Live Education Questions House of Commons

Cadet in and welcome to BBC

Parliament's live coverage of

Commons. In an hour Theresa May will

update MPs concerning the outcome of

last week's talks with the EU over

the interim Brexit deal, the Prime

Minister will tell MPs there is a

new sense of optimism in the Brexit

negotiations after her deal agreed

in the early hours of Friday, which

should ensure the negotiating teams

move on to the next phase of talks.

After that the Foreign Secretary

Boris Johnson will make a statement

concerning his recent visit to the

Middle East. The main business in

the Commons today is the debate on

the general principles of the

Finance Bill, implement and measures

outlined in last month's budget.

Don't forget to join me Keith

McDougal for a round-up of the day

in both Houses of Parliament when

the common-sense tonight. First, its

questions to the Education Secretary

Justine Greening and her ministerial

team.

SPEAKER:

Order, order. Questions to

the Secretary of State for Education

James Cartlidge. Justine Greening.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, I will answer

questions one and 22 together with

permission. We have made significant

and ambitious reforms to the

education system since 2010

expanding childcare provision,

raised school standards, transformed

apprenticeships and increased

university access and will continue

to drive social mobility through the

whole education system and beyond

into careers. Equality of

opportunity is essential to make our

country one that works for everyone,

not just the privileged few.

I thank

my Right Honourable friend for that.

In light of the excellent news that

we have seen the best improvement in

reading standards in our schools for

15 years, not least due to the

excellent work of my honourable

friend, does my Right Honourable

friend agree with me there is no

measure that could so simply boost

social mobility as this kind of

dramatic improvement in education

standards?

Absolutely, I do. And in

fact it was put forward in the teeth

of opposition from many MPs on the

opposite benches in this House. Last

week's International Reading results

not only showed reading in England

has improved for pupils from all

backgrounds, but that crucially it

is low performing pupils that I

gaining the most rapidly, and this

means whereas 58% of pupils reach

the expected reading standards in

the first screening check in 2012,

now that figure is 81% and indeed

there has been no welcome of this

progress from the opposition at all.

Nigel Huddleston.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. Does the Secretary of State

agree that the recent social

mobility report show that social

mobility is not just a question for

inner cities but Shire counties like

Worcestershire and is in this very

justification for a fairer funding

formula that will redress the

relative underfunding of our

schools?

This was an important

reform in funding to make sure that

all children are invested in

properly and indeed looking at

opportunity areas, we are focusing

our efforts on areas of the country

with the greatest challenges and the

fewest opportunities. We have

invested £72 million in opportunity

areas but some of those are in

overall areas and he is absolutely

right to flag up that talent is

spread evenly in this country but

opportunity is not and we are

determined to change that.

One

Member of the House is keen to

generate her commitment to equality

and is wearing a rainbow pullover.

The rainbow symbol of equality, I'm

referring to be Honourable Lady, the

member for Wakefield, to whose

contribution we look forward to with

eager anticipation. Nic Dakin.

Thank

you. Sixth form colleges are well

recognised for their role in

delivering social mobility and yet

that is now at risk as we have seen

an underfunding by £1200 per student

compared with 11-16 funding. Is the

Secretary of State going to act to

address this before it's too late?

As he will know, we are putting more

money into making sure that post-16

education is consistently gold

standard, whether young people are

following academic roots, or

technical education routes. I'm sure

he will have welcomed the

announcement of extra premiums for

maths students in the budget a

couple of weeks ago.

Vince Cable.

Since the Secretary of State was the

only member of the Cabinet to get a

pass mark from the Social Mobility

Commission, can machine out cement

her reputation by intervening to

stop the catastrophic decline in

apprenticeship starts?

Well, I will

be setting up social mobility action

plan later this week, and in

relation to his claims on

apprenticeships, actually we have

seen apprenticeship starts remain on

track to have 3 million by 2,020 and

we have already seen 1.1 million

since May 2015. Rather than talking

them down, Mr Speaker, it would be

better if he talked our education

system up.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I

congratulate the schools minister on

the incredible work on reading of

young children. Can I ask my

honourable friend, terms of social

justice, which are considered

providing 30 hours of free childcare

particularly for foster children in

line with those of working parents

by dropping the eligibility earnings

gap for childcare from 100,000 down

to 65,000?

30 hours free childcare

policy has been incredibly popular

with parents, nine out of ten of

them say they very much like it and

welcome it. We are actively looking

at the issue mentioned in relation

to foster children.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. As chair of the APPG on

social mobility we are concerned to

read the Social Mobility

Commission's report and subsequent

comments from the outgoing chair.

But the Secretary of State or a

minister agreed to meet with the

APPG to discuss where we go from

here?

I hope he will be able to

welcome the action plan I set out

later this week. The time has come

for us all now to move from talking

about the problem, which we have

done a lot and for many, many years,

to deciding that we have it within

us to be able to work together

up-and-down the country to now

tackle it.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I

agree with the honourable member for

Harlow. Last week the early years

minister used 30 hours of childcare

funding as an example of

government's commitment to social

mobility. He knows foster children

are some of the most vulnerable

often starting school having already

fallen behind their peers. Many

would benefit from access to

high-quality early years. Therefore,

why have fostered children been

excluded from the 30 hours offer and

can the Minister confirm today when

this discrimination will end?

