and I quote, introducing a poster they | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
were written Scotland would benefit Scottish economic growth and | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
business development as well as enriching the learning experience | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
for all students by attracting more international students to Scotland. | :22:44. | :22:48. | |
In February of this year the Holyrood devolution commission, made | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
up of MSPs from all five political parties unanimously recommended that | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
the Home Office change this policy and it is therefore extremely | :22:57. | :22:59. | |
disappointing that the UK Government seem unwilling to listen to the | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
views of a diverse range of political parties and organisations | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
in Scotland on this matter. In our alternative Queen's speech we have | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
progressed I get -- proposed a migration bill which would include | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
the reintroduction of the post study work Visa and as highlighted at | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
Prime Minister's Questions by my right honourable friend from Murray, | :23:21. | :23:23. | |
as well as my honourable friend from Glasgow North and latterly the local | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
MP, the disgraceful treatment of the brain family highlights the | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
desperate need for the Visa reintroduction. There is also an | :23:35. | :23:41. | |
urgent need for changes to the government's approach on access to | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
employment, employment support and training and skills, all issues that | :23:46. | :23:48. | |
have been run down by this government's actions today and | :23:49. | :23:51. | |
reckless cuts to government spending. We want to see an | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
emergency summer Budget to boost investment in public services and | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
stimulate GDP growth and support wage growth and increased taxes | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
beats and boost productivity. All the Tory rhetoric a long-term | :24:04. | :24:11. | |
economic plan the speech includes no recommendation of havoc among will | :24:12. | :24:14. | |
boost productivity and economic growth in the long run. Members on | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
the benches opposite feel betrayed that there was no mention of the | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
much vaunted white Paper on health and work, which was supposed to | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
compensate for the savage cuts to GSA rag and universal work credits. | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
Many people were given the promise of jam tomorrow by their ministers | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
in order to withdraw their opposition to these cuts on the | :24:41. | :24:43. | |
basis of the White Paper being published this year. Some were right | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
to say, as I did, and others on the benches beside me, that the White | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
Paper should have been published before these cuts were made for | :24:52. | :24:55. | |
exactly the scenario we now see unfolding. The cuts to GSA rag and | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
universal credit reaping all that damage have been made and now the | :25:03. | :25:05. | |
supposed replacement has been scrapped. The secretary of state | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
used an appearance at the work and pensions select committee to | :25:11. | :25:12. | |
announce that he was scrapping the proposed White Paper and taking more | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
time to consider a green paper and he said he made it clear in his | :25:18. | :25:22. | |
first statement in this house that he was looking to court -- to press | :25:23. | :25:29. | |
the reset button. I asked him a direct question that day about the | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
White Paper, when it would be published, given his predecessor | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
told me at the last appearance at the dispatch box that it would be | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
long before the summer, and how much money would be committed to it? The | :25:39. | :25:42. | |
new secretary of state could not answer my questions as I post on | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
that day, so he committed from the dispatch box to write to me on the | :25:47. | :25:57. | |
matter. I wrote to him, as a follow-up, to request a meeting | :25:58. | :25:59. | |
along with my honourable member friend and I am still waiting for a | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
reply. I have repeatedly chased the matter up and perhaps now we will | :26:03. | :26:07. | |
see a reply forthcoming. The UK Government has wasted precious time | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
in not publishing the White Paper. I would now urge the new secretary of | :26:12. | :26:14. | |
state to come to this house with a date for the green paper to be | :26:15. | :26:17. | |
published. Any success will ultimately be determined by the | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
government's willingness to engage with community and voluntary | :26:22. | :26:26. | |
organisations as well as experts to shape any new framework. The new | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
secretary of state at the DWP hopes to have changed the tone of the | :26:31. | :26:40. | |
debate but what we need to see is substance so when he talks about | :26:41. | :26:42. | |
pressing the reset button, why has he not gone back to the brutal cuts | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
to ESA and universal credit? The lack of assistance to women born in | :26:46. | :26:48. | |
the 1950s regarding the repeated delay and mishandled state pension | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
entitlement which has been commendably spearheaded by the | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
campaign members and the bedroom tax or the reforms to benefit tank | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
capability assessment for those with mental health issues and long-term | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
conditions, who face the stress of constant unnecessary reassessments, | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
and the waste of money and time and additional stress caused by | :27:12. | :27:13. | |
decisions that never should have been made in the first place. They | :27:14. | :27:20. | |
are then overturned a tribunal. Or the two child rule, or the rate | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
clause or any of the decisions taken by the secretary of state's | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
predecessor, why was it that the White Paper, of all these disastrous | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
areas of policy, that he chose to review Chris Pratt we are concerned | :27:33. | :27:37. | |
that the valuable time to make progress on disability employment is | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
being lost as a result of this delay and ministers should bring forward | :27:41. | :27:43. | |
the proposals as soon as possible. The announcement of the green paper | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
ought to be a welcome move if brought forward with urgency and | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
real meaningful engagement with the community and voluntary sector but | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
we remain sceptical that the Tories will rise to that challenge. They | :27:58. | :28:02. | |
cannot be allowed to kick this any further into the long grass. The | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
Minister must make an statement of his intentions and lay out the | :28:07. | :28:09. | |
development of a new programme with a time frame and cuts coming down | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
the line for the disabled, the Tories must act now. Tory | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
backbenchers will also be interested, as we are, into how the | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
Minister has abandoned the White Paper and we hope they will join us | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
in calling for progress on the green paper and come forward with haste. | :28:26. | :28:27. | |
It must be drawn to the attention the house that after the | :28:28. | :28:46. | |
release of 49 DWP enquiry reports into the deaths of Social Security | :28:47. | :28:48. | |
receptions -- recipients, finally released after a long freedom of | :28:49. | :28:50. | |
information battle, we should know that 40 of the reports followed a | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
suicide and in ten cases the recipient had been sanctioned. The | :28:54. | :28:55. | |
peer reviews do not make a direct link between TWE policy and deaths | :28:56. | :28:58. | |
but they do highlight the serious problems faced by claimants with | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
complex issues, mental health challenges or learning support needs | :29:04. | :29:06. | |
and I would hope that we can now see an end to the unwillingness of | :29:07. | :29:10. | |
ministers to accept that their policies, however well intentioned | :29:11. | :29:13. | |
they may think they are, are having serious consequences and could be | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
costing lives. There must be a full review urgently to include the | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
impact of the work capability assessments as they stand and the | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
punishing sanctions regime and the cuts to disability support. The SNP | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
has proposed a social equality Bill to restore work allowances for low | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
income workers and single parents, to end maternity discrimination and | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
further shared paternity rights for individual employers and also | :29:42. | :29:46. | |
address the barriers to employment for disabled people. This would take | :29:47. | :29:49. | |
matters in line with the principles by which the Scottish Government | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
will found the new Scottish Social Security agency, by treating people | :29:54. | :29:58. | |
with dignity and respect. Whilst the Queen 's speech did not have | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
anything useful to say about these matters at the tail end of it we | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
were informed that the government would hold a referendum on the | :30:06. | :30:08. | |
membership of the European Union, which despite a lacklustre campaign | :30:09. | :30:12. | |
so far will not have come as a revelation to many. This was | :30:13. | :30:17. | |
followed by the vaguest of sentences notifying us that proposals would be | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
brought forward for a British Bill of Rights. Given the vast | :30:21. | :30:23. | |
differences that exist in the Cabinet and the government's | :30:24. | :30:26. | |
backbenchers on the issue of membership of the European Union and | :30:27. | :30:29. | |
the European Convention on human rights and many people losing track | :30:30. | :30:36. | |
of who is in and out it is difficult to imagine how we could find enough | :30:37. | :30:40. | |
comic course to agree on what such a bill would contain and the Queen 's | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
speech did not shed any further insight into this and this is | :30:44. | :30:46. | |
probably for this reason that the Bill of Rights will be brought | :30:47. | :30:53. | |
before the house this year. The briefing notes for the Queen 's | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
speech on rights say they would be based on those set out in the | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
European Convention of human rights and also taking into account our | :31:05. | :31:06. | |
common law tradition that suggest that while the government is | :31:07. | :31:10. | |
sensibly distancing itself from Home Secretary's personal view on EC HRA | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
has little of substance to say regarding the purpose or need for | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
such a bill. A professor from the University of Cambridge stated that | :31:20. | :31:22. | |
there is no hint of any developed thinking in the Queen's Speech about | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
how the perceived shortcomings of the HRA ought to be addressed or how | :31:28. | :31:30. | |
reform in this area could be reconciled with the UK remaining a | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
part of the EC HR. If the government is unable to provide detailed | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
answers to these points it should question whether in attempting to | :31:39. | :31:41. | |
appease some of its own backbenchers is worth more than having sensible | :31:42. | :31:45. | |
legislation. With regards to Scotland a key concern in this area | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
is that government has shown little consideration has to about how this | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
will affect the Scottish parliament and other devolved legislators in | :31:54. | :31:57. | |
these isles. The Queen's Speech briefing notes addressed this issue | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
only briefly. It stated that revived in the Human Rights Act can only be | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
done by the UK Parliament and they will consult fully before bringing | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
forward proposals and it is true that the Scottish parliament does | :32:09. | :32:12. | |
not have power to alter the Human Rights Act but the Law Society of | :32:13. | :32:15. | |
Scotland have argued that under demolition guidance note ten, when | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
UK legislation will alter the legislative competence of the | :32:20. | :32:24. | |
Scottish parliament or the executive competence of Scottish ministers, | :32:25. | :32:27. | |
the consent of the Scottish parliament is needed. Repeal and | :32:28. | :32:31. | |
replacement of the humans rights act would, in our view, require the | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
amendment of the Scotland act 1998. In those respects which would affect | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
the competences of the Parliament and the Scottish ministers. Any | :32:43. | :32:44. | |
change to the Scotland act concerning the Human Rights Act and | :32:45. | :32:48. | |
98, which affects the competence of the Parliament or the Scottish | :32:49. | :32:51. | |
ministers will in terms of DGN Tenneco hard disk -- require the | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
consent of the Scottish parliament. It is not simply a consultation with | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
the consent from the Scottish Parliament that will be needed given | :33:01. | :33:03. | |
that there is a clear majority in the Scottish Parliament that do not | :33:04. | :33:06. | |
support such a change this consent is unlikely be forthcoming. | :33:07. | :33:14. | |
Theodore Roosevelt said the credit belongs to the man who spends his | :33:15. | :33:22. | |
time only worthy cause, and who at worst if he fails, feels well | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
dealing greatly. In this case I believe the Prime Minister and the | :33:28. | :33:31. | |
government have instead offered a weak and poor programme which will | :33:32. | :33:34. | |
do little to address the needs of the people of these isles, and while | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
some measures are to be welcomed such as the likely delivery of the | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
universal service obligation on broadband, the Queen's Speech is yet | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
another missed opportunity by the government to address the key | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
issues. Instead of offering clear solutions and innovative ideas, I am | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
afraid that in the years to come, this Queen's Speech will be | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
remembered as an empty, vacuous and largely irrelevant sideshow from a | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
government and party more concerned about patching over internal | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
divisions on the issue of EU membership and jockeying for who | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
will be the next leader than the living to the people. As a result of | :34:15. | :34:18. | |
a large number of members having with prawn I will now raise the | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
limit to eight minutes. Better up than down! Thank you very much. For | :34:23. | :34:35. | |
that splendid news! I can only carry on as I normally do. I just want to | :34:36. | :34:42. | |
talk about the actual Queen's Speech which of course is a one nation | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
Queen's Speech and is a one nation Queen's Speech because it talks | :34:47. | :34:53. | |
about opportunity and also productivity. Opportunity that | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
everybody and productivity for our economy, because underneath all the | :34:58. | :35:05. | |
21 bels lies that demand, that interest form or opportunity, fairer | :35:06. | :35:08. | |
opportunity and the better economy delivering more productivity. I will | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
talk about two bills in particular and one is the children and social | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
work Bill because our committee has done some work in this field and I | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
would invite the Secretary of State to think about what we will be | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
seeing about social work. I will not let any cuts out of the bag because | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
we haven't published it yet. I think it will be of interest to those | :35:35. | :35:41. | |
considering more detail as the bill develops. One thing I am really | :35:42. | :35:45. | |
pleased to note is we will have a care leavers covenant and that is | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
the one thing I would say came out of some other early discussions in | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
the education select committee about children in care with mental health | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
difficulties who felt they were basically falling off a cliff edge, | :35:59. | :36:04. | |
and the care leavers covenant is clearly going to prevent that from | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
happening. Would he agree that in the work the education select | :36:12. | :36:17. | |
committee did on clear, it was many care leavers who felt the support | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
that children might ordinarily get from their own families was suddenly | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
gone by the age of 18? I completely agree. My honourable friend who was | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
a member of the education select committee at the time and that the | :36:33. | :36:39. | |
early work, and I think the whole point of this is to make sure they | :36:40. | :36:44. | |
do not fall over the cliff edge and children looked after by the state | :36:45. | :36:47. | |
are particularly vulnerable to falling over that edge and we must | :36:48. | :36:50. | |
do all we can to stop that happening. Just one quick word about | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
regulation. We covered this in our early enquiries and I will not | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
comment in any great detail about what that regulation framework | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
should look like. We certainly agree that we need to see an improved | :37:05. | :37:12. | |
regulatory offering for social work. Can I now talk about the education | :37:13. | :37:19. | |
for all bit. I am going to start off by noting that for all means for | :37:20. | :37:22. | |
absolutely all children and there are some children in schools | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
unregulated and unregistered and we need to think about them as well. I | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
will be asking the Secretary of State to give some thought as to how | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
she will respond to the expressions by the Chief Inspector about the | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
schools which are not effectively doing a good job and are not often | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
seen and are beneath the radar. We need to make sure that when we see | :37:47. | :37:54. | |
education for all, we mean all. The White Paper talks about the school | :37:55. | :38:01. | |
led system and absolutely it should. Those of us who support the | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
academies programme will come its continued growth. Obviously it is | :38:05. | :38:11. | |
important for us to be sure that academies feel comfortable once they | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
are out there and one of the reasons why the education select committee | :38:17. | :38:19. | |
is going to be looking at what does a good trust lookalike is precisely | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
that thought, because we do need to encourage academies to come together | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
to support each other because this is partnership and co-operation. | :38:31. | :38:36. | |
This is schools taking the initiative to help other schools and | :38:37. | :38:39. | |
I think that is a combination that will work to drive up standards | :38:40. | :38:42. | |
especially in those areas where standards are not high enough, and | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
we know there are pockets of such places. Is he there are four in | :38:47. | :38:55. | |
favour of Ofsted inspecting academy chains? At the moment the government | :38:56. | :38:59. | |
prevents them from doing so so we don't know what their overheads are | :39:00. | :39:03. | |
or what they are spending on the chief executive salary. This is a | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
matter of the education select committee has been forceful in both | :39:11. | :39:14. | |
the last Parliament and I expect will comment on that matter again. I | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
am personally in favour of Academy trusts being inspector will and I | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
think that is something we should be looking into. We will obviously | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
comment on that when we do our enquiry in due course. I will not | :39:30. | :39:39. | |
prejudge what that enquiry will say. Unless issue of local authorities, I | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
think it is important that we recognise some local authorities | :39:46. | :39:48. | |
have not delivered adequate education and there are examples in | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
Yorkshire for example, and I think it would be helpful for the | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
department to set out effectively the case in terms of data and maps | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
as to where the problems are, so that members of Parliament and | :40:05. | :40:11. | |
others can effectively calibrate the need for more academies as | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
appropriate to that information. That will be really useful for us to | :40:15. | :40:24. | |
have. On the issue of fairer funding because this is implicit in the | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
White Paper, and absolutely rightly so, we need to see some improvement | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
in funding. It's got to be the case that schools in Gloucestershire can | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
be confident of fairer funding. I say Gloucestershire because I | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
represent the area but that applies to a whole range of counties and | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
urban areas as well. Fairer funding is absolutely necessary. I am really | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
pleased that the education select committee will have the opportunity | :40:58. | :40:59. | |
to check what is proposed by the Department. I think that is | :41:00. | :41:07. | |
extremely helpful. We will conduct some enquiries and you course. It is | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
very good that the Secretary of State has effectively enabled us to | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
do so through the timescale that she has set out just as she responded to | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
the issue of the academies when we first launched the White Paper and | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
there was something of a furore over the scale of ambition in connection | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
with academies. So it is in the same vein that I make my next point about | :41:35. | :41:38. | |
cooperation and opportunity to consider. I think it would be really | :41:39. | :41:46. | |
helpful with the education for all bill was published soon so that we | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
could have an opportunity for pre-legislative scrutiny, that might | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
be a useful opportunity to look at some of the detail behind what is a | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
feeling local authority, what would be a local authority which is | :42:03. | :42:09. | |
effectively beneath the capacity threshold which would be defined in | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
terms of whether or not it should cease to be a provider of schools | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
and so on. That opportunity would help members of Parliament to | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
understand more clearly the direction of travel and perhaps see | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
a way forward. I invite the Secretary of State to consider that | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
proposal and I know the legislative programme is tight and I know there | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
are few opportunities for delay, but I do think that would be a good | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
contribution to the debate. I am going to end on something that I | :42:48. | :42:50. | |
think would be important and it is this. I was reading with interest | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
these thoughts of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent and | :42:58. | :42:59. | |
very authoritative organisation picking up the point about whether | :43:00. | :43:02. | |
or not we should be in the European Union. And noting that if we left | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
the economy would be smaller in size by about 15 billion within about two | :43:09. | :43:14. | |
years. These are figures which are bandied about frequently and | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
understood by many. And the ISS is not the only leading authority to | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
basically point out our economy is doing well precisely because we are | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
part of the European Union. I mention this because throughout the | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
Queen's Speech there was an awful lot of dependency on public | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
expenditure. We will deliver an education system which is ambitious | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
and successful as the Secretary of State intends it to be, we are going | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
to have to pay for it. It'll be harder to pay for it if we kept | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
ourselves the shins by leaving the European Union and reducing the size | :43:55. | :43:57. | |
of our economy and therefore making it harder to meet public expenditure | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
pledges we might wish to have in the future. I would suggest that it is | :44:03. | :44:11. | |
really important that we do remain in the European Union precisely to | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
the lover our ambitions. I have just spotted somebody must be trying to | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
intervene because my honourable friend has helpfully informed | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
everybody that I am completely deaf in my left ear! I find that always | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
quite useful, certainly in family conditions and often in politics but | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
not with my honourable friend wants to intervene. I thank my honourable | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
friend. That must also be the reason why sometimes my husband doesn't | :44:44. | :44:46. | |
respond when cold, obviously deaf in one ear. The point I was trying to | :44:47. | :44:53. | |
make is not only is it important we are part of the European Union for | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
the reasons he outlined but also in order to ensure that our young | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
people have access to broaden educational environments such as the | :45:03. | :45:13. | |
Erasmus programme. Thank you. I am very grateful to have the chance to | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
speak in this debate. I am pleased to be following the chain of the | :45:18. | :45:20. | |
select committee and they agree with a good deal of what he said on our | :45:21. | :45:24. | |
membership of the EU and I also agree with him in his invitation to | :45:25. | :45:29. | |
the Secretary of State to publish the education for all Bill in time | :45:30. | :45:32. | |
for the select committee to undertake some pre-legislative | :45:33. | :45:36. | |
scrutiny. That would be very valuable, and it is on that bill I | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
want to focus my remarks this afternoon. I wanted to start by | :45:41. | :45:47. | |
welcoming warmer leave the abandonment of the Pledge of | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
universalisation by 2022. That is a very welcome U-turn. I am pleased | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
the honourable member for Worcestershire is in his place | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
because he and I had a debate about this on the radio and I made the | :46:03. | :46:07. | |
point that it was absolutely clear there wasn't the support on the | :46:08. | :46:10. | |
Conservative benches to get that legislation through house. He | :46:11. | :46:17. | |
assured the listeners to the programme that actually it was all | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
absolutely fine, but I am delighted the Secretary of State recognised | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
that I was right about this and he wasn't. I do pay tributes to her as | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
well for at least executing the U-turn were commendable speed and | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
not dragging out the agony over a long period as we have sometimes | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
seen in the past. I don't think it was ever have an idea we should | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
force all schools to become academies and I am glad she has | :46:47. | :46:50. | |
dropped it, but it is disappointing that the bill still has the aim | :46:51. | :46:57. | |
according to the documentation along the Queen's Speech to move towards a | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
system where all schools and academies and I do think that | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
ministers should be listening not least a headteachers about this very | :47:08. | :47:13. | |
important subject because the National Association of head | :47:14. | :47:17. | |
teachers says that aim, the declared aim of this bill, and I quote, good | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
and outstanding schools should still be made to convert regardless of the | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
professional judgment of school leaders, the opposition of parents | :47:28. | :47:30. | |
and the best interests of local communities. I really think that a | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
Conservative government ought to be listening to headteachers, to | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
parents and to local communities in these matters, and not continuing | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
with their view that every school should become an Academy, whether or | :47:44. | :47:50. | |
not it is in those interests. Akkad isolation can be a very good thing | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
with plenty of examples where it has turned around the fortunes of a | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
school, but forced academies nation isn't. | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
Ministers have not been able to provide any evidence that a | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
canonisation necessarily raises standards because it does not. Areas | :48:09. | :48:16. | |
identified by Ofsted as having problems with low education | :48:17. | :48:18. | |
standards include areas where most of the school have already become | :48:19. | :48:26. | |
academies. It would be very helpful if there was a panacea like | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
acadamisation, every organisation to overcome the problem of | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
underperforming schools but the reality is there is not a panacea, | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
that raising standards is a long and tough horn and ministers are looking | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
for a short cut but the fact is that there is not one. To quote the | :48:46. | :48:49. | |
National Association of head teachers again, targeted support is | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
what is needed rather than forced top-down reorganisation. I thank my | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
honourable friend for giving way. He is making a very powerful speech. | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
Does not the history of his part of Tower Hamlets and east you show that | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
acadamisation is not the answer but what transformed prospects in his | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
area was the London Challenger 's schools working together to raise | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
standards. It is about what has happened in east London where we | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
have seen a remarkable transformation of education | :49:24. | :49:26. | |
standards in the last 20 years and it has been because of the | :49:27. | :49:29. | |
application consistently of the tools that he has identified, | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
including Academy ovation in some cases, but other leaders as well. I | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
am worried that that could be at risk and I will speak more about | :49:41. | :49:44. | |
that in a moment. There is a cost to academies and eight, there is legal | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
costs and other cost and we had a debate when the government policy of | :49:50. | :49:56. | |
forced acadamisation and how much it would cost. The secretary of state | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
did say to the education select committee that she would let the | :50:01. | :50:03. | |
committee have the department's robust estimates of academies Asia | :50:04. | :50:09. | |
but that information has not been provided yet and I would be grateful | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
if the secretary of state could make sure that her department does | :50:14. | :50:16. | |
deliver on that commitment to provide it. As the chair of the | :50:17. | :50:22. | |
select committee has pointed out the role of the multi-Academy trust | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
would be very important and all of this. If you look at the achievement | :50:27. | :50:31. | |
of disadvantaged pupils some multi-Academy trusts are doing an | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
outstanding job delivering very high standards but the majority of | :50:37. | :50:41. | |
multi-Academy trusts are not. The trust analysis shows that the | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
majority of multi-Academy trusts are doing less well than the average | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
cost to the school system as a whole. They are underperforming and | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
a big part of the reason for that is that many of them have expanded too | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
fast and everybody in the house will recognise that it is difficult to | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
maintain good standards if you are having to manage very rapid | :51:04. | :51:06. | |
expansion and that problem will get a lot worse ace -- if, as appears to | :51:07. | :51:13. | |
be the government's intention many hundreds of thousands of schools are | :51:14. | :51:15. | |
forced into multi-Academy trusts in the next few years. It is worrying | :51:16. | :51:24. | |
that we are starting to see some of the practices that we used to | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
deprecate in poor local education authorities cropping up in some of | :51:30. | :51:32. | |
the multi-Academy trusts because under the reforms of the last 20 | :51:33. | :51:38. | |
years local education authorities have been transformed. Maintained | :51:39. | :51:48. | |
schools now enjoy a high degree of autonomy whereas academies are | :51:49. | :51:52. | |
frequently not allowed very much autonomy at all from the | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
multi-Academy trust. One primary headteacher said to me that he did | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
not want to categorise specifically because a multi-Academy trust at his | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
school would not allow the degree of autonomy for his school that his | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
local education authority does allow. We are starting to see some | :52:13. | :52:20. | |
bad old practices creeping into education through multi-Academy | :52:21. | :52:23. | |
trusts and the Sutton trust is absolutely right to point out that | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
the speed of their extension makes this problem worse. I would very | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
much welcome the assurance that the Secretary of State gave to the | :52:34. | :52:36. | |
education select committee that multi-Academy trusts should only be | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
allowed to expand when they have a track record of success and | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
improvement to their existing academies and I hope that will be | :52:46. | :52:48. | |
reflected in the bill when it is published and I wonder whether she | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
can tell us if that will be the case. She also recognised the | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
importance in circumstances which we are now seeing in some instances, | :52:58. | :53:05. | |
where a trust has demonstrably failed to deliver adequate standards | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
and improvement in a particular Academy. She recognised the | :53:11. | :53:14. | |
importance of parents being able to secure transfer for that Academy | :53:15. | :53:18. | |
from its existing trust that has not succeeded to a different trust. I | :53:19. | :53:26. | |
think, of course with appropriate standards, if that was allowed for | :53:27. | :53:30. | |
parents it would be an important protection. She fully recognise the | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
value of that in her evidence to the select committee and I wonder if she | :53:36. | :53:38. | |
can tell us whether that provision will be in the bill as well. | :53:39. | :53:45. | |
Finally, the bill will also deliver the National school funding formula | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
that we recently debated in the house, the impact of that initiative | :53:50. | :54:03. | |
on schools in London and I am worried that ministers seem to have | :54:04. | :54:06. | |
given exclusive access to their deliberations about this topic to a | :54:07. | :54:14. | |
group of largely rural authorities and my worry is that we may well end | :54:15. | :54:20. | |
up with an unfair formula as a result and in particular there were | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
no London authorities at all included in that group. I am | :54:25. | :54:30. | |
particularly anxious that the high rate of people mobility in some | :54:31. | :54:33. | |
authorities should be included in the formula. It is our pleasure to | :54:34. | :54:40. | |
follow the honourable member who was one of the ministers that was | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
respected by the opposition as somebody who listened I was ready to | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
engage. I support the gracious speech about think it provides a | :54:50. | :54:52. | |
good programme for this government to move forward and I think it is | :54:53. | :55:00. | |
certainly that there are plenty of important and decent bills that we | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
can support but to start on the issue of the moment, the referendum, | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
when I was first elected I voted for a referendum on Amsterdam and I was | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
defeated and then I voted for a referendum on Nice and I was | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
defeated and then I voted for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and | :55:17. | :55:20. | |
I was defeated and although Mr Blair and Mr Brown had committed to having | :55:21. | :55:25. | |
a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, but it is refreshing to find that we | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
have a Prime Minister with the confidence to put it in his | :55:30. | :55:32. | |
manifesto and win an election and legislate in this house and give the | :55:33. | :55:39. | |
British people a choice. I am 59, I voted in the referendum in 1975. | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
There are very few people in this chamber I suspect to voted in 1975 | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
and I think it right and proper that British people should consent to the | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
arrangements for the future. I lean on the leave side but nevertheless I | :55:56. | :56:00. | |
think it is a real shock horror politician carries out what he said | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
moment and I think we really ought to give credit to the Prime | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
Minister. In terms of the bills I actually do think the education bill | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
will be a game changer, particularly because of the fair funding formula | :56:15. | :56:20. | |
and I know members of the public are worrying about that and I pay | :56:21. | :56:22. | |
tribute to the member for Worcester who campaigned for the government to | :56:23. | :56:25. | |
look at this. It is not the case that we believe people in urban | :56:26. | :56:28. | |
areas should have more money but sometimes when they have two or | :56:29. | :56:33. | |
three or four times as much money than children in places like Dorset | :56:34. | :56:36. | |
and Poole are really being undervalued in terms of what the | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
nation actually thinks of them. I think we need to start to move in a | :56:42. | :56:45. | |
new direction but be aware of the fact that clearly with all of these | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
things there are winners and losers and it cannot be | :56:50. | :57:26. | |
done quickly but I think the bill is a very good start. I am also very | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
pleased with the NHS charging Bill, particular visitors to the UK, as | :57:31. | :57:33. | |
the Secretary of State for Health is often said we have a National Health | :57:34. | :57:35. | |
Service not an international health service and there are occasions when | :57:36. | :57:38. | |
I wonder whether we ought to be a little bit more vociferous in | :57:39. | :57:40. | |
pursuing people who use the service and shouldn't really be using the | :57:41. | :57:43. | |
service. Part of the problem is the difficulties of recruiting mone y | :57:44. | :57:45. | |
from people and the service isn't set up to do that so we need to | :57:46. | :57:48. | |
think very carefully about how we will recode the ?500,000 a year that | :57:49. | :57:51. | |
the bill expect from those use the service and shouldn't. We all know | :57:52. | :57:53. | |
that people sometimes come to this resources and in these tough times | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
it is right and proper that the British government stand up for | :57:57. | :57:58. | |
British interests by insuring that people pay their fair share the | :57:59. | :58:00. | |
express purpose of taking advantage of the NHS and we are short of | :58:01. | :58:03. | |
resources and in these tough times it is right and proper that the | :58:04. | :58:05. | |
British government stand up for British interests by insuring that | :58:06. | :58:08. | |
people pay their fair there is a range of bills within this gracious | :58:09. | :58:10. | |
address that will make life chances for people in the, as was mentioned | :58:11. | :58:13. | |
yesterday in the house, I care are being given higher priority. One | :58:14. | :58:15. | |
honourable member who was no longer a member of the house spent quite a | :58:16. | :58:18. | |
long time campaigning about the rights of children in care and | :58:19. | :58:20. | |
sometimes they get lost and they have life chances less than others | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
and it is right and proper that these sometimes forgotten children | :58:24. | :58:25. | |
are looked children in care are being given higher priority. One | :58:26. | :58:27. | |
honourable member who was no longer a member of the house but quite a | :58:28. | :58:30. | |
long time campaigning about the rights of children in care and | :58:31. | :58:32. | |
sometimes they get lost and they have life chances less than others | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
and it is right and proper that these sometimes forgotten children | :58:36. | :58:37. | |
and given the best start in life, a better start than their | :58:38. | :58:39. | |
circumstances might one slight word of criticism, I visited a local | :58:40. | :58:41. | |
company called sun-seeker yachts who employ nearly 2000 people in one | :58:42. | :58:43. | |
slight word of criticism, I visited a local company called sun-seeker | :58:44. | :58:46. | |
yachts who employ nearly 2000 people quarter of ?1 million and they | :58:47. | :58:48. | |
haven't seen yet how and they have 40 apprentices on and they worked | :58:49. | :58:51. | |
out that the apprentice levy will cost them a quarter of ?1 million | :58:52. | :58:53. | |
and they haven't seen yet how claim money against plan they havein their | :58:54. | :58:56. | |
forward plan they have it as a dead weight loss and they are anxious for | :58:57. | :58:59. | |
the government to explain very soon what the procedures will be and what | :59:00. | :59:02. | |
the criteria will be so they can plan for the future. They export a | :59:03. | :59:04. | |
large amount of their turnover and they are well regarded | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
internationally but not -- but like many businesses they are worried | :59:10. | :59:12. | |
that the devil in the detail has not been known and we need some more | :59:13. | :59:18. | |
evidence on how they will be able to plan. There are a whole range of | :59:19. | :59:23. | |
bills that I am able to support and I think the transport bill is | :59:24. | :59:29. | |
innovative. I think that what we actually have is a very good | :59:30. | :59:35. | |
programme for the next four years and I think we will make people's | :59:36. | :59:40. | |
life chances substantially better and I think what David Cameron has | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
put forward is a one nation progressive programme that I think | :59:46. | :59:49. | |
we can all work -- rally around and it will lead to a much better | :59:50. | :59:52. | |
citizen -- situation for our citizens and the government we can | :59:53. | :59:59. | |
be proud of. It is always a pleasure to follow the honourable gentleman, | :00:00. | :00:03. | |
although I really disagree with him, not only about the contents of the | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
Queen's Speech but Europe as well. While measures to improve the | :00:09. | :00:13. | |
national citizenship scheme and donations to charities and giving | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
the right to broadband and protecting cultural property are | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
welcome and laudable as a whole other measures in the Queen's Speech | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
fail to address this huge challenges facing this country, such as | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
problems of underfunding and marketisation, caused by the | :00:35. | :00:39. | |
top-down restructuring of the NHS. There is nothing to deal with the | :00:40. | :00:43. | |
chronic shortage of doctors and nurses, never mind the investment in | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
social care that is needed to properly protect and look after | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
older people with the dignity they desire. On education there is | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
nothing to address the chronic teacher shortages, the shortage of | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
school places and the need for capital investment to create the | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
21st-century schools our constituents need, as my right | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
honourable friend from the front bench said, this is 's speech with | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
emptiness at its core. But some of the measures that are in the Queen's | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
Speech are it, in fact, deeply worrying and I want to concentrate | :01:25. | :01:30. | |
on two specific issues. First of all on the higher education Bill I have | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
to say I am really, really disappointed by this bill. Measures | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
and it could see fees climb even higher. Sadly young people who want | :01:41. | :01:45. | |
to go to university -- saddling young people who want to get | :01:46. | :01:48. | |
university with even more debt. Some students are already coming out of | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
university with ?40,000 or ?50,000 debt, and where will it end? We | :01:54. | :02:02. | |
support a focus on teaching equality but if this is simply a framework | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
with parameters already set to enable the removing of the fees cap, | :02:07. | :02:11. | |
then that is not something that I think we should support. Focus on | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
teaching quality, yes, providing the metrics are right and providing the | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
risks of doing so are properly managed, but why link to higher | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
fees? I think we have to be really careful, as I said earlier, about | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
what we are doing about the reputation of higher education so we | :02:37. | :02:45. | |
are concerned about the deregulation of establishing universities and the | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
lack of safeguards which could undermine the excellence of our HEA | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
institutions. I hope the minister recognises that that is not because | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
we are against an of higher education. I am really very much in | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
support of an expansion in higher education and I would like to see | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
more of our young people going to universities, but we are simply not | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
sure that the government is going about expansion in the right way. | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
The we are not the only ones to have concerned. Competition can | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
undoubtably promote innovation but lowering standards to help new, | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
inexperienced or smaller single degree providers with no interest in | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
being research active to gain degree awarding powers and the University | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
title is not opening up the market but lowering the bar. They emphasise | :03:42. | :03:50. | |
the huge risk with the marketisation approach and they also point to the | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
fact that UK universities to read globally on the basis of a national | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
quality assurance system. High student satisfaction rates and high | :04:01. | :04:03. | |
quality teaching and research and the assumption that institutions | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
with UK university degree awarding powers should be allowed is | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
potentially at variance with the government ambitions to promote the | :04:14. | :04:23. | |
UK internationally, and they are set of concerns we would share and that | :04:24. | :04:31. | |
universities UK also outlined, and I think we need to yearly lot more | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
from minister when we get to the second reading of that bill about | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
what safeguards will be in place. The Minister also said today about | :04:40. | :04:46. | |
improving participation in our universities and increasing social | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
mobility but again, a briefing we have had from the open University | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
has pointed to the fact that despite the Prime Minister having a target | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
of increasing the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds going | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
to university, they think they will feel on this because the number of | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
part-time disadvantaged students entering part-time teaching is | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
falling and not increasing and yet part-time is often the most common | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
way for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to enter universities. | :05:23. | :05:29. | |
They also point to the lack of clear opportunities for lifelong learning, | :05:30. | :05:31. | |
and again that is something that I think the minister will need to | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
address. I am astounded there is nothing in the Queen's Speech to | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
tackle reduction in the number of part-time students or promote | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
lifelong learning or promote upscaling or reskilling | :05:46. | :05:47. | |
opportunities for adult learners. We know that budget has been massively | :05:48. | :05:55. | |
cut by 335 million. We can only hope the white paper or whatever it is we | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
are expecting addresses some of these issues. Moving on, I wanted to | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
briefly comment on the NHS measures and we know the government is | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
ploughing ahead with these seven-day key objectives, but I think the | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
government is refusing to accept the reality of what is happening in NHS. | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
Patients are waiting longer and suffering longer. Wait times and | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
increasing and it is much harder to see a GP. Instead of measures to | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
tackle this or to tackle the crisis in social care, we get more cuts to | :06:33. | :06:41. | |
older people's services. We also know that the or visits to AMD | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
basically because of a breakdown in services elsewhere and ?22 billion | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
of efficiency savings are not going to help this. My own local authority | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
has over the last five years had to make ?43 million of cuts to adult | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
care and is going to make a further 25 million over the next couple of | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
years. I really do want to hear something from the government about | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
what they are going to do to tackle this crisis in social care, and | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
lastly I want to see a beef word about the northern Powerhouse, | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
because ministers and indeed some bits of the media talk about this as | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
though it is a reality. I am an MP representing a constituency that | :07:32. | :07:33. | |
should be benefiting from the Northern Powerhouse. I see | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
absolutely nothing in reality and the devolution deal brings with it | :07:41. | :07:45. | |
very little money to promote the economy and skills development in | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
the north-east and it would be great to know what it is actually | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
delivering as I see nothing at present. It is a pleasure to follow | :07:54. | :08:02. | |
the honourable lady. I went into politics because I was that bored | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
16-year-old growing up frustrated by the lack of opportunities and keen | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
to do my bit to make it better. I had loving and supportive parents | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
but little access to people or places and it could be said that I | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
didn't even know what I did know at that time. I am a Conservative today | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
because I believe it is not where you're coming from but where are | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
going. That can only be answered by opportunities and by ensuring that | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
every person has the chance to make themselves what they want. | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
Conservatives believe fundamentally in people and their freedom because | :08:38. | :08:40. | |
people are enterprising and can choose their own course but people | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
need opportunity to be able to do so. As the Secretary of State for | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
Work and Pensions has argued, over the past generations we have seen | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
some untenable and dramatic changes in society. Never before has so much | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
information been at the fingertips of so many. Never before have we | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
seen such a decline of social deference and never before have such | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
a leaked preserves as universities been an option but we're not living | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
in a golden age of social mobility. Today, far too many people have | :09:19. | :09:22. | |
their life chances determined before they have even had the opportunity | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
to explore all that life has to offer. I am proud it is a | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
Conservative Prime Minister, and be capable ministers here today setting | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
out actions spanning families, early years, education, treatment and | :09:40. | :09:42. | |
support and an end to discrimination and opportunity. We should listen it | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
today and here the hopes and quite wishes being made by mums and dads, | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
rich and poor, for their children every minute of every day, and we | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
should seek to give every child the chances and the choices they need to | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
live their lives. That is why I welcome the bills in this Queen's | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
Speech that promote life chances through better education. Let me | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
start with the higher education and research bill and first of all its | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
expansion into higher education. The origin of the University in my area | :10:15. | :10:22. | |
was in that great expansion of the 1960s and I welcome the measure | :10:23. | :10:28. | |
today to make it easier for more universities to enter the sector and | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
best choices for students. Higher education is one of the greatest | :10:34. | :10:36. | |
engines for social mobility we have and we should celebrate the record | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
application rates we are seeing among students from disadvantaged | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
backgrounds. There's a lot more to do and in January this year, the | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
social mobility and child poverty commission identified the life | :10:51. | :10:53. | |
chances of a poor student growing up as some of the very worst in the | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
country. This is something I am determined to confront as a | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
constituency MP and that is not something to be proud of but I | :11:03. | :11:04. | |
equally notice something the government is determined to | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
confront. Turning on words to the transparency data we see, there is a | :11:09. | :11:15. | |
key for doing so. If we don't have data we are perhaps the words of | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
that commission to make progress blindly so we need evidence -based | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