Well,

I am pleased that she recognises the

30 hours policy is a good thing and

ideally would be extended to more

Georgian, and as I have just said to

honourable friend, my honourable

friend, we will look at that -- more

children.

Mr Nicholas Guerin.

Academies and multi-Academy trusts

are subject to a much stronger

accountability regime than local

authority. Academies are required to

publish audited financial accounts

annually and the education and

skills funding agency oversees

compliance with the funding

agreement. Would take swift and

robust action at the first sign of

failure, either financial failure or

academic underperformance. 98% of

academies and trusts 2016 - 17

accounts received a clean Bill of

health from the auditors.

In my

constituency of Hartlepool we have

suffered significant cuts in central

budgets that support the most

vulnerable people in our

communities. Hartlepool council has

suffered cuts of almost 50% over the

last five years. Isn't it time when

demands on services continue to rise

rapidly, the council has tried hard

to protect front line children's

services but even here there has

been a reduction of 40% in funding.

Can the Secretary of State explain

how our most vulnerable children and

young people will have increased

social mobility in light of

significant and growing pressures on

social care, funding for those...

SPEAKER:

Border force of the

question is too long and it doesn't

relate to the matter we are

discussing. -- order. We're talking

about financial accountability of

multi-Academy trusts.

Mr Speaker, we

are spending record amounts in

school funding £41 billion this year

rising to £43.5 billion by 2019-20

and in the new National Funding

Formula a fairer system than

previous governments had shied away

from introducing, we do give huge

priority to funding disadvantage.

Mr

Philip Davies.

Mr Speaker, last

month at these questions I raised

the case of a school in my

constituency which had had £276,000

snaffled from its funds from the

Wakefield city Academy trusts

shortly before its collapse. It is

in a very deprived constituency and

understandably they want their money

back. Can the Minister tell us what

doing to get the money back?

My

honourable friend should know that

no Academy trust can profit from

their schools. The trust will not be

able to retain any reserves it has

at the point of dissolution and

we're working with the academies and

preferred new trusts to determine

appropriate support and proper

funding.

Mary Cray.

I hope the

question lives up to the jumper, Mr

Speaker. I fear it may not! Despite

what the Minister says the acting

Chief Executive of Wakefield city

academies trust managed to pay

himself £1000 a day in his company

owned by his daughter, £60,000 a

year for parking services and

despite these excessive sums it

appears the audit committee didn't

meet for one full calendar year in

order to sign off the probity of

these payments. How many more

Academy trusts across the country

are in special measures? How many

more has he sent his special

auditors in to have a look. He sent

them into Wakefield but he didn't

tell anybody else about what was

going on, leaving the trust to fail

in September on the first week back.

All related party transactions have

to be disclosed and they are. We are

working with the Wakefield city

academies trust to transfer all 21

academies to new sponsors, trusts

with a track record of improving

schools and delivering high academic

standards and the transfers will

take place in a way that secures the

financial futures for each school.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The excellent

school working with King Alfred's

School in my constituency since they

were placed in special measures last

year have made excellent progress

but the board of directors are

nervous about formalising the

sponsorship until urgent repairs

have been made to the school. Will

the Minister meet with me and

representatives so that we can

resolve the impasse at the earliest

opportunity?

I'd be delighted to

meet my honourable friend to try and

resolve that impasse. We are

spending record amounts of capital

on our school system, £23 billion in

this period.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I'm confused, Mr Speaker, in 2015

the education funding agency

conducted a financial management and

governance review of the Wakefield

City Academies Trust, the felt

trust, but it was not published,

placing the trust's commercial

interests above the interests of the

8500 pupils. So, can the Minister

answer my honourable friend's

question from Wakefield? How many

more are in peril on his watch?

As I said earlier 98% of academy

trusts in 2016 got a clean bill of

health. We take the financial

probity of the academy system

seriously. All academies are to

publish financial accounts.

Something that local authority

schools do not. The fact there are

far fewer schools today rated

inadequate down 2010 is a tribute to

the structural reforms and academies

programme. 450,000 pupils are in

sponsored academies now, rated good

or outstanding. These are schools,

that under his watch, his party's

watch were underperforming before we

turn them into sponsored academies.

Come on, lad.

With your permission,

I would like to answer this question

and also question ten. The

government is making a significant

capital investment into the school

is spent. £23 billion in capital

funding over the period 2016-2021.

King creating over 6000 new school

places. Thousands of projects to

improve the physical condition of

school buildings. Since 2010,

capital funding has resulted in

735,000 new places, revenue funding

at an all-time high of £41 billion.

I thank the Minister for that reply.

Recent research found that 94% of

teachers pay for essential classroom

supplies, including in my

constituency, where glue sticks are

being broken by hard-working staff.