policies and the data to be able to prioritise our efforts. Timing also | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
on words to access participation. I really welcome the broader | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
definition that we see in this bill. From Access agreements to access and | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
participation plans, meaning universities will be expected to | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
welcome students from disadvantaged backgrounds and take steps to | :11:44. | :11:45. | |
support them throughout their courses. As well as recruiting more | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
students from disadvantaged backgrounds and if we can do all of | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
those things we will meet the goals this government has rightly set out | :11:55. | :11:57. | |
to get more people participating again in higher education. Let me | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
also welcome a couple of measures from the children and social work | :12:03. | :12:08. | |
Bill, and, in particular the men touring measure. This bill is | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
sensible in requiring local authorities to publish a local offer | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
setting out the support available for care leavers and ensuring they | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
have access to pick a personal adviser to the age of 25, but I must | :12:21. | :12:27. | |
say this has to be done well and I saw a constituency recently with the | :12:28. | :12:30. | |
personal adviser who it appears was really able to meet his charge and | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
quite unbelievably when he died so I was told it was usually at the side | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
of the Lord for ten minutes. That is not what it should look like and the | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
state ought to do better as a parent and mentor. I also welcome the | :12:43. | :12:51. | |
measures for greater support at school and in the national Citizen | :12:52. | :12:53. | |
service bill to promote volunteering and social action. There is more we | :12:54. | :13:03. | |
can all do. We need to work in the way I am seeing from universities UK | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
in the social mobility action group formed through the green paper and | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
White Paper process behind the bill that we see here. They are rightly | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
bringing together sectors of education and society to take a | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
proper look at the systemic issues of peoples chances and choices. In | :13:20. | :13:26. | |
my own constituency I am doing in response to the social mobility | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
index of educationalists and business representatives, local | :13:31. | :13:32. | |
authorities and the voluntary sector coming together to analyse what we | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
can do. Much good work is going on and we want to identify the extra | :13:38. | :13:40. | |
things we can do to make a difference. We know the factors | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
involved are complex and deep rooted and we only stand to solve them by | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
working together. Let me turn finally to the education for all | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
Bill and bill we see the lesson of being willing to look at what works. | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
I support the government was Mike education reforms because the | :14:01. | :14:02. | |
reality is that skills in my constituency do need to improve if | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
children are to get the best start in life. The there's no room for | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
complacency when you see the index already referred to. If it has some | :14:11. | :14:17. | |
of the poorest life chances in England, then the years spent in | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
school are absolutely crucial. There is some improvement to be seen in | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
the performance of schools in Norwich and Norfolk but we must not | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
rest. I believe the academy structure can help in its | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
improvement and they want to see the government focusing on building | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
capacity in good trusts and leaders and recruiting and developing those | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
teachers. I do also want to see local leaders in schools continue to | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
use pupil premium money in the most imaginative and ambitious ways to | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
help the poor students break out and there is much good work to be seen | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
in the Southern trust toolkits to be able to do this. Finally, I welcome | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
the promise to make school funding failure. Schools with the same | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
pupils should get the same funding and that brings me back to my same | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
starting point. Wherever you come from, whatever background, you | :15:15. | :15:16. | |
should expect the same opportunities. Norwich children | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
should have the same chances and choices as children from Newcastle, | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
the new Forest Nottingham. As I said, this is what brought me into | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
politics and what inspired many of us into Parliament. It should spot | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
is on today afresh to make sure the chance of a decent life is | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
universal, available in all communities and parts of the | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
country, in every household, regardless of your background, and | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
especially for the poorest. I always think of the Queen's Speech, the | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
first one you and I went to, because it was the last time I spent any | :15:58. | :16:01. | |
real time with my good friend Roman cookery most people will agree is a | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
fine parliamentarian and you wonder what he would make the shambles in | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
government today, why you have the former DWP secretary describing the | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
Business Secretary is disappointing. His own Prime Minister disingenuous | :16:17. | :16:19. | |
and his own Chancellor as nothing short of a liar, calling him | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
Pinocchio. On the other side you have former DWP secretary and Mayor | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
of London, former Defence Secretary, all saying, look out, the Turks are | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
coming. Ten years ago they were seeing you we want you in Europe! It | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
is against this backdrop that this most wasteful use of parliamentary | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
time in history went ahead last week. What we're used to in this | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
house, contempt from the leader of this country towards this house. | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
Worse, contempt for our Queen, bringing a woman along here in her | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
record-breaking 90s the year to deliver this piece of rubbish. Even | :17:01. | :17:06. | |
worse than that, the contented sure the people who don't just send us | :17:07. | :17:13. | |
here. It is that I want to reflect on in one particular area, someone | :17:14. | :17:21. | |
from my part of the world, the ludicrous programme of English | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
devolution. A farce, a joke and sadly deadly serious. This party, | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
the Labour Party, is and always has been the party of devolution. In | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London. All given real powers and | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
real democracy all given accountability and crucially all | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
with genuine engagement in democratic decision-making for the | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
people affected. What have we got no? Devolution drawn up on the back | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
of a cigarette packet and decisions taken behind closed doors by | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
Treasury officials, local government senior officers and leaders of | :18:03. | :18:03. | |
councils. Imposition of elected mayors without | :18:04. | :18:15. | |
asking people if they want them. Ignoring the voices of those who | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
have already rejected mayors in their own towns and cities. | :18:19. | :18:43. | |
Austerity goes on and on. Agreeing a funding stream there is no basis in | :18:44. | :18:52. | |
fairness or transparency. Cajoling locally elected representatives into | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
agreeing poor deals as the only game in town. You take this already get | :18:58. | :19:05. | |
nothing. Coming altogether under the crass PR title of the Northern | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
Powerhouse, the Midlands engine, and God knows what else. The people of | :19:11. | :19:14. | |
England deserve better than this. More and more people are recognising | :19:15. | :19:18. | |
this, as more and more politicians of all colours. Indeed I have sat in | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
amazement in the last few weeks and heard people who I object with on | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
almost every issue and I have seen how very concerned in that part of | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
the world, in East Anglia and the south-west in the West Midlands | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
about the way this is going through the house. People are asking why is | :19:36. | :19:42. | |
this happening this way? Why must we in the north-east be told we can't | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
have this without ever people in Cornwall can have an authority | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
without air. Why can't we have a proper consultation and a referendum | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
that has happened everywhere else across the United Kingdom, quite | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
rightly. Why do we not have a fair funding system? I would give you an | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
example of that in my part of the world. Tees Valley, which is the | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
south of the north-east, has agreed to proceed, which is their right, | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
with a mayoral combined authority. The north-eastern part of the | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
north-east has not as yet fully done the same. One of the sticking point | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
is resources. We are asking in our part of the world why is it that the | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
Tees Valley, which is an area much smaller than I was geographically, | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
and with a population of about a quarter of hours, actually getting | :20:36. | :20:40. | |
?15 million a year dedicated to their so-called powerhouse while we | :20:41. | :20:43. | |
in the northern part are only getting ?30 million? It might just | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
be coincidence that the Tees Valley is one of the homes of the Northern | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
house -- Northern Powerhouse minister. Surely this can't have | :20:57. | :20:59. | |
anything to do with this decision. That would almost be as absurd as | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
suggesting that the greater Manchester area has anything to do | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
with the fact that the Chancellor of the Exchequer lives on the fridges | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
of the greater Manchester area. Surely even Pinocchio won't disagree | :21:13. | :21:18. | |
with that. I am grateful to my honourable friend for giving way but | :21:19. | :21:22. | |
I would like to make it clear that we do deserve the ?15 million and we | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
will spend it vary widely -- wisely but we are deeply opposed to the | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
imposition of an elected mayor. Can I say clearly to my honourable | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
friend that I have no doubt that the people of Tees Valley deserve that | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
and a lot more, given what they have gone through in the last 30 years, | :21:38. | :21:41. | |
where they have been through deindustrialisation in the 1980s and | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
they have taken a hit lately and they have faced issues that mean | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
this is eager for the people of the Tees Valley and I am in no way | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
begrudging that. How can it be fair that a population of four times the | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
size does not get four times the money. I am a clear fan of | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
devolution and I believe that we in the north-east do know what is | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
better for us rather than the old it only ends and I do believe that we | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
can and should be allowed the freedom to decide on what is best | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
for our part of the world, but to do that we need sufficient resources to | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
match responsibilities given to us. We need the to meet the needs we | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
have. We need structures that are transparent and accountable and they | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
should be negotiated by the people who have vested interests, the | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
leader of the Council are decent and honourable people but they shouldn't | :22:41. | :22:42. | |
be the ones sitting around the table saying this is what we want and we | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
will agree without the course to the people in their local areas. | :22:47. | :22:54. | |
Gateshead the council in the consultation have a list of 200 | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
people in 30 people replied. A poll in the north-east happened a couple | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
of weeks ago and out of a population of 2 million people 511 people | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
replied and the majority of them said they didn't really know enough | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
about what was going on to make a value choice. What on earth is that | :23:11. | :23:15. | |
showing but the way that this government is pushing through this | :23:16. | :23:18. | |
programme has nothing to do with real transparency and real | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
democracy? We need genuine in from the people and commitment. Without | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
this this this is going nowhere. We need a range of powers to recognise | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
the differences in the needs of people, for example in rural | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
Northumberland and Durham and Tyneside people are different and | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
they will have different demands. None of these have been fully | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
addressed to our satisfaction and, common law might I suggest, as I | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
said earlier, to people in other parts of England, including those in | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
a number of places who have already signed up to these dodgy deals. I | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
want to be very clear specifically on my borough of Gateshead who have | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
refused to sign up to a deal that other people in the world have | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
agreed to. We are walking away from this. We want this to work and we | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
wanted to work properly and there is nothing in this Queen 's speech that | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
makes me believe anything do with what we have been landed with. It is | :24:17. | :24:26. | |
our pleasure to follow the honourable member for belated but I | :24:27. | :24:28. | |
can't agree with his every statement. I would like to focus | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
briefly on the welcome emphasis on research and innovation in the | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
gracious speech. Properly drawn the higher education and research bill | :24:37. | :24:39. | |
and the Digital economy Bill in the education for all built and the | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
modern transport Bill should work together to upgrade the foundations | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
of our knowledge economy, unlocking a UK robotics revolution in boosting | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
our space sector and playing the infrastructure for our data hungry | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
economy and crucially underpinning all of this with a pipeline of | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
course stem cells and R investment. I am sure the chamber | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
will be devastated to hear that I can't go into detail on all of these | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
bills but overjoyed to hear that the science and Tech committee will | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
shortly be publishing its report into space and satellites including | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
its conclusions other space port and we have begun our enquiry | :25:14. | :25:36. | |
into AI and robotics which is looking at driverless cars and we | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
will ensure we report on time to ensure the progress of the modern | :25:41. | :25:42. | |
transport Bill. Whether we are talking about AI and robotics or the | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
space sector or our digital economy the scarlet thread that runs through | :25:46. | :25:47. | |
our evidence that we are receiving is we have a stem skills crisis in | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
the UK, especially core skills you need to be addressing this as a | :25:51. | :25:53. | |
matter of urgency so while I welcome the investment that will flow from | :25:54. | :25:55. | |
the Digital economy Bill I urge the government to reduce their long | :25:56. | :25:57. | |
overdue digital strategy and make sure it takes into account the | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
findings of the report and makes the scale of the skills challenge that | :26:01. | :26:03. | |
we are facing. When it comes to the HD Bill I know that Minister is | :26:04. | :26:05. | |
aware that the science and Tech committee have been taking a keen | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
interest and I am glad to see that a number of concerns that have been | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
raised by the community have been taken on board already and I am glad | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
in particular to hear that the Taff timetable has been amended and the | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
technical paper has been published alongside it although, as we have | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
heard, there will be a rigorous debate about not just that timetable | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
but also the quality and metrics measured which will be appropriate | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
to make sure they deliver what they intend to. I also welcome the | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
restating of the holding principle and the government intention to | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
enshrine the dual support system into law by bringing all funding | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
into UK are I will require separation in practice as well as | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
principle if we are to preserve the allocation on which our world | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
leading system is founded. The quality of leadership will play a | :26:55. | :27:01. | |
key role in delivering this but we can't leave the health of our | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
science and immigration system to the whim of personality. We have to | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
make sure the structures we have set in place safeguard the autonomy and | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
the strong voices of existing research councils while achieving | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
the stated goal of better interdisciplinary working. With a | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
single accounting office I feel this will be challenging. There has also | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
been concern about in the rate UK being merged into this. That is | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
because the Budget are not ring fenced and there is fear of | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
annexation. Many have welcomed the fact that research UK has been | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
renamed and it puts innovation funding has been | :27:37. | :27:50. | |
hypothecated but in practice the questions remain. How will innovate | :27:51. | :27:52. | |
UK retain a clear and separate business facing focus, and not | :27:53. | :27:54. | |
become research facing? How in this new structure will we stimulate our | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
innovation structure so that it comes to match our research sector | :27:59. | :28:02. | |
for excellence and efficiency? To achieve that we need to know where | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
we are going and what the visionaries. Not just of the H E | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
Bill but of this clutch of innovation driven bills. How will we | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
make sure that we join them up seamlessly against all of the | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
natural impetus of the Whitehall machine? On H E the government has | :28:19. | :28:23. | |
been clear of their intent on competitiveness and raising teaching | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
standards and transparency in driving improvements in diversity | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
and few would argue with those aims. On research and innovation I think | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
the scale of the not matched by the ambition and merging all councils to | :28:37. | :28:39. | |
improve into patisserie at working, I think we can do better than that. | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
Reform on this scale is disruptive and it requires buying and I think | :28:45. | :28:47. | |
the government needs to clearly articulate its vision for the future | :28:48. | :28:50. | |
of research and research and innovation and explain not just why | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
these disruptive changes will be worth it in the end but how we will | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
safeguard our science and innovation ecosystem, a national treasure, from | :29:00. | :29:06. | |
unintended harm. I welcome the oversight over the sustainability of | :29:07. | :29:09. | |
a cheaper given the removal of the structural link between teaching and | :29:10. | :29:14. | |
research, one of the key strengths of our system in this process, I | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
would like to know who has responsibility for monitoring the | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
health of our whole system as we progress through these reforms. It | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
is possibly a job envisaged for the Council for science and technology | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
in lieu of the ministerial committee but I doubt their capacity to | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
deliver that. There should be closer links with the government through a | :29:36. | :29:38. | |
ministerial committee and a government white perspective on | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
research priorities but this committee was supposed to be not | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
just about scanning and health checking but also to deliver | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
high-level leadership and accountability for science and | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
innovation across government and it is not clear to me how they will be | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
able to deliver on that function. We have long had a Chancellor who | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
prioritised science and innovation fund even in times of austerity | :30:01. | :30:02. | |
because he recognises that science and innovation is a | :30:03. | :30:27. | |
strategic national investment, not subsidy. We have a major programme | :30:28. | :30:29. | |
of cross government form to match that ambition and I congratulate the | :30:30. | :30:32. | |
government for recognising we have no time to lose in backing science | :30:33. | :30:34. | |
and innovation is a key strategic asset and a driver of our national | :30:35. | :30:37. | |
knowledge economy but we should be under no illusions. The higher | :30:38. | :30:39. | |
education and research bill alone is far reaching and it should not be | :30:40. | :30:42. | |
taken lightly. We speak often that we punch way above our weight in | :30:43. | :30:44. | |
science and innovation and we have the worlds top six universities and | :30:45. | :30:47. | |
we should proud of our research base but we should never forget the | :30:48. | :30:49. | |
research this takes. As we contemplate structures and | :30:50. | :30:51. | |
regulations it is our responsibility in this table -- chamber to | :30:52. | :30:55. | |
jealously guard their health and vibrancy of our science and | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
technology base as a strategic national asset and go further and | :30:59. | :31:01. | |
ensure the decisions that we make to more than maintain the status quo | :31:02. | :31:06. | |
and the decisions we make with these innovative and forward thinking | :31:07. | :31:09. | |
bills should make sure that we take this extraordinary jewel in our | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
crown and supercharger, matching infrastructure with skills and | :31:14. | :31:16. | |
excellence with efficiency and delivering in the process a science | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
and innovation ecosystem that drives not just our economy as more | :31:22. | :31:25. | |
productively and creatively but also fuels the very discoveries that will | :31:26. | :31:28. | |
unlock the great global challenges of our age. Thank you for allowing | :31:29. | :31:38. | |
me to speak on the Queen's Speech debate. The thing make was a one | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
nation speech and I will be speaking mainly about my nation, -- their | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
Queen's Speech was a one nation speech and I will be speaking mainly | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
about my nation, Scotland. It is a UK Parliament that I am elected as a | :31:53. | :31:55. | |
member of the UK Parliament had come from Scotland for the Met of the | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
members opposite. Are many things to welcome in this speech but many more | :32:00. | :32:05. | |
things that can be improved on, given the experiences we have in | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
Scotland. It would appear that the Cabinet Secretary has been complete | :32:12. | :32:18. | |
and there should be no forced academic I -- acadamisation of | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
schools in England and that is good but I have heard it rumoured that | :32:22. | :32:28. | |
happens to education resource funding to local authorities might | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
mean that they may not have the cash that helped them improve services to | :32:32. | :32:36. | |
schools in their areas and that then that would lead them to become | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
academies in any case. This kind of acadamisation has no proof, there | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
has been no proof given that it improves educational attainment. I | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
didn't say that, Michael Wilshaw said that. Free schools as well came | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
from Sweden, and it would appear that in Sweden they have decided | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
that it is now a political failure. I am very glad that we have neither | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
at academies nor free schools in Scotland. | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
Could I also moved the higher education and research bill for | :33:16. | :33:26. | |
England, I beg your pardon, because that has at least the laudable aim | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
of improving access to higher education and that has to be | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
welcomed across the United Kingdom. However, I find it difficult to | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
believe that widening access can actually happen with a government | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
that has systematically cut funding to poorer students since 2015 and | :33:50. | :33:56. | |
before. Maintenance grants being abolished, disabled students' | :33:57. | :34:02. | |
allowances cut, the abolition of the national scholarship programme. The | :34:03. | :34:04. | |
abolition of the educational maintenance allowance, which helps | :34:05. | :34:11. | |
poorer students in schools and further education. How can they | :34:12. | :34:18. | |
possibly move on to access higher education if they are crippled by | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
debt. In England as well, the number of part-time students has been | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
reduced by 38%, and there are now 180,000 fewer mature students in | :34:29. | :34:36. | |
higher education since 2010. As a former further education lecturer, I | :34:37. | :34:43. | |
find that really unconscionable. Mature students bring so much to | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
higher and further education that to actually cut their chances is | :34:49. | :34:57. | |
absolutely impossible to understand, why any government would do that. In | :34:58. | :35:05. | |
Scotland, we don't charge fees, and we still pay educational maintenance | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
allowance and we actively encourage students to move forward in higher | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
education. We actually also really try hard to encourage them. We don't | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
ask universities just to publish information on the types of students | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
from deprived backgrounds who assess their services. We actually have | :35:28. | :35:36. | |
legislated so that universities must show that they are actually | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
improving access for our most disadvantaged students. I would | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
actually encourage this government to look at what Scotland has done in | :35:46. | :35:53. | |
this regard. It is really important that you not only ask but tell | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
universities that they must encourage people from BME | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
backgrounds, disabled students and from the most disadvantaged | :36:04. | :36:09. | |
backgrounds. One of the these and many disadvantaged students don't go | :36:10. | :36:16. | |
to university is the cost. -- one of the reasons. In Scotland we believe | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
students should access university based on ability, not the ability to | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
pay. The Right Honourable member for Gordon has that in a rock at | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
Edinburgh at Herriot Watt University, and it is a subject that | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
the majority of people in Scotland is totally agree with. I am grateful | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
to her forgiving way and I am listening carefully what she says, | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
but can she promised to go away and read a report from the social | :36:50. | :36:52. | |
mobility and child poverty commission entitled elitism in | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
Scotland? I certainly well, but can I also remind the Honourable lady | :36:59. | :37:02. | |
that the First Minister has been re-elected on a huge mandate to put | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
education at the heart of her government and has asked to be | :37:07. | :37:12. | |
judged on her progress in it. I believe and I think there are many | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
people in England and Wales and Northern Ireland to agree that | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
university fees are huge barrier to higher and further education. I have | :37:21. | :37:26. | |
a great respect for you if you have taught within this system but that | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
doesn't seem like a very good one nation system if for example my son | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
came to university in Scotland, he has two not only do a four-year | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
system but he has to pay whereas his colleagues all over free. Can I say, | :37:42. | :37:48. | |
that if Scotland was independent that wouldn't happen because we | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
would be members of the European Union and that wouldn't happen, so | :37:53. | :37:55. | |
the answer is to give us our independence. Can I just also say | :37:56. | :38:03. | |
that while I welcome a lot of what is in this report, it really is | :38:04. | :38:07. | |
important and I think everyone across the chamber should agree, | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
that encouraging that you are disadvantaged people to university | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
only increases the standing of any country within the UK. Can I just | :38:19. | :38:25. | |
make a little progress? Education doesn't just benefit the person who | :38:26. | :38:31. | |
gets it. I stand here as someone who went to university in 1967 in a time | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
when women didn't go to university, woman of my background didn't get a | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
chance, and I had very farseeing parents who actively encouraged me | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
to make the best of what I could. As a result of that, I have been able | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
to contribute back to Scotland greatly, and as I have already said | :38:53. | :38:55. | |
I ended up working in further education and for someone in this | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
chamber, and I don't want to name names, to say that educational and | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
benefits those who get it, is a total piece of nonsense. I totally | :39:05. | :39:13. | |
agree with that having more and more of our fellow citizens in higher | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
education is good for the whole nation and this is why we are here | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
to promote that, which she therefore welcome that the proportion of young | :39:24. | :39:25. | |
people from disadvantaged backgrounds in higher education is | :39:26. | :39:37. | |
actually up? I do welcome any increase in access for people from | :39:38. | :39:42. | |
poorer backgrounds but I don't think accessing education should be at the | :39:43. | :39:46. | |
risk of being in debt for the remainder of quite a long part of | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
your adult life. I will give way later. I would like to make | :39:53. | :40:00. | |
progress. The National Union of Students in Scotland has said, and | :40:01. | :40:11. | |
here in England, has said that it is really likely that higher education | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
fees will rise yet again and that just underlines the point that I | :40:17. | :40:26. | |
would make. I will give way. I listened with great interest and it | :40:27. | :40:29. | |
is all very well and good in the points being made but I would like | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
to ask one simple question. We had the money come from from taking away | :40:34. | :40:42. | |
the fees? Government is about choices. Could I suggest that you | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
get rid of Trident and plug the money into education? That is a | :40:47. | :40:51. | |
simple choice. That is the obvious choice for me and it may not be for | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
you, but there are other things that you can do. Being in government | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
especially is about choices. That is what this government needs to look | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
at, the choices it is making by increasing the likelihood of higher | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
fees for university students. Could I move onto another bill that is | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
part of the Queen's Speech. That is the children in social work Bill. As | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
the chair of the education select committee has already alluded to, we | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
have the port and the commission not ready to be published so I have to | :41:31. | :41:37. | |
be very careful as to what I say, but some part of a former report | :41:38. | :41:41. | |
looked at looked after children and their mental health needs, and that | :41:42. | :41:46. | |
was quite an eye-opener for me. Everything I do in the education | :41:47. | :41:49. | |
select committee tends to be an eye-opener because a lot of what I | :41:50. | :41:53. | |
do I don't understand until I have gone through writing a report. It is | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
a totally different situation. In Scotland, we have a system for | :42:00. | :42:06. | |
looked after children and all children, getting it right for every | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
child, which is very child focused and based on an understanding of | :42:13. | :42:26. | |
tackling equality. Thank you. A great pleasure to follow the member | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
for Motherwell but also to see you in the chair but I have to say prior | :42:31. | :42:37. | |
to your arrival you missed a parade of relatively churlish speeches from | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
the opposition, which I find quite surprising, because to me the | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
Queen's Speech appears to be a smorgasbord of legislative delights, | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
a legislative milk Tray filled with hard and soft centres from which you | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
can take your pet. Perhaps he was worried he would get the coffee | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
cream. In the speech which he described as rubbish, I found a huge | :43:03. | :43:14. | |
amount of value first, as the lady for Motherwell referred to the | :43:15. | :43:17. | |
children in social work Bill as possibly the most important bill in | :43:18. | :43:23. | |
this session. It was in his conference speech in October the | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
year before last that the Prime Minister electrified the room by | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
painting a fairly bleak picture of the lives of children in care, four | :43:34. | :43:40. | |
times more likely to commit suicide than the fact 70% more prostitutes | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
in the UK have been through the care assistant, and he told us on then | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
that the care system shamed us all as a nation and he was quite right. | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
It is a tribute to him and to the member for Crewe and Nantwich, the | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
Minister for children, that this bill has appeared. That minister | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
said at the outset that his mission was to put children in care front | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
and centre of the political debate, and he appears to have achieved | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
that. There were many measures in the bill which would be absolutely | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
vital to those children's lives in the future. Two in particular, first | :44:17. | :44:22. | |
the focus on getting local authorities to recognise their | :44:23. | :44:25. | |
corporate parents and these children are their charges and should not | :44:26. | :44:27. | |
necessarily be competing for attention and resources with other | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
issues, potholes and nephews and whatever it might be. You should not | :44:33. | :44:38. | |
put your own children second to other requirements in your house. | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
Why would you put children in care are second or third or last in the | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
list in the priorities for local authorities and defining more | :44:48. | :44:50. | |
clearly for local authorities what their responsibilities are for their | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
children and what the obligations are, and they hacked they have to | :44:56. | :44:58. | |
publish and consult on those locally with people will be vital and | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
creating transparency around how these children live in all our | :45:04. | :45:06. | |
communities. Secondly, the concentration on leaving care. It | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
may well be that looking after these children not terribly well, but when | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
they leave care our obligation does not cease. And so providing each of | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
them with an adviser to the age of 25, improving leaving care services | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
and in particular again getting local authorities to publish their | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
plans for the link year, to consult on them, allowing local people to | :45:34. | :45:37. | |
see what is being done in their name to all of our collective children. I | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
think that'll be absolutely vital for driving standards up. There are | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
two areas I would like to see added to the bill and I put the Minister | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
on notice. If it is right that children leaving care should have an | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
adviser up to 25, surely it is also right that we look back earlier than | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
their lives to see if we might be able to influence their outcomes. In | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
particular, the educational attainment is extremely low. It | :46:10. | :46:12. | |
strikes me it would be a sensible thing for us to do for those | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
children underachieving, what any parent would do, which is try and | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
look elsewhere outside of school for assistance. In London, I have to | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
know there's a strange phenomenon of parents whose children are entitled | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
free school meals still managing to scrape together the money to get | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
them a tutor. I do not understand why local authorities do not look at | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
children in care, and see if they are underachieving we should be | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
providing them with tutors. The government has done lots and | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
designated teachers and the resorts around virtual headteachers but | :46:49. | :46:52. | |
there is no substitute to one-to-one assistance to children in care as | :46:53. | :46:54. | |
they go through particularly the early years of education. 4-7 are | :46:55. | :47:02. | |
critical to setting the standard for future life and death they were to | :47:03. | :47:07. | |
get one-to-one tuition as often the most privileged kids do then I think | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
it would make a big difference. My honourable friend is making a | :47:13. | :47:15. | |
powerful point and I wondered if you might comment on does he think the | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
suggestions you are making would link well into our prisons reform? | :47:21. | :47:27. | |
Author, and I am sorry to interrupt, but now we're in the second session | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
of this Parliament, I cannot allow members to use the word you when | :47:32. | :47:38. | |
they mean the honourable gentleman. If one says you it means the chair, | :47:39. | :47:47. | |
and we have been quite easy in the first part, but from now on we have | :47:48. | :47:51. | |
to observe those niceties correctly, but sorry to connect the honourable | :47:52. | :47:54. | |
lady and she me finish an intervention. | :47:55. | :48:03. | |
Thank you, I am suitably reprimanded. These suggestions in | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
the care system to me seem to link very well with our reforms of the | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
prison system as well where too often those people in prison have | :48:15. | :48:17. | |
gone through so many care systems themselves. Absolutely right. I am | :48:18. | :48:24. | |
going to come onto some of those points a little later. Incidentally, | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
Madam Deputy chair, use is a term of abuse in Liverpool so you absolutely | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
shouldn't allow that in the chamber. Secondly, private schools which have | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
charitable stations. I wonder if we can encourage private schools to | :48:42. | :48:44. | |
take on children in care. By my maths if each private school where | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
to take about 20 children, which is not a huge amount in 400 or 600 in | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
the school, it would mean that every child in care can go to a private | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
school. Given that they benefit from charitable status I think maybe they | :49:00. | :49:02. | |
should look a little further than the community and let our | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
disadvantaged children take advantage of the Philistines they | :49:10. | :49:11. | |
provide. Just rattle through some issues. The initiatives that are | :49:12. | :49:17. | |
proposed on prisons and courts reform, policing and crime and | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
allowing greater innovation will be absolutely vital. I burned the scars | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
on my back, as famous Labour politician once said, from trying to | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
do a moderate amount of innovation in the criminal justice system at | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
Feltham. We attempted to look at youth offending from the different | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
point of view. It was an incredibly difficult process and incredibly | :49:39. | :49:41. | |
bureaucratic and in the end it foundered in a morass of about 19 | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
organisations that were required to agree and a Ministry of Justice was | :49:46. | :49:52. | |
broadly reluctant. Getting innovation into the criminal justice | :49:53. | :49:55. | |
system and the ability of people on the ground to create and design | :49:56. | :49:57. | |
their own solutions to the problems we face such as education in prisons | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
will be absolutely key. The Digital economy Bill is incredibly exciting. | :50:02. | :50:08. | |
For those of us who have rural constituencies recognising that 25% | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
of all small businesses are registered in rural areas, that is | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
no .5 million small businesses, allowing people to the right to | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
demand service obligation of ten miles an hour for the Internet | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
absolutely critical. 12% of GDP now comes through the Internet in the UK | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
and so it is vital, if we are to grow as an economy, that we connect | :50:34. | :50:41. | |
all of those people up. The neighbourhood planning Bill. Many of | :50:42. | :50:44. | |
us have neighbourhood plans going through in our constituencies and it | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
is completely vital if the government is to get people to take | :50:50. | :50:53. | |
up its planning policy and take up neighbourhood plans, that they are | :50:54. | :50:59. | |
strengthened and protected and I understand the bill is designed to | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
do that and to particularly allow local authorities greater scope to | :51:04. | :51:05. | |
protect their five-year housing supply figures so that developers | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
cannot constantly challenged and wear them down by a war of attrition | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
to get their way on speculative developments. There will be many | :51:17. | :51:19. | |
rural members watching that bill with care and of course elsewhere. | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
The modern transport Bill, again very exciting and if we are to be at | :51:26. | :51:29. | |
the forefront of these developments and grabbed the technology for | :51:30. | :51:33. | |
ourselves, rather than as the British normally do, let the | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
Japanese miniaturising time the Americans consume arise it, we | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
should take some of the things we have invented and exploit them, | :51:41. | :51:43. | |
particularly as modern transport is focused around autonomous cars, I | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
would urge ministers to look at the hydrogen economy. There is no doubt | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
that the fuel cell is coming. Toyota have already launched the next | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
generation previous in California. It is a hydrogen fuel cell car and | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
powered by hydrogen with all it omits is water with hydrogen being | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
the most abundant chemical in the universe it holds out the option of, | :52:06. | :52:11. | |
-- extremely cheap power for all of us and using this bill to accelerate | :52:12. | :52:16. | |
our adoption of that technology will be key. Finally the better markets | :52:17. | :52:19. | |
Bill holds out enormous promise for consumers. I have one plea, please | :52:20. | :52:27. | |
can we use the consumer to get rid of the requirement to produce | :52:28. | :52:30. | |
utility bills wherever we go. For those of us who are paperless these | :52:31. | :52:34. | |
things are anachronistic and the Foresters of Britain will rejoice at | :52:35. | :52:37. | |
the trees that will not require to be felt as a result. It is a | :52:38. | :52:47. | |
pleasure to follow the honourable gentleman from North West Hampshire. | :52:48. | :52:51. | |
I did actually agree with much of what he said. It was also good to | :52:52. | :52:55. | |
follow my honourable friend, the member for Blaydon, who made a | :52:56. | :52:59. | |
powerful speech about the current devolution offer from the | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
government. He is right to raise concerns but the deal that has been | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
presented must be a stepping stone for the real devolution that the | :53:09. | :53:12. | |
north-east deserves and I hope that Gateshead can find their way back | :53:13. | :53:16. | |
into rejoining the process as clearly as a whole we are much | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
stronger together as a region. Madam Deputy Speaker, I, along with many | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
members on both sides of this house, cautiously welcomed the climb-down | :53:27. | :53:32. | |
that appeared to have taken place to the nonsensical idea of forcing all | :53:33. | :53:37. | |
schools down the path of academy ovation by Twenty20 and it is true | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
that in the education for all Bill announced during the Queen 's speech | :53:42. | :53:45. | |
last week it did not include the wholesale for standardisation of our | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
schools through legislation, but the government does continue to state | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
that this Bill is being brought forward to lay forward foundations | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
for educational excellence in all schools, giving every child the best | :53:58. | :54:01. | |
start in life, and aim which clearly every member in this chamber shares, | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
but this will be done by moving towards a system where all schools | :54:07. | :54:10. | |
are academies and all schools are fairly funded and despite there | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
being no evidence that academies and leads to improved performance we are | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
informed that one of the main benefits of the bill would be to | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
convert schools to economies -- academies in the worst performing | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
local authorities and those that can no longer viably support the | :54:30. | :54:32. | |
remaining schools so a new system thereby good and outstanding schools | :54:33. | :54:38. | |
can take place. Given that the education services grant which fans | :54:39. | :54:42. | |
local authority spending on school services on the management of school | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
buildings on the tackling of nonattendance was cut by 200,000,020 | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
16 and is to be cut by 600 million, or 75% in later years, it would be | :54:52. | :55:00. | |
helpful if the Minister could clarify which councils the | :55:01. | :55:03. | |
government expects will still be able to viably support their local | :55:04. | :55:07. | |
schools in such financial circumstances. The bill announced by | :55:08. | :55:15. | |
the Queen 's speech will mean that good and outstanding schools can be | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
made to convert regardless of the professional judgment of school | :55:22. | :55:24. | |
leaders and the judgment of parents and local authorities. Schools have | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
had the chance to convert the many years and have considered and | :55:29. | :55:31. | |
rejected this as a way forward but we know that many other schools are | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
already choosing, and I put that non-modal verb' is to go down the | :55:37. | :55:40. | |
path of Academy isolation because they would rather jump before they | :55:41. | :55:44. | |
are pushed. Many will have already started down that path following the | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
announcement of forced my station for all schools at the Budget and | :55:49. | :55:52. | |
will continue down that because they can quite clearly see that the | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
government 's U-turn and promises of listening to everyone's concerns are | :55:58. | :56:04. | |
clearly not all that they are cracked up to be. The education for | :56:05. | :56:07. | |
all Bill also promises to make school funding fairer, with a | :56:08. | :56:08. | |
national funding formula that schools with the same kind of pupils | :56:09. | :56:12. | |
get the same funding. Could the Minister therefore confirm whether | :56:13. | :56:16. | |
the government intends to go ahead with the area cost adjustment | :56:17. | :56:19. | |
multiplier to the formula which would see schools in my region of | :56:20. | :56:24. | |
the north-east losing out? As a director of schools north-east has | :56:25. | :56:27. | |
commented, ironically the government is fuelling the North/ South divide | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
in education by proposing to fund schools with similar characteristics | :56:32. | :56:35. | |
differently, based on the location. This means our region will be losing | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
funds to the Southwart most high cost areas are located on the | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
rationale behind this is flawed. These concerns are extremely timely, | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
given the findings of an IP are North report earlier this week that | :56:50. | :56:52. | |
secondary schools in the North of England, or the Northern Powerhouse | :56:53. | :56:57. | |
to give us our correct title, are currently receiving ?1300 per pupil | :56:58. | :57:04. | |
( schools in London. This situation clearly needs rectifying and if the | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
Northern Powerhouse is ever to become anything more than an empty | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
announcement. I also wanted to comment on the proposed children and | :57:15. | :57:17. | |
social work bill that seeks to shorten the time it takes for | :57:18. | :57:21. | |
children to be placed within a stable and loving family, as well as | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
facing additional restrictions on local authorities so that children | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
are placed with support. There is not a member in the house that would | :57:31. | :57:34. | |
not support those aims. We have to look at the prison trust report | :57:35. | :57:37. | |
published this week to be reminded that too many of our children in | :57:38. | :57:42. | |
care are being let down. With the report finding that up to half of | :57:43. | :57:46. | |
the children in England and well have at some point been in the care | :57:47. | :57:50. | |
system, indeed 20% of the adult prison population had been in care, | :57:51. | :57:54. | |
which suggest that something has gone very badly wrong in our system | :57:55. | :57:58. | |
and as Barnardos have highlighted, the bill will be the second piece of | :57:59. | :58:02. | |
legislation to address adoption in as many years so the government | :58:03. | :58:05. | |
rhetoric must be translated into action. As Barnardos also made clear | :58:06. | :58:14. | |
it is a complex challenge. 3000 children in the UK are waiting to be | :58:15. | :58:17. | |
adopted as some are waiting two years or even three and a half when | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
they are older. I strongly welcome any measures that help to speed this | :58:21. | :58:29. | |
process up. For those children leaving the care system every year | :58:30. | :58:32. | |
the government is pledging to ensure greater support as well as the | :58:33. | :58:39. | |
chance to further support until 25. We know the current service | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
provision simply does not meet demand and I would argue it does not | :58:44. | :58:46. | |
meet demand for a crucial missing piece of the jigsaw. The NSPCC's | :58:47. | :58:54. | |
it's time campaign has powerfully -- powerfully highlighted that almost | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
two thirds of children and young people entering the care system have | :58:58. | :59:00. | |
experienced abuse and neglect and they are more likely to have mental | :59:01. | :59:04. | |
health needs. But we are not properly counting of tracking abused | :59:05. | :59:07. | |
and neglected children, including those in the care system, so we | :59:08. | :59:11. | |
don't know if they are receiving the correct therapeutic support at the | :59:12. | :59:14. | |
time that they needed to rebuild their lives and the findings of the | :59:15. | :59:17. | |
education select committee enquiry into well-being and mental health of | :59:18. | :59:20. | |
looked after children published last month were truly stark and must be | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
addressed if the government is serious about tackling this issue. | :59:26. | :59:28. | |
The committee heard incredibly powerful evidence from a 16-year-old | :59:29. | :59:32. | |
young woman in foster care who told us she had been waiting for over two | :59:33. | :59:37. | |
and a half years but had been unable to access a service because she had | :59:38. | :59:43. | |
not been in a stable placement. She had been moved 13 times. Clearly | :59:44. | :59:50. | |
services are unwilling to help a child even if they move placement in | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
the same local authority area and that is unacceptable and | :59:56. | :59:58. | |
counter-productive. I would suggest that it is no good pledging support | :59:59. | :00:01. | |
to children and young people on leaving the care system if they | :00:02. | :00:05. | |
don't actually provide them with the support they need on entering it and | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
that is why the education select committee widely recommended that | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
all children should have a specialist mental health assessment | :00:15. | :00:17. | |
on entry into care and regular during their time in care and they | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
should ensure that they receive and appropriate advice before they | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
reached crisis point. It is a key change that we need to see if we are | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