Does the minister maintained that

Portsmouth schools have enough money

and resources?

No parent should be

expected to pay for the basic needs

of the school. Parents can be asked

to fund school trips and extra

thing. We're spending record amounts

on our school system £41 billion,

rising to 43.5 billion by 2019, and

standards are rising in the school

systems. In reading, maths, GCSEs,

despite a more rigorous curriculum

at secondary school and the primary

sector.

Can the Minister confirm

that despite the additional 1.3

billion announced in July, the

school budgets are still facing a

1.5 billion real terms funding

shortfall, which nothing has been

done to reverse?

My honourable

friend the secretary of state

announced an additional £1.3 billion

in July, as the honourable gentleman

kindly acknowledged. That means not

only have we maintained school

funding in real terms as we did in

the last parliament. We have

maintained school funding in real

terms for people in this period up

to 2020.

As I understand it,

currently, bids for capital spending

on maintenance for schools is

assessed by the state of the

building. Given there is significant

competition for these bits, and it

is difficult to assess the state of

the building in one area of the

country, and another in different

schools in the country. Is there not

a case for assessing the historical

underfunding that has taken place in

various areas of our country?

I'm

grateful to my honourable friend for

that question. We deal with historic

underfunding through a fair national

funding formula. As far as capital

spending is concerned, we're

spending £10 billion up to 2021 in

school replacement, maintenance and

improvement. That has to be

determined by the condition of the

school. We have conducted a national

survey of all schools in the country

so that systems there.

Cannot bank

the Secretary of State for a superb

response to the question I asked

that the last education questions

session. On Friday I was meeting a

headteacher, Helene

Gayle, to discuss the condition of

their brief, could you guarantee

that they will get sufficient

funding?

I cannot comment on

individual bid. I had the answer was

superb as previous answers he has

had.

The executive member of

children at Leeds City Council wrote

to me today after writing to

effective state on the 28th of

September about health and safety

issues in barely a schools,

including ones trying to become

academies. The response from the

department was about sit funding and

academies. What further funding is

therefore Ellie a schools

-- L E a schools who have serious

concerns like asbestos funding?

We

have allocated £4.2 billion since

2015 to maintain and improve school

building. Some is allocated to local

authorities because they are best

placed to know the priorities of the

schools in the local authority area.

A Bilic Academy in my local

constituency faces serious

difficulties, because of the

previous headteacher, he built a sex

dungeon for his own private use.

He's now in prison, but the

financial remain. With the Minister

agree to meet with me and

representatives of the school to

discuss the way forward?

I would be

very happy to meet my honourable

friend to discuss the financial and

academic future of that school.

Can

the Minister confirm the budget

actually cut education capital

funding by £1 billion this spending

review? And part of that cut is

removing over three quarters of the

healthy people's capital programme?

Perhaps even cause the Pledge

earlier this year, Mr Speaker, the

healthy people's fund would not fall

below £415 million regardless? Will

he now apologise for breaking that

promise?

The honourable lady has

misunderstood the budget process. We

have not cut £1 billion from the

capital spending of school. What we

have done is converted development

of the healthy schools budget into

revenue spending, to ensure that

schools are properly funded on the

front line, because we believe that

schools need to be properly funded.

That is how we managed to allocate

an extra £1.3 billion to school

funding, something she has called

for and the school system has called

for.

Thank you Mr Speaker. Knowsley

Metropolitan Borough will benefit

from an initial A-level offer in

September 20 18th through North

Regency college imminent merger with

Saint Helens College. The 2018-19

perspectives has been published in

the setting up the A-level offer is

available. The department is working

with the local authority to ensure

the limitation of Knowsley Best

Together the wider local plan for

improving access to A-levels in

Knowsley.

I thank the Secretary of

State for the answer. In a number of

meeting between the MPs, ministers

have promised to bring in a

recognised excellent provider to

restore academic provision to

Knowsley. Whilst the provision of

college vocational programmes is

welcome development, it is not

enough. What progress has been made

to deliver the promises local MPs

have heard from ministers in the

last year?

I'm happy to speak with

her and colleagues. I'm sure she

remember from the I centre following

the meeting, I have asked my

officials to specifically convened a

further meeting locally to agree an

approach on the maths programme and

the English roll-out. Which will

specifically focus on improving

level three maths.

While the new

A-level provision from next

September in Knowsley is very much

to be welcomed. They commit to

working with the local authority and

the commission it established under

the leadership of Christine Gilbert,

to ensure more young people in

Knowsley are able to take advantage,

not just of academic A-levels, but

also vocational qualifications?

We

do want to make sure that kind of

offer is available for every single

child in our country, including

Knowsley. As he alludes, a lot of

work to be done to make sure in the

coming years the education offer on

people's doorsteps in Knowsley gets

better. There is a lot going on

locally, also, lamented by the

National focus we have had on

standards. As I have written to him,

I'm very happy to do my role in

making sure we work together to

improve education outcomes for

children in Knowsley. The government

is committed to tackling our Johnson

shortage of stem skills, to grow the

workforce we need right and economy.