to increase the number of adoptions and long-term placement and in proof | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
the outcomes of those leaving the care system. It is a fundamental | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
building block to those achieving those aims are not an added extra | :00:37. | :00:39. | |
and I would strongly urge the government to consider including it | :00:40. | :00:46. | |
as part of these reforms. Education is the building block for our | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
society. It is the foundation of all opportunities and that is why I am | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
delighted that this government is putting, really creating at the | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
heart of an objective of getting greater social mobility and ensuring | :01:01. | :01:02. | |
we have a fine education standards for all. Delivering on the | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
Conservative Party manifesto of a new national funding formula is | :01:08. | :01:10. | |
something I am proud of and something that will ensure that all | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
schools in Chippenham should get the money they deserve. A fairer funding | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
system is something I have campaigned for for a long time, well | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
before the election, and I pay tribute to all the members of the | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
fairer funding campaign and all of the thousands of pupils and parents | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
and teachers in my constituency and constituencies up and down the | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
country that put pressure on the government to achieve this | :01:34. | :01:53. | |
early. The two long school funding has been extremely unfair towards | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
pupils, particularly in rural areas and market towns. Successive | :01:58. | :01:58. | |
governments have done generations of children ages service and | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
fundamentally an injustice. The effects have been exasperated in | :02:01. | :02:02. | |
rural areas where services are far more expensive to deliver. The most | :02:03. | :02:05. | |
important aim of the new education Bill is that it will close the | :02:06. | :02:07. | |
productivity gap between the UK and other countries. The skills plan | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
will set out an ambitious form to technical education to ensure that | :02:11. | :02:12. | |
young people are equipped with the skills that they need to succeed. | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
The simple fact is that an under skilled workforce limits the company | :02:18. | :02:22. | |
's growth and their prospects and, in turn, the prospects of the | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
country. If our labour side don't -- supply does not map to our jobs | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
market the result means that companies falls to locate elsewhere | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
or, in fact, close. This effect is real and personally my constituency, | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
one that I hear week in, week out. The UK is the 11th biggest | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
manufacturer in the world and I was delighted to hear measures within | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
the Queen's Speech to support the electric car industry, something | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
that is a massive opportunity for us and one that I hope will help | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
Wiltshire businesses and we can capitalise on as can other areas in | :02:57. | :02:57. | |
the country. Investment and research and | :02:58. | :03:05. | |
development is welcome but will only be welcome when it is coupled with | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
addressing the skills gap to ensure we remain competitive research and | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
development. We must not forget the severe shortage we have with | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
engineers. According to the institution of engineering and | :03:22. | :03:23. | |
technology, the country will need almost 2 million ex-engineers or the | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
next seven years. This could severely limit their ability to make | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
the most of government investment. There are more teachers with degrees | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
and more pupils doing maths and sciences, but there are still | :03:39. | :03:45. | |
massive shortages and the number of females in STEM careers are still | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
low. The number of women in engineering is just 6%. Something | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
needs to be done to address this and I hope the new education bill does | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
something about this. I am delighted by what the government has already | :04:02. | :04:04. | |
done to join up the link between businesses and schools. A school in | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
my constituency I visited last week have an excellent school they just | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
launched, an innovative scheme focusing on membership of local | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
businesses that then supports the Korean education, advice and | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
opportunities, which in turn funds the work experience programme. This | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
is the blueprint of what we should be doing up and down the country and | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
I would like to invite the Minister Secretary of State on 15th July to | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
the opening of this, to a programme which really could be utilised | :04:36. | :04:43. | |
elsewhere. It is placing the emphasis on local labour market | :04:44. | :04:45. | |
intelligence and informing young people about jobs available. | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
Informed choices would ensure areas like Wiltshire can reverse the drain | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
away of youth that is happening in constituencies like mine so we can | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
safeguard the engineering hop and ensure the skill set is available. | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
It is quite simple, to make our economy productive we need to have | :05:09. | :05:11. | |
an education system that is productive. The Minister will know | :05:12. | :05:18. | |
full well that I regularly have campaigned for design and | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
technology. For too long the subjects have been misunderstood, | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
stigmatised and stereotyped. If we are to plug the ever-growing skills | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
gap we need to address this and that this why they acknowledged | :05:32. | :05:38. | |
productivity crisis head-on. I am confident the education Bill | :05:39. | :05:40. | |
announced in the Queen's Speech will see some good steps towards this and | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
towards addressing the productivity crisis. Would she agree also that | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
actually it is very important that we look to all businesses because I | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
had been approached by bakers and clockmakers of them my own | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
constituency who find that the apprenticeship scheme needs a little | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
more flexibility in order to cope with small business needs as well as | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
the large ones she mentions. I am delighted by the excellent point and | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
indeed we need to make sure we are supporting businesses, bakers and | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
plumbers and electricians who are the backbone of our economy and | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
important to constituencies. Just to get back to the point in hand, the | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
government is rightly pushing ahead for ensuring education is rigorous | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
and ensuring students get the key skills they need in the workplace, | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
and I fully support this. I would never suggest it is anything but a | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
robust and clear plan. However, the push towards the EBacc and its | :06:40. | :06:48. | |
current form does not address the stigma towards design and technology | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
and engineering. That is why I would hope the new education Bill would | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
address this. I would like to see the vastly improved, highly | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
scientific design and technology DS -- GS -- GCSE we're are having | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
including a science element. There is huge support for this from the | :07:09. | :07:11. | |
business community who are crying out for change. This would not | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
represent a U-turn on policy. It is a minor change to strengthen and | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
safeguard the EBacc and given the scientific and academic nature, this | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
government has invested heavily in this, and done a great deal of | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
considerable work, there will be no outcry for other vocational subjects | :07:32. | :07:33. | |
because this is a totally different matter. There is also compete | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
science which was introduced to the EBacc because of the shortages in | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
this field, yet this doesn't make a lot of field when the shortages and | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
design of technology are far greater than those in the digital | :07:48. | :07:52. | |
industries. What I am proposing is that design and technology be | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
included as an option just like computer sciences but it is an | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
either or so that students can pick between computer science and design | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
and technology. It would mean it in no way Watters down the EBacc and | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
its academic rigour but instead enhance it. It would also on hand | :08:10. | :08:16. | |
status as a route into design and manufacturing that design and | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
technology errors, as well as highlighting that this government | :08:20. | :08:22. | |
has yet again to listen to the business community and its need for | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
the future economy. Would you not acknowledge as an overlap that might | :08:30. | :08:41. | |
be ruled out by the proposal? Designer technology is the only | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
subject which puts maths and physics to practical use, and that in Norway | :08:46. | :08:54. | |
as an IT -based course comparable to and it is one of the only subject | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
that produces a clear pipeline towards a career in that sector, and | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
giving students a choice is what we all believe in and we also believe | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
in giving them the best opportunities for the future that | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
lies ahead, so this simple change would be about what businesses need | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
but also what the economy needs, and also what students need if we are | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
honest. This change would highlight that the government needs to align | :09:19. | :09:21. | |
the education system more with the economy and give the young the best | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
opportunity in life. If we are to remain at the forefront we must take | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
action and I believe that bolstering the designer technology EBacc is an | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
important step to addressing the skills shortage and safeguarding the | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
future of the subject and supporting skills and British businesses. As I | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
said before to the Prime Minister, the skills shortage is actually a | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
ticking time bomb. My constituency is one of the key challenges we | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
face. I am confident the measures announced in the Queen's Speech | :09:55. | :09:57. | |
would take significant steps towards addressing the skills gap and | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
boosting productivity, but I hope the measures in the bill would go | :10:04. | :10:06. | |
towards tackling this important issue. Thank you. It is a pleasure | :10:07. | :10:14. | |
to follow the member for Chippenham and the member for Newcastle and are | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
passionate contributions to the importance of young people. It is | :10:20. | :10:26. | |
difficult to have a discussion given the frankly not elephant but indeed | :10:27. | :10:33. | |
circus in the room of what this will mean, the referendum, but it is | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
frankly remarkable to me to hear this government saying that | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
increasing life chances of the most disadvantaged as a priority. Given | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
the choices they have made, it is like a dentist offering you an | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
anaesthetic after he has taken note duties for no reason at all. Life | :10:54. | :11:00. | |
chances is something we often say without seeing what it is, and the | :11:01. | :11:08. | |
determination to make sure every person from every background has | :11:09. | :11:12. | |
every opportunity to fulfil that potential, and I want to point out | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
my fears of code in this ever-changing world we're running | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
out of time to recognise that this means doing things entirely | :11:20. | :11:22. | |
differently to the world we live in now. I believe everyone across the | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
South is proud of the young people we represent, and the factors that | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
mean the difference between them realising this and we think this. I | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
do this job because I believe someone might community is somebody | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
who has the skills to cure cancer the full they had the opportunity, | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
and we would all benefit. Our job is to make sure they have those | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
pathways to be the kinds of people they could be to change our lives | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
and that is why I think this Queen's Speech misses the mark. We actors of | :11:51. | :11:54. | |
opportunity as the ladder we have all known but to improve life | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
chances we simply to get more of the next generation to take the steam | :12:00. | :12:02. | |
steps we took. Go to school and settle into a career. If we are | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
honest I know it wasn't that simple for ourselves and most of us can | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
point to times in life when we had a helping hand up the ladder. Good | :12:11. | :12:14. | |
parents, good teachers, good networks, all of whom opened the | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
doors. Not just schools and universities but internships and job | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
opportunities. The world is changing so quickly to really change the life | :12:24. | :12:27. | |
chances for all of today's 15-year-olds and we need to do more | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
to open up the old boys network. We need to see opportunity less as the | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
more Ray Mears, with many different doors and by-elections and | :12:37. | :12:44. | |
Whitstable. -- routes to go. Isn't what we need more good and | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
outstanding schools producing better standards over also we can go on and | :12:49. | :12:51. | |
fulfil our dreams and that is what this government is delivering? If | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
the honourable gentleman let me continue I hope I can convince them | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
to think bigger. When involved in the Scouts, we always said the key | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
to recognise is that while everyone has been a 15-year-old, not everyone | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
has entered a's world. If we want to improve life chances they don't just | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
need help to get a job. They live in a world where it is predicted they | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
will hold seven different careers, two of which yet to be invented. | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
Every generation has faced change but this generation sees it not just | :13:25. | :13:26. | |
in their lifetime but within a decade. The deal challenge to future | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
prospects is not Romanian immigrants but robots, just like friends | :13:32. | :13:36. | |
reunited was overtaken by Facebook, so technology is replacing not just | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
manual labourer but skills. Prescriptions filled, legal forms | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
checked, car is driven. It is a time of peril and potential, add up to | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
fall behind. Little certainty as to be had and little time to catch | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
breath. Because the world moves so quickly it means that if you keep | :13:56. | :13:58. | |
learning new skills there are job opportunities that arise. There are | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
more second chances than ever before, but not only are we feeling | :14:04. | :14:11. | |
the Next Generation, my fear is that we can end up reinforcing the | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
inequalities that already define life chances for so many. The | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
Institute for Fiscal Studies sure graduates from richer family | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
backgrounds and significantly more than their less wealthy counterparts | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
even when they takes a more degrees and this isn't just happening at | :14:27. | :14:31. | |
universities. -- similar degrees. Research shows that at good and | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
outstanding schools there are large attainment gaps between rich and | :14:35. | :14:43. | |
poor schools. The OECD has the biggest gap between 16 and | :14:44. | :14:45. | |
19-year-olds who are not in education or employment and young | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
people out of all countries surveyed. Our failure to teach | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
skills that can be transferred or relevant means too many young people | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
are not just revelling in their home territory but also against European | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
or Chinese are South American counterparts and that isn't the | :15:02. | :15:04. | |
cause of members of the European Union but because of their very | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
British education. As many of my colleagues pointed out we face the | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
biggest skills shortage for years so we have growing inequality and an | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
outdated idea of what would fix these issues. The choices made in | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
this Queen's Speech offer little to prepare them for the world to come | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
and that this would only work for the minority unless independently | :15:27. | :15:28. | |
wealthy, beneficiaries of the bank of mum and dad. The education Bill | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
is a case in point with its obsession for tunnelling schools and | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
academies and not every young person into an achiever. It isolates | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
schools and doesn't link them in with businesses and opportunities. | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
The higher education Bill would put more money into that just as they | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
need more access to other boards, to apprenticeships and further | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
education and internships. A bill that comes at the same time as the | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
area based review of further education is seeking to close down | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
those institutions. Whilst it is welcome that the government has | :16:02. | :16:11. | |
again welcomed its commitment, poor people will again continue to get a | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
worse deal than their affluent counterparts even if they make it to | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
the same school. I am grateful to my honourable friend and she is making | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
a compelling case for tackling some of the inequalities that exist in | :16:26. | :16:30. | |
our education system. She will know of the huge benefits that were | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
derived from the London challenge. Does she not recognise that this | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
model ought to be replicated outside of London and indeed in places like | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
Greater Manchester, one of the first acts of this government was to scrap | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
the challenge? My honourable friend is exactly to point out that there | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
are good examples where he can make a change in results that this | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
government seems to have missed. We know the student loan brokers bust | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
and we know University is not the only door in the maze of young | :17:05. | :17:07. | |
people can open to unlock potential. I frankly think we should be asking | :17:08. | :17:12. | |
the question and in a time of tight resources, why young people in my | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
constituency who are able to make it through A-levels get offered a loan | :17:17. | :17:18. | |
to go to university but we have nothing to offer those who have | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
great business start-up idea? When 30% of Britain's young people want | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
to start a business, to be the Jamal Edwards of their time, we ignore | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
that potential at our peril, so focusing on 50% of kids who do the | :17:32. | :17:40. | |
thing we see as important, not the 100% who need access to the bank of | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
mum and dad to succeed, is what this government is doing. Money matters, | :17:44. | :17:45. | |
contact matters, flexibility matters, but none of these pieces of | :17:46. | :17:48. | |
legislation will fundamentally tackle those inequalities in access | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
to skills and real-life experience to many in a country face. To bring | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
together not just the institutions but the networks that can help young | :17:57. | :17:57. | |
people died in the world to come. The government might see you should | :17:58. | :18:10. | |
save more and can make more choices about studying. But this will mean | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
nothing to families with no savings, no spear money in the week let alone | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
the month. I fought for the Child trust fund to be saved, which would | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
help those from the poorest income backgrounds the most. And give all | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
18-year-olds something, not much, but something. Instead, inequalities | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
will become even more, and having no money at all. The bank of mum and | :18:37. | :18:44. | |
dad bails out grown-up children to the value of ?6,000 even after they | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
have grown-up. One in three parents have been left cash-strapped after | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
lending money to children, one in seven having to lend money | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
themselves to bail out children. This government is reinforcing | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
inequality, feeling one generation, locking another into debt to help | :19:05. | :19:09. | |
them. If we really want to give our children more life chances, to | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
benefit from their potential, we have to compete in the global | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
economy, not capsized, which means a different approach. We need to bring | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
services together instead of what this government is doing, winking | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
universities, schools, communities. -- linking. We need to have a link | :19:30. | :19:37. | |
between conventional academic achievement and lifelong | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
employability. Move away from teaching functional skills which are | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
outdated as soon as the 11. Young people need real-world learning | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
experiences, transferable talents, giving them complex problem-solving | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
skills and team work. And we need to rethink how we spend resources and | :19:56. | :19:59. | |
share them, offering loans and support not just a 50% of young | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
people but 100%, ending the need to have the bank of mum and dad to | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
survive this injury. Do not assume your own life choices will apply to | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
all young people. -- survive this 21st century. I believe we will | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
always be a nation clean cap -- playing catch up. Making the bank of | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
mum and dad the only hope, to the detriment of too many and to the | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
cost of us all. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
Addressing issues with the skills base will be key to tackling the | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
productivity gap to ensure long-term successful and sustainable economy, | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
ensuring young people are equipped with skills to succeed in life, this | :20:53. | :20:59. | |
needs to underpin the entire education system, schools, colleges | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
and universities. Young people and businesses need this. We need to | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
ensure young people have the skills to contribute to our economy. But | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
it's not just the education system alone that can help improve young | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
people's life chances. The National citizens service is a fantastic | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
programme which has to date been able to handle those and 15-17 | :21:24. | :21:30. | |
-year-olds benefit from new and different life experiences. Over the | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
last couple of years I've been really fortunate to have the | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
opportunity to see first-hand the benefits of young people in one | :21:38. | :21:45. | |
region from this programme. They have been planning community | :21:46. | :21:48. | |
projects, packed bags for customers in Sainsbury's, filled boxes for the | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
district food back. The Outward Bound programme is a great start and | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
a real favourite for participants. You can see many overcome lots of | :22:03. | :22:08. | |
years. I have not attended one part, but I know they are keen for me to | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
take part, to overcome one of my own fears, that of heights. There is | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
another blonde member in this House well-known for experiences on as the | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
wire. I only hope that I find myself on one I don't get stuck. -- | :22:24. | :22:33. | |
experience on a zipwire. I have seen how young people learning | :22:34. | :22:36. | |
confidence, where to your building, I have been inspired, and I want to | :22:37. | :22:42. | |
work to extend so that more young people from a variety of backgrounds | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
can benefit from this life changing experience. And the duty on schools, | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
colleges, universities and communities will help make young | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
people aware. I will give away. Do you agree that it is of huge benefit | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
to young people, some 6 million hours of volunteering, through the | :23:05. | :23:09. | |
social action part of the programme, having been invested in the young | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
people but also broader economy, as well as teaching them several | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
valuable life lessons. Thank you for your intervention. She is right, it | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
is not just about young people, local communities gain, we were | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
packing bags in the local Sainsbury's to raise money for a | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
local charity. A wide range of genetic groups and charities benefit | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
from this scheme. Making sure young people are aware of different | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
options we we to them -- available to them, such as qualifications, so | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
I am pleased either new requirement for schools to inform children about | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
apprenticeships and other vocational qualifications. After all, | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
University is not the right option for everybody. To those who do want | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
to go to university we must ensure they get the best value for their | :24:10. | :24:14. | |
experience and don't graduate into non-graduate jobs. The lifting of | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
the artificial cap on student numbers means there are many more of | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
university places being made available, record numbers of | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
students going to university, this is excellent news. Hire her, it is | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
concerning the number of graduates going into non-graduate jobs and all | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
too often we hear students, parents, businesses asking worrying | :24:39. | :24:44. | |
questions, which is is a degree really worth it? The Higher | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
Education and Research Bill gives us a blueprint for making what is | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
already a great university sector even better. The higher education | :24:52. | :24:59. | |
sector to date has been too heavily careered on academic research -- too | :25:00. | :25:02. | |
heavily geared on academic research. This bill will focus on quality | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
teaching and getting students into good graduate opportunities. The new | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
excellence framework will alongside the bill put into place incentives | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
designed to drive up standards of teaching in all universities and | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
provide students with more clarity as to where teaching is best and the | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
benefits they can expect from their course. This will create more | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
competition to ensure all universities raise their game. The | :25:33. | :25:39. | |
link between this incentive and tuition fees is crucial, providing a | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
mechanism to ensure universities remain financially sustainable but | :25:45. | :25:48. | |
only if they drive up quality of teaching. The business innovation | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
skills Select Committee looked closely at this incentive, and in | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
the report, we recognised the role that it could play in terms of | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
ensuring universities meet with student expectations and improve on | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
their leading international position. We did urge the government | :26:13. | :26:19. | |
not to rush into the introduction of the incentive, so I am pleased the | :26:20. | :26:29. | |
White Paper will use 2017-2018 as a trial year, and we can have further | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
input from the educational unity into consultation. The report also | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
called on the sector to work with the government to help the | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
development of the incentive. I hope they do so because it is important | :26:45. | :26:50. | |
to the future of the sector, its financial sustainability, the | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
employment and career opportunities of graduates, as well as our | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
economy. We will scrutinise the details of the Higher Education and | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
Research Bill in the coming weeks, but what is increasingly clear from | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
the opposition parties amendment is they don't have a credible plan for | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
higher education, other than to threaten the financial | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
sustainability of our world-class higher education sector. To | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
conclude, addressing the skills of our young people will be key to | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
helping us solve the productivity puzzle. That is why I welcome many | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
of the measures set out in the Queen's Speech, which are designed | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
to ensure our young people have the skills to get on in life. | :27:36. | :27:42. | |
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a pleasure to follow the | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
honourable member for Cannock Chase and I enjoy picturing higher as a | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
blonde on a wire, and I admire the gusto under which she and attains | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
her role as a constituency MP. It reflects well on the introduction of | :28:00. | :28:06. | |
the NCS, along with the demise of our youth service, but I regress we | :28:07. | :28:12. | |
no longer have a targeted effective resource on my local community to | :28:13. | :28:19. | |
deal with some of the very real and immediate problems presented, not | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
just for young people, but by the community widely, the youth service | :28:23. | :28:28. | |
is helpful in dealing with that. It is also a great pleasure to follow | :28:29. | :28:33. | |
the member for Walthamstow and I wish we had confirmed before this | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
afternoon, because I find myself removing segments of my speech | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
because she did such a great job in making the case for why this | :28:43. | :28:49. | |
government, the credibility of any life chances strategy, when it | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
emerges, is questionable given the government's record, and I find | :28:57. | :28:58. | |
myself pondering the term life chances. It is much better than | :28:59. | :29:06. | |
social mobility, because that is not widely understood, and life chances | :29:07. | :29:13. | |
was initially coined by Max Faber, a famous sociologist, and it is a good | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
thing the Tories are taking some reference from the work of Max | :29:18. | :29:25. | |
Faber. This is positive, but the term life chances could become | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
rubbished, because they will mess it up and will not deliver any | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
improvement in life chances that is meaningful to most people in this | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
country. And the term life chances could go the way of localism, the | :29:39. | :29:45. | |
Big Society, and increasingly in my part of the country, the Northern | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
Powerhouse. It is our term treated with utter derision and contempt. | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
And I would hate that to happen to the term life chances. Because I am | :29:55. | :30:03. | |
Law class warrior, but I am Labour, and we are about life chances and | :30:04. | :30:09. | |
widening opportunity. -- I am now class warrior. Everyone in the | :30:10. | :30:13. | |
Labour Party is interested in life chances. I am happy to take an | :30:14. | :30:21. | |
intervention, should you wish to make one. But it is difficult to see | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
how this government intends to proceed with improving life chances | :30:26. | :30:32. | |
when it paid for the Child poverty and social mobility commission, | :30:33. | :30:36. | |
still paying for this commission, writing excellent first-class | :30:37. | :30:39. | |
reports, the research commissioned is so poor -- superb, but little | :30:40. | :30:48. | |
sight of it in any policies the government seems to put forward, so | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
they make specific recommendations at the commission, that the | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
government ignores, relating directly to the issues under | :30:59. | :31:03. | |
consideration. So, apprenticeships, we've heard from many members who | :31:04. | :31:07. | |
are worried about the quality of apprenticeships. I am, I have seen | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
extremely questionable examples of apprenticeships, where they are too | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
short, poor quality, and don't lead anywhere. Apprenticeships should be, | :31:18. | :31:26. | |
according to the commission, there should be a target that around | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
30,000 should be higher-level apprenticeships, level three | :31:32. | :31:34. | |
apprenticeships. There is a real problem with the difference in your | :31:35. | :31:41. | |
life chances around what you do when you are 16, those decisions you make | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
when you are 16 determine your life chances for the rest of your life. | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
And if you take a nine academic route after 16th, your chances of | :31:52. | :31:58. | |
doing well later in life are greatly diminished -- -- non-academic route. | :31:59. | :32:08. | |
I will give way. I am grateful and you've made me of a scheme from 2010 | :32:09. | :32:16. | |
in my constituency. And that was Aim Higher, about encouraging young | :32:17. | :32:23. | |
people from lower income backgrounds that higher education was something | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
to them, such as what my mum and dad did, encouraging me to go into | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
higher education. Isn't it a travesty that one of the first thing | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
this government did was scrapped Aim Higher? It is, and we do not do | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
enough at universities to encourage more people from other backgrounds | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
to go into higher education. I have seen Gordons -- we know the | :32:48. | :32:56. | |
long-term impact of some of the things is weak. We find people who | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
don't go on to university, the life chances are limited, because 42% of | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
them do all right. They find themselves in the top half of | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
occupations, relatively well-paid, get further training and progression | :33:15. | :33:21. | |
throughout their careers. But men in lower half occupations are low paid, | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
there is no progression, making up 16% of non-graduates, mostly younger | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
men working in lower paying occupations. They are the skilled | :33:32. | :33:38. | |
but stuck, or for qualified, and generally women in part-time work, | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
also making up 16% of non-graduates. They are mostly mothers in low paid | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
occupations such as sales and customer services. They are not able | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
to reach in or get childcare or get part-time work in occupations for | :33:56. | :33:56. | |
which they may well be qualified. They does tend to be women as well. | :33:57. | :34:08. | |
26% of nongraduates, they tend to have children, and they have low | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
qualifications and they are at real risk of getting stuck, because if | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
you miss that -- mess it up when you are 16, so you don't do so well in | :34:16. | :34:21. | |
your GCSEs, or you can't get the advice about what is best to do, and | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
you make a poor choice, you might... Because your friends are doing it, | :34:28. | :34:33. | |
you might end up doing hairdressing, beauty therapy, is something low | :34:34. | :34:37. | |
paid because you have not really had it explained to what alternatives | :34:38. | :34:40. | |
might be out there for you. It is almost impossible to now get out of | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
that, and get into something where you have a real chance of | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
progression. If we are going to talk about life chances, it is that | :34:51. | :34:54. | |
stage, if I could fix one thing, that stage in education really needs | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
to be addressed. It is underfunded, it is ignored, there is no decent | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
advice for young people before making those decisions it is really | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
worth having. One of the recommendations again was that there | :35:10. | :35:17. | |
should be a common access point. So if you're going to university, you | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
have the UCAS system, where you are supported through that process, you | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
have deadlines and you understand the process. There is a whole host | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
of information about outcomes and destinations. We have nothing like | :35:32. | :35:39. | |
that for someone trying to get into further education course. That needs | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
to be addressed. I give way. I think the Ondoa -- honourable lady, who is | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
making an extremely interesting and at the site speech. Can I just say | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
as the father of five children who have gone through 16, your point, | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
the honourable Lady's point, forgive me, I deserve to be hanged. The | :36:04. | :36:10. | |
Honourable Lady's point about 16 being a crucial time for decision | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
making is so very important. I just want to reinforce that point, having | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
watched five children go through the age of 16. It is incredibly | :36:23. | :36:25. | |
important, and people should recognise that 16 is the golden age. | :36:26. | :36:33. | |
I am grateful for that in -- for intervention, and it is great to | :36:34. | :36:36. | |
have support across the house to this point. The other point I would | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
make is that we all know that on GCSE day, or a little day in our | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
constituencies, we send out tweets congratulating young people, | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
schools, parents. There is a sense of an event nationally on those | :36:52. | :36:56. | |
days. There is nothing like that attention or celebration or | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
recognition of a non-academic post-16 qualification. We don't have | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
that same sense of a nation coming together to recognise the | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
achievement of our young people, when you get your NVQ level three in | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
whatever it might be. That is wrong. That is a new equality of status -- | :37:19. | :37:25. | |
inequality of status, and that is something we need to address if we | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
are really serious about promoting non-graduate routes into the | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
professions. Let's be honest, most of us are going to be encouraging | :37:35. | :37:43. | |
our children to take recent university, because we know that | :37:44. | :37:45. | |
takes -- gives us But non-academic qualifications | :37:46. | :37:56. | |
post-16, those same opportunities, life chances, opportunities pay is | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
available. They will still end up with a situation where life chances | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
are desperately unequal. We will have a position where it is nothing | :38:08. | :38:14. | |
to do with what you know, it is about who you know, who advises you, | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
and even worse, who your parents know. And you do not have the | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
quality of life chances until you address that simple issue. Thank you | :38:24. | :38:35. | |
very much for calling me. It is a great pleasure to follow the very | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
considered tone of the member for Darlington. I always greatly enjoyed | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
in which she makes her speeches. Since I was elected in 2010, I have | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
been overwhelmed by the pageantry associated with the Queens speech, | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
critically the horses, the Sound and vision that accompanies it. But for | :38:58. | :39:00. | |
a variety of reasons, I have never been able to speak in the Queens | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
speech debate, so I'm pleased to be able to do so today. Want to begin | :39:07. | :39:12. | |
by welcoming the legislative programme, especially the focus on | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
life chances, which is featuring so much in today's debate. There is a | :39:17. | :39:25. | |
wide welcome across the house for the life chances of those who are | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
most disadvantaged. It is a competition in terms of | :39:31. | :39:32. | |
progressiveness between parties, and I think that is a terrific way in | :39:33. | :39:41. | |
which we can proceed. I've tick the welcome the proposed bill on prison | :39:42. | :39:48. | |
reform. Clearly, sessions in prison are designed to punish, but just | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
important is rehabilitation. I do feel we are acknowledging that today | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
more than we have done before. That is hugely important. The theme of | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
today's debate is education, skills and training, but because these | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
areas are devolved in my constituency, they are not matters | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
that I want to contribute directly. But I think there is a logic that if | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
I am going to be speaking where the focus is on education that I ought | :40:19. | :40:23. | |
to speak about the Wales Bill, which is clearly where education will be | :40:24. | :40:30. | |
covered in Wales. Perhaps you may have observed that we have a growing | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
tradition in this parliament that we have a Queens speech, and there is a | :40:35. | :40:38. | |
Wales Bill in every Queens speech. That has been the case ever since I | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
joined here. We don't know what is going to be in the Wales Bill, but | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
we have a fair ideal, because -- fair ideal, because there was a | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
draft Bill. We can hazard a guess as to what is going to be in this bill. | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
We expected to be fairly soon. Rumour has it that it will be | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
finished before the summer. The of delivering a stronger, more stable, | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
devolved settlement in Wales. The journey towards the Institute of | :41:11. | :41:17. | |
government began many decades ago. The first step was in 1997, the | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
referendum to establish an institution or not. I was not a | :41:22. | :41:30. | |
supporter in 1997, and I can paint against it. I thought it would be | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
unstable, illogical, and doomed to failure. But Wales voted yes by the | :41:37. | :41:42. | |
narrowest of margins. Driving home from the count in the early hours of | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
morning on 19 September 1997, I do what conservatives tend to do. We | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
come to terms with the new situation, something that we may | :41:53. | :42:01. | |
find ourselves doing on June 24. It was decided that there would be a | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
Welsh assembly, elected by the additional member PR system, which | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
virtually guarantees a labour or Labour lead administration. It | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
became -- I became a member of the Welsh assembly, and I probably still | :42:17. | :42:21. | |
would be except for the way that the PR system works. I can sometimes | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
look in looking forward to taking part in | :42:25. | :42:37. | |
the debate on the wells bill, there will be a lot of differing opinions, | :42:38. | :42:45. | |
including within my own party. Fundamentally, my position on what | :42:46. | :42:54. | |
changes are needed in devolution include income tax. That is what I | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
wanted to speak, and it is crucial to a stable Welsh government. I | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
recall very little support when I first raised it, maybe two or three | :43:05. | :43:07. | |
years ago. I felt quite isolated. That is not the case today. My view | :43:08. | :43:13. | |
was informed by my experience as a conservative spokesman for Finance | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
in the National Assembly for Wales. Every year, we went through a budget | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
process, it was referred to that but it was a spending plan. It took into | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
consideration of both sides of the ledger. That is where I want the | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
devolutionary process to move, so we get that position. One proposal in | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
the Wales Bill will be to rename the National Assembly as a parliament, | :43:41. | :43:43. | |
the Welsh Parliament. I am supportive of that, but they cannot | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
be called a genuine parliament unless it has genuine response | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
ability for raising part of the money it pays for spending. We have | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
just had a Welsh general election where parties other than the | :43:57. | :43:57. | |
Conservative Party were attacking it is not what a Welsh General | :43:58. | :44:15. | |
election should be based on. It is quite a strong opinion, but unless | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
the Wales Bill includes response poverty for levying income tax, a | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
significant amount of income tax, the Wales Bill will deserve to fail. | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
Without financial accountability for the Welsh government, not one iota | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
of more power should be transferred to the Welsh Parliament. That is | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
absolutely my view. There will be other red lines as well in the Wales | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
Bill. I hope all sides of the house will come together to consider very | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
positively how we take this bill forward. Already, we know there is | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
going to be significant changes in the draft bill, the whole error of | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
powers that are going to be reserved for Westminster is going to be far | :45:01. | :45:04. | |
less than we were expecting in the draft bill. I think the necessity | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
tests, which were in the draft bill, and caused a great deal of concern | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
amongst the Welsh government in particular, I think that has gone, | :45:15. | :45:21. | |
but there will be other areas where there will be serious consideration | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
and goodwill to come up with an answer for these. First, the | :45:25. | :45:30. | |
establishing of a Welsh jurisdiction. There has been a body | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
of Welsh law built up, and do we need a separate Welsh jurisdiction | :45:36. | :45:38. | |
to deal with that? I think not, but I think it's an area that the | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
parties have come together to take that forward. Policing, should that | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
be devolved along with other emergency services? There has been a | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
dispute about that issue. We need to think about how we deal with that. | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
Broadcasting, a lot of people think broadcasting should be devolved, but | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
a lot of people don't. I don't think the delivering of a new Wales Bill | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
is going to be easy. I think it is going to be a big challenge for the | :46:07. | :46:09. | |
new Secretary of State for Wales, and it is going to need members on | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
all sides of this house to look positively on how we can get to a | :46:16. | :46:18. | |
new position that we can agree on. We need to be working positively | :46:19. | :46:22. | |
here at Westminster and in Cardiff Bay as well if we are going to | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
deliver a stable government in Wales. Mail apologised to the | :46:27. | :46:37. | |
Minister for missing the start on his speech. I am sure it was | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
persuasive. Politicians are good talkers but poor listeners. But we | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
all listened very carefully to the Queens speech. I try to listen to | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
the schools minister and the Secretary of State, and I listened | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
very carefully to those about policy aims, excellence, opportunities, | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
employability. It is the expiration of their methods and their solutions | :47:05. | :47:08. | |
and the prescription is that I have a problem with. A restructuring and | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
tinkering and the arbitrary disc tax. That is what we have a problem | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
with, but I do try to listen carefully even for the argument is | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
for this. I picked out three issues that trouble me, three persistent | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
fallacies, three persistent mantras that I will briefly sketch and hope | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
the Minister will be able to respond to, because I think it will be a | :47:35. | :47:40. | |
hope -- helpful critique. I'm not sure if the Minister is familiar | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
with Karl Popper, but he drew a distinction between good and bad | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
theories. Bad theories can never be tested and art never forced bible. | :47:52. | :47:55. | |
Mindful of this, I have listened to when a minister has supported a | :47:56. | :48:02. | |
policy backed by land or professional opinion. But I am also | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
listening when a minister declares that total absence of any learning | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
or professional backing for some policies is short evidence that the | :48:12. | :48:15. | |
government is doing something challenging, difficult important and | :48:16. | :48:16. | |
of course, right. Either way the government is | :48:17. | :48:25. | |
correct, this is not falsifiable. The second point is, when there are | :48:26. | :48:37. | |
howls of protest from schools and teachers, there is challenging the | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
interest of pupils, recently talking about vested interests. This assumes | :48:43. | :48:46. | |
erroneously that it is, or could be, in the interests of teachers not to | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
give lessons that are relevant, appropriate and interesting to | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
pupils. Helping with development and capabilities. Try not delivering | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
good lessons if you are a teacher. Teachers who try not to do this | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
generally speaking crash and burn. The conflict of interest is simply | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
an illusion. And the third fallacy I would like to bring to attention is | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
the tendency to announce a policy with laudable objective designed to | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
solve a problem but of doubtful efficacy and suggest that instead of | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
proper assessment one presses on immediately and imperatively. No | :49:31. | :49:38. | |
date could be lost or pupils. That was said. Imagine if one applied the | :49:39. | :49:47. | |
same policy in medical circles exactly how much harm with be done. | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
I have invented none of this. These are the standard items I have heard | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
from the government front bench. I do try to listen. Forget the | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
prejudice behind the policy for a moment, look at the logic and the | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
logic of government policy is quite troubling. Dark talk now of specific | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
vested interests, whether the union, teachers or parents, or academics | :50:15. | :50:22. | |
talking of what used to be the blob, smack of paranoia, not rationality | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
and clinical thinking. Seeing critics always as enemies is the | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
mark of a zealot, not seen, measured policy-making. I would press upon | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
the government for sane measured policy-making. Thank you Madam | :50:39. | :50:51. | |
Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to follow the honourable member for | :50:52. | :50:54. | |
Southport. Although I can't say I agree with all of his analytical | :50:55. | :51:03. | |
comments about logic. And contrary to many members of the opposition,- | :51:04. | :51:11. | |
much to recommend in this Queen's Speech and all the opportunities in | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
gendered in it. I will refer to a few, I am delighted to see education | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
at the heart of the gracious speech and we all it to children to give | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
them the best education that we can. -- we owe it. This government is | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
extending freedom and accountability and this is seen through the two | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
bills, the Higher Education and Research Bill. I will talk firstly | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