The budget announced an additional

£406 million for mass, digital and

technical education. A new post six

mass premium, and an £84 million

programme to improve the teaching of

competing. Both of which aim to

increase in take-up.

Children in

England of anything in from the

governor's focus on Stem subjects.

Does she agree all children in the

UK, not just those in England should

be encouraged to study maths and

technology.

You look at Scotland's mean scores,

they have dropped across all testing

areas between 2012 and 2015. That is

the legacy of the Scottish

Government, for its children. It is

behind England in science, and

maths. It is behind England in real

terms, a shocking indictment. At the

meeting of the all-party

Parliamentary group, so I met a

number of young ambassadors with

accident suggestions encouraging

young people who study Stem

subjects.

One of them would be the

measuring of the number of engineers

schools produce, rather than going

to university, will the Minister

consider this?

We are moving in the

right direction. She is right to

raise a point around the pipeline.

Not just getting better grades at

GCSE, but seeing more young people

take A-level maths. Now the most

popular A-level. Seeing that go on

to university, and into careers. We

have seen a 20% increase in the

number of girls taking stem A-levels

in the UK. There is much more work

to be done.

My honourable friend

will be aware of the excellent

support we have been given Haywards

Heath by her right honourable friend

the member for Guildford. Helping to

reopen the Hayward seeks sixth form

college. So sadly that close. Though

she realised this college will be

the most perfect location for a Stem

College in the south-east of

England?

Well, I think he raises an

interesting proposal. Very pleased

he is working so effectively with my

honourable friend. Improving our

investment in stem from a critically

changing young people's perceptions

of stem, so they can see what a

fascinating career life ahead of

them in doing Stem subjects and stem

A-levels. Critically stem degrees.

That is how we constantly change

this topic for the better.

I'm sure

the Secretary of State will know in

Scotland stem teachers need to have

a stem university level

qualification. We have retained the

professionalism. What I would like

to talk about is the issue of girls

into stem. As we approach Christmas,

the gender stereotyping in toys is

simply depressing. With boys being

presented with that silly Mac

technical toys, and girls expected

to become pretty homemakers. Even

Lego making a distinction with

Princess Lego set. What a

presentation is the secretary of

state making to toy manufacturers

and retailers to ensure gender

neutral toys are promoted, and girls

are encouraging to stem?

My right

honourable friend will be having a

Round Table on these sorts of

issues. More broadly, she should

focus on the underlying strategy we

need to have to see more young girls

and women going into stem careers.

The good news if the numbers of

women accepted on to stem

undergraduate courses has increased

in England by 25% since 2010.

We are

committing £84 million of new

funding between 2018-2023 to support

competing in the teaching in school.

Including training up to 8000

secularists teachers to teach the

new competing science GCSE. National

Centre for competing education, and

online resource for A-level. This

will support schools to deliver the

new competing curriculum, which

includes coding from Key Stage 1.

And our reformed GCSE and A-level,

both of which have a strong focus on

programming.

Google is one of the

fastest areas for tech start-ups. It

is important to meet the challenges

and the room and economy. Will my

right honourable friend recognise

both the secondary schools and the

colleges in Cornwall are ready and

raring to go to fill gaps in the

growing economy market?

We recognise

both the challenges and the

successes in Cornwall. My honourable

friend is one of Cornwall's greatest

champions. The Cornwall and Scilly

Isles area is one of the first areas

where we are establishing a skills

advisory panel with local education

and enterprise partnerships.

This success of T-Levels that will

incorporate coding and programming

in education will largely rely on

addressing the chronic underfunding

in our colleges so was the Secretary

of State disappointed like Bury

College in Holy Cross in my

constituency that the Chancellor

ignored the pleas to address the

great iniquity of funding post-16

and what will she be doing about it?

Mainly the honourable gentleman

missed the announcement about £500

million of extra funding for the

technical education post-16.

Wearer

Hobhouse.

Russian number seven, Mr

Speaker.

Local authorities have the

powers to ensure that children being

educated at home by their parents

are well educated and safe. But I'm

not confident these powers are being

used properly everywhere. That is

why the forthcoming consultation on

revised guidance for authorities and

parents is so important. Every child

needs a good education including

those who are home-schooled.

I was

ever so slightly disappointed that

you didn't notice my excellent

sweater!

LAUGHTER

I have now!

The skills required for

a parent to home educate a child

successfully, have they been

assessed?

There are some very good

examples of home educating being

delivered, in some cases by

qualified teachers, but it is

important that home education is

not, for example, used as an

alternative to exclusion, or indeed

for the lack of provision of dreck

Special Educational Needs and we are

very much on that case.

Many

Traveller children are home-schooled

yet only 4% go to university with

Dummigan compared with 43%

nationally and it's the worst

education outcomes of any group.

Will my Right Honourable friend meet

with me to discuss how Traveller

children access education like every

other child in the UK?

Traveller

children are the outliers in every

statistics that we see, while local

authorities have no specific power

or duty to monitor the quality of

home education, the duty to ensure

they are receiving the correct

level.

Does the Minister agree with

the Chief Inspector of schools

Amanda Spellman that so called off

rolling, including home-schooling

and alternative provision of sight

is one of the big scandals happening

in our education system at the

moment? The IPPR estimate that

48,000 children are now often

rolled. What does the government

plan to do to give local authorities

the powers and capacities to deal

with this issue and force

multi-academy trusts to stop off

rolling people in the pursuit of

standards?

This is certainly against

the admissions code and as I have

already said I'm not satisfied in

every occasion that these rules are

being applied properly and that is

why we are consulting soon on

revised guidance for parents and

local authorities with the aim of

clarifying how local authorities can

take effective action when children

are not served well by home

education.

Lucy Allan.

We are

driving forward reforms in

children's social care to ensure

that all vulnerable people, children

and families receive the highest

quality of care and support. We have

invested over £200 million through

the innovation programme to test and

develop better practice including

testing approaches to help

vulnerable children to remain safer

in their own homes.

Lucy Allan.

I

thank the Minister for his reply.

With record numbers of children

being taken into state care, and

more and more families being

subjected to the statutory

investigations, funding for

children's social care is

increasingly directed at these last

resort interventions, instead of

supported measures to help families

at an earlier stage. Given the

lifelong cost to children of this

skewed model, will the Minister

considered a fundamental review of

children in social care to ensure

families are supported to achieve

the best outcomes for their

children?

I agree with my honourable

friend that a serious programme of

reform of children's social care is

needed. We set out our mission for

delivering excellent children's

social care in putting children

first. This outlines our reform

programme seeking to approve the

quality of social work practice,

Cray systems and environments where

great social work can flourish and

promote multi-agency working

involved in supporting children and

families and everyone can work

together effectively.

The honourable

member for Telford is right. There

should be agreement across the House

that early intervention is not only

more cost-effective, it's actually

more effective in human terms. Would

the Minister accept that at the

moment there is a crisis of the

funding of children's care? Within

that crisis, unless we are prepared

to make the money for early

intervention upfront it will simply

force local authorities to chase the

crisis and not do the early

intervention.

I absolutely agree

that early intervention and

innovation in how early intervention

can be more successful and it's

vital to delivering good children's

social care and that's why we have

our £200 million innovation

programme, aiming to secure how best

we can deploy the resources that we

make available to local authorities.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Minister

has presided over rising care

numbers and a shortage of foster

carers. Over 70% of children's homes

are now run for profit. These

providers are warning of imminent

close as if his government doesn't

get their act together and tackle

the issue of backdated sleep in

shift payments that have led to

debts of up to £200 million for some

homes. Where does the Minister

propose placing our looked after

children when his Government's

reliance on the private sector

fails?

Certainly she draws attention

to the figures, the statistics show

an increase of 14% in care order

applications in 2016-17 compared to

15-16. However, the latest available

figures in 17-18 showed a plateauing

of care order applications compared

to the previous year. I would pay

tribute to all of those developing

effective children's care, not only

in the private sector but also many

local authority providers and foster

carers who do operate outside local

government employment rules.

Question number nine, Mr Speaker.

Teacher numbers are at an all-time

high. In fact, there are now 15,500

more teachers than in 2010,

postgraduate recruitment is at its

highest level, since 2012-13. In

2015-16, we welcomed back for how --

4200 teachers to the classroom and

8% improvement on 2011. We are not

complacent and continue to invest in

teacher recruitment and we are

actively addressing the issues that

teachers cite as the reason for

leaving the profession.

I thank the

Secretary of State for her answer

and I would draw your attention to

the situation in my constituency of

Reading East and the evidence from

the School review body. The body

stated that schools will not be able

to recruit and retain a workforce of

high-quality teachers to support

achievement, particularly in the

light of predicted increasing is in

pupil numbers. I'd like to ask her

what action the government is taking

to deal with teacher recruitment and

retention and will she meet me and

local heads to discuss it?

Retention

rates are broadly stable over 20

years, the overall vacancy rate of

all teachers is about 0.3%, and he

asked about what we are doing on

quality of teaching the moral

quality of people coming into

teaching. The proportion of people

entering teaching with a degree or a

higher qualification is now at

98.5%, up 4.3% since 2010, and

indeed 90% of this year's cohort of

trainees have first-class degrees,

higher than any of the last five

years.

Mr Speaker, given that the

self build and custom house building

act is now on the statute book, will

the Secretary of State meet with me

and the National custom self build

association to explain how the

provisions of that act can be used

to recruit and retain teachers in

difficult to fill subjects?

I would

be very, very happy for myself or a

ministerial member of my team to

meet with him. That is an excellent

Bill that has come through

Parliament at an important time, I'm

very happy to talk to him about how

we can make sure that young people

coming through our education system

are connected with some of the great

career opportunities that await them

when they leave.