about the higher education Bill and one of the key roles of higher | :51:44. | :51:46. | |
education is to equip young people with the tools to enter the working | :51:47. | :51:55. | |
world, enabling young people to here in a good living but also fulfilling | :51:56. | :52:00. | |
living. We have excellent higher education institutions in my | :52:01. | :52:08. | |
constituency. Despite their excellent contributions it is clear | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
from my many discussions with businesses and students there does | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
seem to be a skills gap in Taunton Deane. This has been referred to by | :52:17. | :52:24. | |
many members, and really too often we are losing our best and brightest | :52:25. | :52:28. | |
students, despite Taunton Deane being a lovely place to live, and | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
they are going elsewhere. This is reflecting in productivity of the | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
area. The south-west and Taunton Deane is slightly lower the National | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
productivity level and we need to address that. So how are we going to | :52:44. | :52:52. | |
do this? The idea of course is to get the university to retain young | :52:53. | :52:54. | |
people and even draw them in from elsewhere. So I welcome the | :52:55. | :52:57. | |
provisions within the Higher Education and Research Bill to aid | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
the establishment of new universities to provide those | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
opportunities. And to people of all backgrounds. A university education | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
is one of the very best things we can do to improve life chances, as | :53:12. | :53:17. | |
so many said. I was delighted to introduce this to the Prime Minister | :53:18. | :53:22. | |
in PMQs and get a good response from him. Of course you have guessed | :53:23. | :53:27. | |
that, if you have a university for Somerset, I have one place you could | :53:28. | :53:33. | |
put it, in the County Tyrone of Taunton. I am not making this up. -- | :53:34. | :53:50. | |
County Town. I am suggesting the University might focus on things | :53:51. | :53:53. | |
such as health training and community health because we've got | :53:54. | :53:57. | |
the excellent Musgrove Park hospital down the road. Some courses already | :53:58. | :54:04. | |
run for them in the local college. Similarly emphasis on nuclear or low | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
carbon energy, as we have Hinkley Point C nearby. Or even aeronautical | :54:09. | :54:16. | |
strengths. It is early days, but I am optimistic that we might be able | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
to move this forward under this exciting new bill. I must add a lot | :54:22. | :54:28. | |
of what -- add a little that I support be in there ever is to make | :54:29. | :54:32. | |
universities particularly lecturers more accountable for what is | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
delivered. And I have to declare an interest as I have two daughters who | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
have been through university, and this has been a subject around the | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
dinner table about the input from lecturers. I am not going to name | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
any names, but sometimes they are getting as little as one or two | :54:52. | :54:59. | |
lecturers are weak. They will pay hard earned money for this when they | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
have to pay those students fees back. I will turn quickly to the | :55:06. | :55:13. | |
education for younger children in the Education for All Bill. Last | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
week, I visited a lovely primary School in the centre of Taunton, | :55:20. | :55:24. | |
surrounded by houses, and it was a lovely visit. Not least because of | :55:25. | :55:31. | |
the excellent garden, and to divert slightly, so much can be learned by | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
teaching children about gardening, health, education, good for mental | :55:37. | :55:43. | |
health, teaching them about pollination, we food comes from, I | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
would arch the Minister to see if we could tweak this idea and get that | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
into the new school curriculum. Praise must go to the headteacher, | :55:52. | :55:58. | |
who was leading by example with enthusiasm teachers, but top of his | :55:59. | :56:02. | |
agenda when speaking to me was the fairer funding for schools issue. So | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
many people have mentioned it today and I am delighted this government | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
will move forward that issue. We asked students in Taunton, they have | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
?2000 less per pupil than the best funded. I absolutely applaud the | :56:18. | :56:26. | |
fact that the government is sorting this out. Briefly to Akkad | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
isolation, and did you know that is not in the dictionary? -- | :56:33. | :56:45. | |
academisation. That is not a real word, and it is about education! | :56:46. | :56:51. | |
That is one primary academy in my region, working well, they are | :56:52. | :56:54. | |
pleased that they can be in charge of their own budgets and drive their | :56:55. | :57:00. | |
own ideas forward. And almost all schools in Taunton Deane are no | :57:01. | :57:07. | |
academies. An injection for capital into schools would also not be | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
amiss. Some would like to upgrade facilities, or even get a lake of | :57:14. | :57:17. | |
paint. And sound well planned framework for education will ensure | :57:18. | :57:24. | |
a positive and fulfilling future for students, whatever their background, | :57:25. | :57:28. | |
with benefits to the economy. Through these two bills, the | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
Education for All Bill and Higher Education and Research Bill, I am | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
confident we will move forward and sort that skills gap and | :57:39. | :57:41. | |
productivity issue out for Taunton Deane. With my final seconds I will | :57:42. | :57:51. | |
mention one other Bill, which is the Neighbourhood Planning and | :57:52. | :57:52. | |
Infrastructure Bill. So many people have came to me because they want | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
more to say on local planning issues. But I am told that, through | :57:57. | :58:03. | |
this bill, we will be able to sort out the legal framework enabling us | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
to set out the preset oil Council bills to fund the Somerset rivers | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
authority. We are looking forward to that being brought forward. People | :58:16. | :58:24. | |
in Somerset would be delighted if we can move that forward. I am | :58:25. | :58:28. | |
commending this bill and all its excellent opportunities. | :58:29. | :58:38. | |
Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to speak in this | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
debate, giving an opportunity to observe and comment on the entire | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
speech. I was very pleased to see that I have to say about the fact | :58:48. | :58:51. | |
the government is intending to bring in legislation to reform prison | :58:52. | :58:57. | |
systems and also adoption and children in care. Previous Labour | :58:58. | :59:04. | |
government spent billions of pounds in the education and health sector | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
as well as into rehabilitation programmes, so I am pleased to see | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
this provision is coming in, which could tackle some of the problems in | :59:16. | :59:19. | |
our prison systems. But I am disappointed about a number of | :59:20. | :59:23. | |
things that the speech did not include. Firstly, I will speak about | :59:24. | :59:31. | |
some international issues, there has been systematic failure of all | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
governments to deal with two of the oldest historical disputes arising | :59:37. | :59:41. | |
out of the collapse of the British Empire after the Second World War, | :59:42. | :59:45. | |
firstly the issue of Palestine and Israel. The Prime Minister accepted | :59:46. | :59:50. | |
the fact there has been half a million illegal settlements carried | :59:51. | :59:55. | |
out by the state of Israel and the punishment of the people of woun. | :59:56. | :00:01. | |
This is one of the biggest wounds festering in the Middle East and | :00:02. | :00:09. | |
needs to be solved. And Kashmir, in 1852 it was said it should be | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
restored to free and impartial plebiscite. This was agreed in 1942. | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
It would allow both sides to come together and deal with this issue. | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
We should be able to bring the two parties together and help bring a | :00:28. | :00:33. | |
resolution to this particular issue. -- in 1942, it was said. But I was | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
concerned, and you could see this made, when I heard about the Prevent | :00:39. | :00:46. | |
laws which will be introduced and become harsher. The weight Prevent | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
had been rolled out over the last couple of years has proved | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
ineffective, counter-productive and actually has traumatised many young | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
people it was subject to. -- the way Prevent. And 90% of referrals had no | :01:04. | :01:11. | |
follow-up action. And even with that action, it was nothing much apart | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
from traumatising young children. The Secretary of State must have | :01:17. | :01:19. | |
about numerous examples of where young people were taken into a | :01:20. | :01:28. | |
system, such as a young person who talked about Palestine and were | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
carted off, and if you hear about the example with intelligence | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
officers and police sitting there, I young child of six, seven, eight, is | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
completely traumatised. And even if they were not thinking about it, | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
they could start thinking about it. I am not saying we should ignore | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
these issues, but they could be dealt with under things like | :01:54. | :02:02. | |
teaching dangerous about online, online bullying, child predators, | :02:03. | :02:06. | |
but one component part could be about extremism. It is a very safe | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
and sensible way to deal with this situation instead of criminalising | :02:14. | :02:14. | |
people. Even Sir Peter Fahy, former Chief Constable of | :02:15. | :02:28. | |
Greater Manchester, has said Prevent was a waste of time. I would urge | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
the Minister here to ask to be Luke at the whole issue of how Prevent | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
has been ruled out and dealt with in schools and universities -- look at | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
the whole issue. We all want to be safe. When the July bombing happened | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
in London, I was out of the country, but used to take that bus route to | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
my chambers around the same time. I could have been directly affected. | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
So the safety of people in this country is a reminder to me and | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
everybody else but important the things we bring into place to deal | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
with these issues have to be effective. | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
There was no mention of house-building or the abolition of | :03:13. | :03:21. | |
the current system. Note effort to get more GPs and nurses into the | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
NHS. And also the removal of pension rights for women in their 50s, or | :03:28. | :03:30. | |
the pensioners who live abroad and there seems to be two different sets | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
of pensioners. One gets the link and others don't. They pay the same | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
amount. There have been no proposals constructively on how to get them | :03:42. | :03:49. | |
out of poverty. I also welcome the U-turn on fourth Academy station. | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
But I still ask that this issue that everything should be a catamite by | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
certain they also be something that... | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
Academies, while some think that the Labour government brought in, they | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
were brought in the schools that were struggling. There was not | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
brought in the schools that were already successful. One such school | :04:16. | :04:21. | |
in my constituency was the first to be an academy under the Labour | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
government. It has children speaking six different languages. It has been | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
a pioneer school in the use of mobile technology in its education | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
system. Schools across the UK have come to see their practices, and | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
countries like Sweden have had a look as well. They use interactive | :04:45. | :04:52. | |
techniques, and these books will become free to the whole world, and | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
there is an invitation for the acting chief executive | :04:59. | :05:08. | |
I have this invitation from him to show the Secretary of State. And | :05:09. | :05:18. | |
finally, I want to talk about education. I would ask about | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
targeted funding for schools in socially deprived areas. Why do I | :05:24. | :05:31. | |
mean by that? In terms of extra provision for maths and English. | :05:32. | :05:39. | |
Extra money for teaching English as a foreign or second language, for | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
mothers and parents of children who struggle with English, and it is one | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
think that people should help their children, I think it would be good | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
if they had constructive help. What provision to identify issues of | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
bullying. Drug addiction and issues of gangs being formed which are | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
bullying lung Ali young people into group Toure committing crimes. I had | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
a lady coming into my constituency talking about her young son being | :06:11. | :06:13. | |
pushed by gangs into criminal activity. That is not an isolated | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
incident. We need more targeted resources. When someone gets into | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
trouble, they try to deal with it. We are reactive, but we need more | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
proactive policies in place, so we can identify and look at the | :06:30. | :06:31. | |
concerns and the challenges and dangers. And finally, and this is | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
nothing to do with education, this is a plea to the Chancellor. Can I | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
have a pot of money for Bolton South East so I can repair the roads that | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
have lots of pot holes in them, and I can send a costing of that to the | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
Chancellor. It is a pleasure to be able to 2-part -- take part in this | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
speech. There was much in the programme of government that I would | :07:01. | :07:02. | |
like to welcome, and many measures that would benefit Romsey and | :07:03. | :07:09. | |
Southampton North. It is a pleasure to follow the lady for Bolton South | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
East, and we would agree on several measures to do with prison reform, | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
but I would like to congratulate her, like me, for keeping of the | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
subject of the European referendum. I am certainly going to focus on | :07:22. | :07:28. | |
education, training and skills, but it is important to put that in a | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
perspective of all types of education and training, and I worry | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
sometimes that we concentrate too narrowly on higher education and | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
those young people who are following a path to university, and we have to | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
be confident that education is something that can happen at any age | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
and at any place. We should celebrate the teenager today might | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
have seven different careers in their lifetime, and each one of | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
those will require learning, change and the ability to adapt, and they | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
are expensive life skills that are introduced at school but carry on | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
throughout our lives. I was pleased to hear the Minister say that is | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
never too late to learn, and of course, in this place, everyone can | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
say that every day. One of my constituents, he came to my surgery | :08:18. | :08:25. | |
recently and he was a champion of education. Variously, people have to | :08:26. | :08:36. | |
update to take in new technology, promote learning, language schools. | :08:37. | :08:39. | |
The list can go on and on. Very little attention is given to this | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
aspect of learning, and there is too little understanding. But when it is | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
a job seeker undergoing retraining, or someone using the Internet, or a | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
prisoner losing Ali learning new skills on the path to | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
rehabilitation, it is all part of the learning journey. I want to | :08:58. | :08:59. | |
focus on the last aspect. And help them on the path back to | :09:00. | :09:21. | |
being part of society. He has worked with several prison governors, | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
specifically in Winchester, where David Rogers was one of the early | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
pilot champions of the work care after combat does. That is a sort of | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
scheme that when it is combined with education can have a real life | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
transforming impact. Their success rate is quite phenomenal, and I | :09:43. | :09:51. | |
commend it. That is all part of training and | :09:52. | :10:04. | |
education, to make sure that they form a seductive part of the | :10:05. | :10:12. | |
workforce. The Justice Secretary increased work opportunities for | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
those leaving prison, combine with education opportunities, and it will | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
make sure that former prisoners are better equipped for employment | :10:21. | :10:22. | |
opportunities when they are released. 46% of people entering | :10:23. | :10:33. | |
prison have literary skills is no better than an 11-year-old child. We | :10:34. | :10:40. | |
need to improve their chances. I am pleased that my friend is in her | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
place today and has heeded the questions expressed her about forced | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
a cam and urbanisation. Especially in places like Hampshire, where the | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
local authority provides a great service, and it is recognised and | :10:56. | :10:58. | |
appreciated by parents and governors alike. She will know that Romsey's | :10:59. | :11:03. | |
headteachers describe the education White Paper as one of the best she | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
had ever read. I support academies, and the highest scores in my | :11:08. | :11:15. | |
constituency are academies. They help fulfil potential, they | :11:16. | :11:17. | |
collaborate with local businesses, they encourage all sorts of | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
activities, but it does not mean that this goes in my constituency | :11:26. | :11:32. | |
that are not academies do not do the same. I appreciate them given more | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
time. I welcome the freedom about the school day. I know many private | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
schools have a longer day than the school sector, and they use it for | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
all sorts of things, the sorts of enrichment activities that give | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
their pupils an advantage on the UCAS applications. But when you hit | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
the head of Mountbatten School speak, she was always challenging | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
her school to provide a challenge for her pupils. The longer day | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
provides more chances and is part of that picture. Finally, I want to | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
talk about the other end of the age spectrum, and if we are talking | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
about education for all, it is important that we look at the life | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
chances of our preschoolers. I had the pleasure couple weeks ago of | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
fitting a preschool that was a typical, village preschool with a | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
professional staff, but effectively run by dedicated volunteers. We all | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
know that the first 1000 days after conception of the most important in | :12:41. | :12:43. | |
HR's life. We must be looking at the early years provision -- in a | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
Child's life. It operates five days a week, and | :12:48. | :12:59. | |
requires setup and take-down. They are better off than the preschoolers | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
that operate out of village schools, and have that burden every single | :13:05. | :13:07. | |
day. They have challenges finding staff, especially when many other | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
villages are not accessible by public transport, and finding | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
volunteer chairman and women and treasurers, and in being able to | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
offer the special -- Flex ability to meet the needs of children and | :13:22. | :13:27. | |
parents and Ofsted. I welcome the extension of free childcare, I'd | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
think it is a good thing for parents looking to return to work. It is | :13:31. | :13:33. | |
good for children to be in a steamy related environment, and -- in a | :13:34. | :13:44. | |
stimulating environment. At 15 hours a week, the preschool are coping. At | :13:45. | :13:51. | |
30 hours a week with the current funding, they will struggle. Police | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
preschoolers have been the last flood of communities for | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
generations. I would urge my friend to make sure that 30 hours is | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
sustainable, not just in large-scale Nazaries, but in small, rural | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
locations. With a commitment to educational excellence everywhere, | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
to make sure that rural provision, where we are nurturing the life | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
chances of the next generation in some of the most incredible | :14:18. | :14:26. | |
environment is looked after. It is a pleasure to take part in this debate | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
on the Queens speech, and also to follow the honourable member for | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
Romsey and Southampton North, and I do agree with her about the | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
importance of early years education. She made a very important point just | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
then. This 's speech was a major -- there was a major omission. | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
Following the government's U-turn on Forster can Asian, we have a build | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
to lay foundations for educational acceptance in all schools, whatever | :14:54. | :15:01. | |
that may mean. We had the establishment of new universities, | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
and promoting choice and competition across the higher education sector. | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
Yes, following the failed tuition fee experiment, which was never | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
intended to mean that all universities which is the full | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
?9,000, now they will have the freedom to charge even more, making | :15:25. | :15:30. | |
university education more to young people disadvantaged backgrounds. | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
Will she not recognise that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
having much greater opportunities in England and Wales than they are in | :15:41. | :15:43. | |
Scotland where the fee system means that it is a subsidy for the | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
middle-class and not poorer? That is certainly not what is going on in my | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
constituency, which I will go further on to elaborate. But I would | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
like to make the point that the number part time students and mature | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
students going to university has plummeted since the Inca meditation | :16:05. | :16:11. | |
of tuition fees. I think you could giving way. I can't let the comment | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
pass about Scotland. It is true, if we look at direct routes into | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
University, Scotland is slightly lower numbers going from | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
disadvantaged backgrounds. If we look at more interesting routes into | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
University, Scotland is doing extremely well with people from | :16:32. | :16:39. | |
disadvantaged backgrounds. I am going to go on to talk about further | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
education, which is a key part by speech. I would like to point out | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
the minister is no longer here, but we are not opposed to new | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
universities, despite the Minister's assumption, and for his information, | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
it was the Tory press that dubbed University College London Cockney | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
College. Not anyone from the Labour benches. What was missing from this | :17:08. | :17:16. | |
Queen's speech was the link between further education. It provides a | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
vital service to young people, opportunities, skills, training and | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
the ability to use FB as a stepping stone to higher education. -- | :17:29. | :17:38. | |
further education. It has its own particular issues, none of which was | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
given in the Queens speech. Lack of new rescue -- numeracy skills is a | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
massive issue in Rochdale, and some students require an extra year in | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
order to improve on English and maths. Yet funding reduces once the | :17:54. | :17:59. | |
learner hits 18 with no allowance made for the catch up year. | :18:00. | :18:04. | |
Rochdale was one of the most affected by the Kirk to Education | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
Maintenance Allowance and by reduced payments to disabled learners. -- by | :18:11. | :18:18. | |
the cut. I should declare an interest that my partner used to | :18:19. | :18:26. | |
teach at that college. When EMA was scrapped, my partner has students | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
coming to see him that, although they were enjoying the course and | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
its opportunities, we could not afford to attend college following | :18:34. | :18:40. | |
the scrapping of EMA, because they could not -- because without it they | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
could not afford bus fare to college. What a lamentable fears, | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
the night education because of the course of a bus fare. -- what a | :18:50. | :18:57. | |
mentor Bill situation, students denied education because of the cost | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
of a bus there. Some students have to travel 30-40 miles to access | :19:03. | :19:08. | |
college courses. The Greater Manchester area review is causing | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
great concern within the Department for Education because of ongoing | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
delays. With the cheer of the steering group, the Chief Executive | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
of Tory Trafford Council, warning that the process would lead to | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
fragmentation of the colleges in Greater Manchester. Wash chair. | :19:27. | :19:36. | |
Rochdale also has lower numbers of people going to university. Jewish | :19:37. | :19:44. | |
and fees has served as a massive deterrent. Students in England leave | :19:45. | :19:47. | |
university with more debt than anywhere else in the English | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
speaking world. -- tuition fees. Americans run up 50% of the dead, | :19:54. | :20:00. | |
Canadians one third of it. When maintenance grants were abolished | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
the Buddhist students will end up earning over half of an average | :20:07. | :20:15. | |
price for a terraced House. -- the poorest students. Well of parents | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
who can afford to pay private school fees will simply see the cost of | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
university education as a continuation of the inequality, | :20:28. | :20:29. | |
their children will continue claiming up the ladder with no | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
trouble. Whilst we talk about student debt I would like to mention | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