Angela Rayner.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Given by the

Secretary of State just said about

our excellent teachers, I hope we

can all agree, Mr Speaker, it's time

to end the real terms pay cuts for

teachers. The OBR have warned that

it will lead to the school squeezing

nonpaid spending and reducing the

it will lead to the school squeezing

nonpaid spending and reducing the.

The Chancellor wants us to believe

cuts to schools have ended. They

cannot both be right. Which one of

them is putting the con into the

Conservatives?

Obviously the remit

letter will be sent shortly. What

I've tried to set out is a broader

strategy we have for teaching as a

profession, not just in relation to

financial incentives and making sure

they are in the places where we want

teachers particularly to teach, but

also later this week we will issue

our strengthening cutie yes

consultation. I hope that will be

welcomed. And of course we are

working hard to improve unnecessary

workload, and of course Mr Speaker

earlier this year I held a flexible

working summit with the professions

including unions to talk about how

to ensure teachers can stay in the

profession.

Question 11, Mr Speaker.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and if I may

I will answer questions in 11 and 12

together. We are determined to reach

3 million apprenticeship starts in

England by 2020. There have been 1.1

million new apprenticeship starts

ten dumb act since 2015 but these

are also about quality. I'm very

pleased that there were 24,600

starts, all new employer designed

apprenticeship standards in 2016-17.

A huge increase from 4300 the year

before.

Given that the average

monthly stats for apprenticeships is

17% lower than they need to be to

hit the government's 2020 target,

does the Minister agree that local

leaders and businesses are better

equipped to meet these targets than

the Conservative government?

I think

you'll find you talk to employers,

it's only because of the reforms we

have brought in that have allowed

employers to be at the very heart of

this that we are making the progress

we have. Numerous governments, Mr

Speaker, have attempted to do

something about this and it's only

now we are seeing real change.

Virendra Sharma.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. According to a new report

by the southern trusts, two thirds

of apprenticeships are merely

rebadged existing places turned into

apprenticeships. What steps is she

taking to ensure existing employees

are not included and use, Kemperman

established stomach...

It is critical. If I think of the

apprentices I have talked to and

employers I have talked to about

apprenticeships, there is no doubt

about it, we have a skills shortage

and employers are absolutely

determined to make sure that they

have the workforce they need to

deliver the skills they will need

for their businesses for the future.

A great champion of vocational

training and apprenticeships was

recently rated as are standing by

Ofsted. Will my Right Honourable

friend join me in congratulating the

principle of the college, staff and

students who are all working so hard

so that they are equipped with the

training and skills fit for the

future?

Well, I'm delighted to join

my honourable friend in

congratulating Fareham College. In

fact, I met recently and employer

who started and in -- innovative

collaboration with the college doing

a brilliant job, and really

addressing the skills shortages in

the areas. Employer is coming

together, working successfully with

a local college and making sure that

they have the power behind them to

make sure they get the skills in an

area that is underrepresented.

Could

you talk about the work to get

people with learning difficulties to

get involved with the jobs market?

We are doing a huge amount of work

and as chairman of the all-party

group on apprenticeships my

honourable friend is doing a lot of

work himself. We have specific

targets. We want the proportion of

people with learning disabilities

for them to represent 20% all

apprenticeship starts by 2020 and we

have made progress. The trajectory

on people with learning disabilities

is going up.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

We welcome the development of family

hubs, win many areas are already

moving towards this model of support

for children and families. It is up

to local authorities to decide how

to organise and commission services

in various. Local councils are best

placed to understand local needs and

are best placed to meet them.

Following the recent Green paper

transforming children and young

people's mental health provision,

can I urge my Right Honourable

friend to encourage local

authorities to provide better

support for parents and carers in

the area of mental health. Certainly

in the green paper we commit to

working with the work centres to

publish and promote guidance to

local areas to encourage evidence

-based commissioning of intervention

aimed at supporting parents and

carers including parenting problem

is. We are supportive of councils

who wish to roll out family hubs but

ultimately it's up to the local

council to decide on the best

solution for their area.

Question

14.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. We have

put in place key reforms to drive

investment in apprenticeships,

employer designed apprentice ship

standards to meet their needs and

drive of quality. The apprenticeship

levied to encourage sustained

employer investment. And by 2019-20

the spending on apprenticeships in

England will reach £2.4 billion,

double in cash terms what it was in

2010.

I thank the Minister for that

response, I was recently able to

meet a training provider in my area.

Given the changes to printer ships

brought in by the government. With

the minister be prepared to meet

with me, to ensure we offer smaller

and more raw employers support that

the committee is offering?

I am

extremely happy to meet my

honourable friend. I recently met my

honourable friend, the member for

Taunton Deane about this issue. We

need to make sure apprenticeships

work for all communities, wherever

they are, and whatever sector.

What

is the government doing to address

the report of a 61% fall in a

printer ships starts since

introduction of the apprenticeship

levy?

I'm a disappointed that the

right honourable friend from

Twickenham is not here to listen to

the rest of his question. If you

look to the figures more closely, I

will now talk to the gentleman

opposite. There was a sharp spike in

victory this year 46%, compared to

2016. This year's starts are

therefore down just 2.8% overall.

Entirely as we anticipated. We

brought in new systems, it is right

employers who are paying the levy

are taking the time to plan. I would

suggest, Mr Speaker, the honourable

members opposite need to talk up

apprenticeships and apprentices.

Our

Mandarin excellence programme

established in 2014 aim to have 5000

people fluent in Mandarin by 2020,

and is on track to achieve that. I

pay tribute to the honourable member

for Dorset West he proposed the idea

to me. It is now 47 schools, with

1400 pupils participating. All

committed to eight hours a week of

study. Four Aberdeen class, four

Amazon homework. The intention is by

year 13 they will be fluent in

Mandarin reaching the international

standard HSK5. It is a very informed

scribbled by ministers, but they are

too long.

We are all very

entertained by the Minister of

State. Good to do so more briefly.

Mr Speaker, last week the British

government hosted the UK Young

Leaders in Round Table, the people

to people dialogue between the UK

and China. Having recently visited

China and seemed a great

opportunity, with the Minister agree

with me more schools offering

Chinese or Mandarin would increase

and strengthen the global strategic

partnership between our to Macca

countries?

My honourable friend is

right. Last week we invited Minister

Chen from China, and my right

honourable friend the Secretary of

State to meet 140 pupils

participating in the Mandarin

excellence project. He was impressed

by the standard of the Mandarin

being spoken by year eight people

studying Mandarin for just one year

on this programme.

Number 17, Mr

Speaker.

EU staff make an important

contribution to our universities.

The UK and EU have reached a

compromise on scissors rights

allowing EU citizens to continue

living there broadly as now, having

to provide 72 such starkly in our

institutions.

In my constituency,

one university has made staff

redundant, citing Brexit and the UK

Government's immigration policies as

a cause. Napier University has

advised me potential staff members

from other EU countries are turning

down a job offers. What concrete

reassurance can you give these two

national award-winning universities

that Brexit will not further affect

staffing levels?

Mr Speaker, that

uncertainty is completely

unnecessary, I would point them to

the joint report issued by the

commission in the UK Government last

Friday. Pointing to our continued

participation in programmes such as

Horizon 2020. Not until March 2019,

but the end of 2020. An important

reassurance they should appreciate

is that many are my constituents in

east Aaron Finch working academic

and research, and they are worried

about the affected breaks in

collaboration with European

institutions.

What reassurance can

Minister give my constituents?

They

should take reassurance from the

statement put out on Friday. We will

participate in Horizon 2020. The

Rasmus plus, beyond the point of

Brexit. Until the end of 2020, that

is the fundamental importance in our

scientific endeavour.

School

standards are rising in England

thanks to our government's reform

and the hard work of teachers and

students. Last month we saw Ofsted

published data showing there are 1.9

billion more pupils in good or

outstanding secondary schools more.

We have seen the international

results showing England rising up

the league table. English students

outperforming their peers across the

world in reading and literacy. We

help first skills Summit with

leading British employees. We have

published Avenue career strategy to

make sure every single young person,

whatever their background can get

the right advice they need for a

career. We are also finding our

consultation on accelerated degrees,

which will not only be more

cost-effective for students, but

unable more students to have

university as an option.

Mr Speaker,

if you want to promote opportunity

and reduce inequality you have to

start in the classroom. That is

where pioneering reforms like the

phonics revolution setting chain by

my right honourable friend the

member for Bognor each is make such

an important difference. It is the

teachers who have made it happen.

With my right honourable friend the

Secretary of State thank the

teachers in Newark and

Nottinghamshire and across the

country for their hard work?

Absolutely. Teachers in Newark

should be congratulated for the

results they are achieving for local

children. It is telling, Mr Speaker,

all the changes being brought in the

school system driving up standards

with the help of teachers and

students, academies, free schools,

the phonics, the new curriculum,

GCSEs and A-levels, every single one

of them were opposed by the party

opposite. They never miss an

opportunity to talk down in our

schools. And our teachers. Always a

deafening improvements in standard.

All about party politics.

Get in

there, man!

Friday's National Audit

Office report on the HU market is

hugely damaging. Saint is failing

students, and anyone else would

raise questions of mis-selling.

Meanwhile we have the student loans

Company in crisis, all under this

minister's watch. What does he say

now to the NAO.

The National Audit

Office pointed other students want

value for money. That has been the

guiding objective of the entire

higher education reform programme.

That is why we set up the office for

students insuring universities are

held to account for the teaching

quality and value for money they

delivered to students.

Mr Speaker,

my right honourable friend is

absolutely right to shout about the

fact 1.9 million children are in

good or outstanding schools,

including in Corby and East

Northamptonshire. Equating to 87% of

children, comparing to 66% in 2010.

Will she agreed me that is real

progress, not the result of an

increase in the school-age

population as some have suggested?