a proposal in the BBC White Paper to close the so-called Player loophole, | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
which will force students living away from home, with no television | :20:44. | :20:51. | |
but access online BBC content, to spend yet more money in purchasing a | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
yearly TV licence, as if students were not in enough debt. One | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
petition against this proposal, started by students at Loughborough | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
University, has reached a staggering 16,847 signatures. Please consider | :21:08. | :21:17. | |
the situation students are in. So far, my questions about this have | :21:18. | :21:21. | |
been evaded. But this petition shows the strength of feeling amongst | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
students and their families and I hope the Culture Secretary will | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
agree to be bound by it. Returning to the college I talked about, it | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
provides many courses to help students who aspire to go to | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
university. But whilst they are faced with Everton minding debt | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
there will be no answer to social mobility problems in my | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
constituency. The formation of new universities is not the solution. | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
The government was FE assessments show was the number of FE colleges | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
applying for higher education will be lower than present. Further | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
education is sandwiched in the middle of schools and higher | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
education with stages four and five massively underfunded. But the | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
college I spoke about, and I am sure many other FE colleges like it, | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
continuous to succeed against all the odds. We have 4000 people doing | :22:18. | :22:25. | |
vocational courses or A-levels who would previously have travelled | :22:26. | :22:35. | |
outside the borough. And we have more NEETs than in a budding | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
boroughs. Demand for more social care is increasing and the colleges | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
responding. But that is increasing challenge across the FE sector in | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
attracting teachers, especially in mathematics. It is time this | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
government recognised the essential role of the FE sector and took | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
action to address gaps in funding and problems of recruiting and | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
retailing good-quality teachers to achieve their stated aim of | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
educational excellence for all, and that includes my constituents in | :23:09. | :23:17. | |
Heywood and Middleton. It is a pleasure to follow the | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
honourable member for Heywood and Middleton and for Romsey, both great | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
champions for their constituents. It is a privilege to speak in this | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
debate. Many members have spoken passionately about education, skills | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
and training, and it is vital that as a nation we get these elements | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
right, because if we want to build up a cohort of fellow citizens ready | :23:45. | :23:51. | |
to face the world of work at 18, 22, but also later in their life, to be | :23:52. | :23:55. | |
lifelong learners, we need to get this right. Because the workforce is | :23:56. | :24:02. | |
changing and the economy is changing in a profound and long-lasting way. | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
I must be attributed to the Federation of Small Businesses on | :24:08. | :24:10. | |
its excellent report, going it alone, moving on up, supporting | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
self-employment in the UK, and many of the statistics I will use will be | :24:17. | :24:24. | |
from that. Today, 50% of the workforce is self-employed, compared | :24:25. | :24:32. | |
with 8% in 1980. To support this strong and growing economy, we as | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
legislators need to be as nimble as these entrepreneur, these 15% off | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
constituents. -- 15% of the workforce. There was always a | :24:45. | :24:51. | |
balance between the -- between red tape and lastly fair. -- | :24:52. | :25:03. | |
lassez-faire. I have great hopes for the bill but also suggestions, | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
particularly about the bills. I will begin speaking on the debt markets | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
Bill. Competition law is always one step behind the market. -- Better | :25:14. | :25:22. | |
Markets Bill. I speak partly as having experience in law department. | :25:23. | :25:30. | |
There are changing markets, I will, the faster switching principle for | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
energy supply, as I have and other members will have done. I welcome | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
clarification for roles for economic regulators. We are dealing with a | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
debt businesses, people with lawyers, if we want to protect | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
consumers we need strong measures in place. -- with adept businesses. I | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
want to speak about one particular market which is not sexy but vital, | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
the water market. Last summer, my constituents along with another | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
300,000 households in Lancashire, had no drinkable water for one | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
month. The contamination of Cryptosporidium in our water had a | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
massive effect on consumers and particularly small businesses who | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
were in the catering industry. I know my friend for Blackpool North | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
spoke about this, as he has many cafes and restaurants. It shows the | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
monopolised nature of the water market. I am happy that from April | :26:33. | :26:40. | |
20 bid will be a non-high school retail water and waste water market | :26:41. | :26:48. | |
opening. -- that from April 2016. After that I'd break last year, | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
there was difficulty for many small businesses in accessing | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
compensation. It was not as simple as for domestic consumers. There has | :26:58. | :27:04. | |
been expression that is part of the remake in this new water market is | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
ensuring it operates effectively, and there have been representations | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
to Defra that guaranteed service standards apply to all households. | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
But there are no business ministers on the front bench at the moment, | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
but I am sure my honourable friend will communicate, if anyone from | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
business has spoken, if they have spoken to Defra and had discussions | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
about this, and whether this can be rolled into the Better Markets Bill. | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
And from sewage to savings and pensions. National statistics on | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
savings are both full compared to EU neighbours. The French save about | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
twice as much as we do. -- -- are woeful. I will give way. Would you | :27:58. | :28:04. | |
agree with me that it is important financial education is taught in | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
school, in terms of savings but also financial management, if we are to | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
address the issues you are raising? Thank you for your intervention, and | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
I agree wholeheartedly. 21 million people in this country don't even | :28:22. | :28:29. | |
have ?500 of savings and, as the honourable lady says, part of this | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
is financial education. But I welcome the lifetime savings | :28:35. | :28:39. | |
built, a flexible product so that young people can see for a home and | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
their retirement. I also welcomed the increase in the ISA limit. But | :28:44. | :28:52. | |
also I would like to look at statistics for self-employed, which | :28:53. | :28:55. | |
are even worse than the nation as a whole. Only 31% of respondents to a | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
survey have said they are saving into a pension, compared to 59% of | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
people who are employed. The remaining respondents intend to rely | :29:08. | :29:12. | |
on their business, existing savings, and about 15% had no plan at all or | :29:13. | :29:18. | |
savings. A lifetime ISA is welcome, but I would ask the Minister if | :29:19. | :29:26. | |
there are any plans to adapt it to suit it for the self-employed. That | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
is the age restriction which limits it to people under 40 and we are | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
seeing more evidence more of the self-employed are aged 45 or over. I | :29:37. | :29:44. | |
would hope that the department would look at ways of encouraging and | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
normalising the idea of savings for the self-employed because they do | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
not get EC nudges that auto enrolment has for people that are | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
applied at the moment. -- they do not get the same nudges. I will not | :29:58. | :30:08. | |
go over again the people who have no savings are pension plan. But we | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
need to consider the needs of the self-employed and I know the Work | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
and Pensions Committee have look at this, but mainly in relation to | :30:18. | :30:24. | |
NEST, which we have signed up to for our employees. It is very good but | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
needs a solution for the self-employed on it. In an ideal | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
world, the self-employed will go on to be micro-employers or even large | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
employers, and will set up their own pension fund. There needs to be | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
adequately medication with micro businesses about obligations under | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
auto enrolment. Those can be burdensome. And there needs to be | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
the bus regulation to ensure such funds give good returns once set up | :30:54. | :30:59. | |
and adequately protected. -- there needs to be robust regulation. We | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
need to adapt to changing workforces and I look forward to seeing the | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
detail as these bills progressed through this place. | :31:09. | :31:17. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister told the House the heart of | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
the Queen's Speech at bold reforms to remove barriers for opportunity | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
for young people, so let's see if his rhetoric matches reality. Today | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
nearly 4 million children grow up in poverty, half a million in London, | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
and in my constituency 42% of children live in poverty, the | :31:39. | :31:43. | |
highest rate in the country. Social mobility is in reverse with young | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
people suffering from what the human rights commission are the worst | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
economic prospects for several generations. And thousands of young | :31:52. | :31:57. | |
people remain not in education, employment or training. It is a | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
shocking reality considering the UK is the fifth richest country in the | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
world. Fighting inequality is not just about social justice but in | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
economic interests. If we look at the government record over the last | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
six years, they have cut work experience and entitlements and | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
independent careers guidance and advice, cut further education | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
budgets by 24% since 2010. And this has devastated the lives of many | :32:28. | :32:34. | |
people, as noted earlier. A higher concentration of people in further | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
education are from working class and ethnic minority backgrounds, it has | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
hit London FE students, ethnic minority students, particularly hard | :32:45. | :32:49. | |
because of the disproportionate concentration of those people in FE. | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
I asked the Minister to look at the impact, given his monitoring and | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
transparency work, too remote and tackle inequality, he should look at | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
the impact of funding on the FE sector. It has meant many further | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
education colleges have had to shrink courses and numbers, | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
including Tower Hamlets College, which many of my constituents | :33:14. | :33:14. | |
attend. The Government has tripled | :33:15. | :33:24. | |
university fees. The minister will have heard the devastating impact | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
that has had over the years across the country to some of the poorest | :33:31. | :33:37. | |
students. Student nursery bursaries have been slashed, maintenance | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
grants for poorer university students. The Queen's Speech is | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
focused on life chances and will prove meaningless without a parallel | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
attempt to eradicate child poverty. Tired and hungry children can't | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
learn effectively and it is shocking that millions of children come from | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
families who rely on food banks. Poverty is not inevitable and this | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
Government has the tools to fix that problem if there is the will. The | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
last Labour Government cut child poverty by almost a million to the | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
lowest levels since the 1980s yet increases over the last six years | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
under this Government has done much of this progress. I call on the | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
Minister and the Secretary of State to continue to pay attention to this | :34:24. | :34:30. | |
very important issue for it will affect educational attainment and | :34:31. | :34:33. | |
the achievements of young people. Let us look at the education Bill. | :34:34. | :34:42. | |
My right honourable friends have mentioned earlier that it is being | :34:43. | :34:50. | |
introduced in a context where the real term cuts are about 8% of | :34:51. | :34:57. | |
funding per pupil by 2020. This is despite the Conservative Party's | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
commitments in the manifesto that funding won't be cut for schools and | :35:03. | :35:11. | |
children. This is a betrayal of that manifesto commitment. Last year more | :35:12. | :35:19. | |
teachers quit than actually entered the profession. Almost 50,000 of | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
teachers quit. The highest figure since records began and applications | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
to teach are also falling in every region and down in key subjects such | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
as English, maths and ICT. London schools face unique challenges. They | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
have some of the highest levels of inequality as well as child poverty | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
in the country. School budgets and classrooms are at breaking point | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
with one in five London secondary schools now fall or overcrowded. Yet | :35:49. | :35:56. | |
London shows that it is possible to create outstanding urban schools in | :35:57. | :35:59. | |
demanding circumstances. Thanks to the work of the last Labour | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
Government, nine out of ten schools in London are now good or | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
outstanding. This is a huge achievement and it took a generation | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
to achieve. The crew and changes to the funding formula put that | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
achievement at risk. I ask the Minister to look carefully at the | :36:19. | :36:22. | |
funding formula and make sure that the achievements that have been | :36:23. | :36:26. | |
made, we don't go back on those. London schools will lose ?240 | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
million a year in these current proposals. Also schools in the | :36:35. | :36:37. | |
Midlands and North of England will be hit hard by these changes. We | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
need to look at the children in those schools and make sure fairness | :36:45. | :36:51. | |
means fairness. On academies, it is wrong-headed that the Government is | :36:52. | :36:54. | |
obsessed with structures rather than attainment. The climb-down is | :36:55. | :37:02. | |
welcomed but it is clear from what was said earlier by the Minister | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
that the attempt to a cat eyes all schools is still there and it is | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
just through a different route. It is likely to cause ?1 billion to | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
carry out. That is money that could be tackling underachievement rather | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
than obsessing with structure. Where there is a problem, where there is a | :37:23. | :37:25. | |
need for innovation, that should happen but it shouldn't be a | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
wasteful process. I give way. Does the honourable member greet with the | :37:32. | :37:38. | |
same happiness that I do come about 1 million more children are going to | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
good or outstanding schools since 2010? Any improvements made to | :37:44. | :37:53. | |
attainment is welcome but my point is in relation here to London where | :37:54. | :38:00. | |
huge amounts of work was done to improve schools. When I was at | :38:01. | :38:03. | |
school in the East End of London in the 80s and 90s, most schools | :38:04. | :38:10. | |
achieve less than 20% GCSEs or more. It took over a decade to transform | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
schools, not just in Tower Hamlets. In Tower Hamlets we only have four | :38:16. | :38:18. | |
academies and it shows there are different models of improvement and | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
I call on the Secretary of State to look at achievements and how that | :38:25. | :38:26. | |
has been done through different approaches including collaboration, | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
investment in teacher quality and standards as well as training and | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
leadership. She will know very well that the model in Tower Hamlets and | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
across London is recognised around the world and I hope that the new | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
funding formula won't put that at risk. I will give way. I would just | :38:46. | :38:55. | |
like to make the point, however, that within London you have seen a | :38:56. | :39:06. | |
26% uplift in your... Sorry, within London schools. You have seen a 26% | :39:07. | :39:17. | |
lift. One has seen a 26% lift. In rural schools we have seen a 9% | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
rise. It is only right and proper that the funding basis is addressed. | :39:24. | :39:28. | |
My point is not about whether schools in need of support in rural | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
areas and Mary 's rural poverty also, do not get support. We don't | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
set schools and areas up against each other. There is a division that | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
the Government looks at where we need to target resources to improve | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
schools and we don't turn regions against each other. We don't turn | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
schools against each other. That is one of the major risks and that is | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
being reflected in this debate. We need to look at improving standards | :39:57. | :39:59. | |
across the country without doing damage to the achievements of | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
schools in London. There are still 40 percentage of school kids were we | :40:04. | :40:14. | |
need to raise their attainment. I want to point to the fact that the | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
Severn Trent unearthed the fact that our young people leave university | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
with the highest levels of debt in the English speaking world. -- | :40:24. | :40:25. | |
Severn Trent. He has tripled university fees to | :40:26. | :40:38. | |
9000, scrapped maintenance allowance and wants to lift the fees cap even | :40:39. | :40:48. | |
higher. That is going to put into reverse some of the achievements | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
that have been made in the past but also it saddles poorer students with | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
huge amounts of debt. We all know that if you come from asset rich | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
families, you are more likely to take risks, more likely to be secure | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
when you enter the labour market and outcomes in the labour markets for | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
graduates are different according to social class and ethnic background. | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
Saddling poorer students with debt as real consequences in terms of | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
what they go on to do. I ask the Minister to look carefully at | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
outcomes and the data he is collecting will only be useful if he | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
matches that with action to tackle the fact that there are inequalities | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
that are being built in because of students being left in debt. The | :41:36. | :41:44. | |
Government ignored the evidence from -- showing the maintenance grants | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
lead to 4% increase in participation. While increasing | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
participation cited by the Government and Minister, when that | :41:57. | :41:59. | |
is happening that is welcome but I asked him to look at how it can be | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
achieved further and to look at this area. On the point about | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
apprenticeships, I welcome the target of 3 million apprenticeships. | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
The question is about quality and it has been raised by a number of | :42:14. | :42:21. | |
honourable friends and I appeal to the Minister to look carefully at | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
how we can make this work well by focusing on quality because it is | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
still the case that many young people, a sizeable number of them | :42:30. | :42:37. | |
are doing courses at the level of two and three and where they have | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
parallel qualifications. We need to make sure they progress and | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
apprenticeships are a genuine alternative. I would like to say | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
what a pleasure it is to follow the honourable member for Bethnal Green | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
and Bow. I would like to welcome the programme on life chances of heart | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
clean not only the education skills and training we are speaking about | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
but the Internet -- interconnectivity between the other | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
bills as well. In proposing her most gracious speech, bringing up | :43:12. | :43:18. | |
children is an inexact science with a definite beginning but no definite | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
and. There is no guarantee of success however it might be measured | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
and there most certainly isn't a handbook. My children have attended | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
their state schools and are now other universities acquiring this | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
debt and it is the aspiration for a better life that I hope we as | :43:36. | :43:38. | |
parents have instilled in them and that is why I believe that life | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
chances also very important. However, we have an excellent | :43:45. | :43:47. | |
education system in this country helping parents and carers through | :43:48. | :43:50. | |
the minefield that we hope will level the playing field for all our | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
children and ensure that all child reaches their potential. 30 hours | :43:55. | :44:02. | |
free childcare with the caveats out line. 1.3 million children taught | :44:03. | :44:10. | |
and measures to drive aspirations and skills. This is a coherent | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
lifetime learning package and much more than I see being put before us | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
from members of the opposition who I know have still got space to come | :44:23. | :44:29. | |
forward with their bright ideas. As we noted that one of the most | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
important things we have an education is good quality feedback. | :44:34. | :44:36. | |
That might be something to take on board. The early years education is | :44:37. | :44:49. | |
vital in ensuring readiness for school. | :44:50. | :45:00. | |
There is excellent early years education in towns and rural areas. | :45:01. | :45:09. | |
Despite the best efforts of early years teachers, it is estimated up | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
to 25% of our children starting a shepherd and are still in nappies. | :45:14. | :45:25. | |
I would urge bold plans in this area using speech therapists to be able | :45:26. | :45:32. | |
to support parents in their parenting as their children grow. I | :45:33. | :45:39. | |
welcome the news that fairer funding formula will be addressed. It is | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
inherited and I apologise if the honourable member for what I was | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
creating an adversarial term a mess. From my point of view, my children | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
receive ?260 less than the national average which is considerably less | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
than children in London have received for many years. It is | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
important that this anomaly is addressed. The new policy must allow | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
for the fact that schools in largely rural constituencies such as mine | :46:15. | :46:21. | |
will struggle on several levels. Sparsity is one example. I don't | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
believe things are insurmountable but they need acknowledging and I | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
thank the Secretary of State for being in listening mode recently | :46:30. | :46:34. | |
when approached over the -- over this and I hope we can move forward | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
in providing the right solution for all children. The children in rural | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
areas suffer from the rural transport systems that mean the | :46:44. | :46:46. | |
children who attain these schools are isolated from choices given to | :46:47. | :46:49. | |
their urban dwelling peers. There was loss -- less opportunity for | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
after-school clubs which are to be welcomed if there is just a solitary | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
bus service that leaves five minutes after the school AMs. In rural | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
schools, transport will become an issue that we have to consider | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
carefully that will fit into the overall plan. I ask the minister if | :47:07. | :47:16. | |
they will do a rural test when we ask questions about education to | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
ensure schools can offer the same to their students whether they are in | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
rural or urban and make sure they are well served. As our children are | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
perceived with their education, we must value their different skills | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
and abilities that they display and nurture. While supporting the rise | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
in standards, we need to keep the ability to problem solving our | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
educational system, a visit to a high-tech company in my | :47:42. | :47:44. | |
constituency, we spoke about need for people to use intuition and | :47:45. | :47:51. | |
other such elements within their learning and for it not to be always | :47:52. | :47:59. | |
about ticking boxes. The honourable members both about a joined up | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
strategy with regard to science and that is a huge importance. My four | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
daughters remind me that academic excellence is to be applauded but we | :48:11. | :48:12. | |
must cherish practical skills. Subtitles will resume at Wednesday | :48:13. | :48:46. | |
in Parliament at 11pm. | :48:47. | :48:52. |