My honourable friend is absolutely

right. We want every child to have a

good school plays. One that provides

them with the knowledge and skills

to succeed in the future. Thanks the

changes made by the escarpment and

the hard work about the teachers up

and down the country he is right to

cite 87% of children in good or

outstanding schools compare to 66%

in 2010.

The university and academic

community in the North of Ireland

has worries ahead of the recent

Brexit negotiation. For the sick to

the stage at the same assurances to

the academic community in Scotland.

Which is concerned about the

recruitment and retention of EU

nationals?

I hope the announcement

Prime Minister and the European

Union commission on Friday will have

very much later many of the

understandable concerns EU workers

had in relation to their future

state this in the UK.

Mr Speaker,

many speakers in my constituency

tell me they spend a lot of time on

Pastoral care responsibilities.

Particularly relating to mental

health. What is the government doing

to help schools where children's

mental health is a particularly

acute issue?

He's absolutely right

to raise this issue. On the 4th of

December we publish the Green paper

transforming children and young

people's middle their provision.

With free hedge and £50 million of

funding. These new measures include

mental health support teams

providing a step change to the level

of early intervention treatment,

available to people. A clear

ambition for a four week waiting

time for specialist NHS services.

Also providing new training for the

designated mental health senior lead

in schools.

The House of Commons

nursery is an award-winning nursery,

recently the manager has been

awarded nursery manager of the year

for looking after children during

the Westminster terror attack.

Within minutes the joining with

commending them for their work that

acknowledge the pressure they and

other nursery providers are put in

by the inadequate funding of the 30

hours provision of free childcare?

I

would pay tribute to nurses up and

down the country providing fantastic

childcare particular is part of the

30 hours free funding. Getting a

little bit tired of the Labour Party

criticising the scheme. It is

actually be delivered fantastically

well. 216,000 parents registered for

September intake. 94% have taken

those places. I look forward to

another cohort of children coming in

on January one.

The Minister has

spoken about proposals for revised

guidance on home-schooling.

Warwickshire County Council tell me

there is no requirement for parents

to register with the local

authority. Making it difficult to

ensure home-schooled children get

the education they deserve. Would

such a change be part of the revised

guidance?

Children educated at home

at the responsibility of their

parents. Compulsory registration is

not necessary. What is necessary is

that local authorities take

effective action in cases where

parents are unable to provide a

proper education. I'm certainly

happy to meet with my honourable

friend to discuss his suggestion.

Thank you Mr Speaker. The parents of

a child with Asperger's contacted me

recently explaining in depth how

their son's School has failed to

consider his needs and the great

stress this has caused them and

their family. As a signatory of the

ambitious Buddhism pledge in the

last Parliament, may I ask the

Secretary of State what action her

department is taking to ensure

school staff are both properly

trained and have adequate resources?

This is important. We have

introduced the much broader

education and care and health plans

to make sure young people get a much

better assessment of their overall

needs. I'm very happy to look at the

particular case she mentions though.

Parents of children in my

constituency largely have access to

faith -based education if they

desire it. Every single one of those

schools is oversubscribed. What more

can my right honourable friend do to

ensure there is real choice for

parents in faith -based education?

We do greatly value the important

role faith schools play in our

education system. High performing,

popular with parents. They make an

excellent contribution to our

education system. Through the free

schools programme we have created 71

new state funded faith schools.

What

impact has the six and 35 million

cut in sure start had on Britain for

the poorest children? -- £659

million.

Those sure start schemes

are being delivered by local

authorities. Up to them to make

those decisions. We have already

discussed the roll-out of house by

some local authorities proving

particularly effective. As I say the

local authorities determine what is

best for their children.

Mr Speaker,

figures released recently by the

right honourable friend for

Tottenham showed that the proportion

of students in my constituency that

get upgrades and go to top

universities is lower than the

south-east of the country. It can

the Minister tell me what action

this government can take to address

that inequality?

Data published by

UCAS show the 18-year-old entries

has increased by 54% since 2006. We

ask with areas of the poorest

progression to universally received

particular attention.

A maintained

primary School in my constituency

has received over 20 pupils in year

from a local academy because a

permanent exclusion or pushing out

at risk of permanent exclusion. What

more can be an apartment and local

authorities do to dis- incentivise

academies excluding peoples are

pushing them onto local primaries?

People's People's

the new National

Funding Formula much better help

schools deal with this issue of

students coming into school is in

the New Year. After the race

disparity ordered one of the things

we launched was the exclusions

reviewed to make sure the whole

process around how a child is

permanently is properly delivered.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Minister

may be aware of the Scottish

Parliament's Education Committee

voted to block plans to introduce

the Scottish Government's named

person policy. Does the Minister

agree that this is gross invasion of

privacy and totally unnecessary,

diverse vital resources from the

most vulnerable? And can the

Minister confirm that this

conservative United Kingdom

government has no similar plans for

such an unnecessary policy?

I can

reassure my honourable friend that

there are currently no intentions to

introduce a name -- named person

system in this country. Our guidance

is clear in working together to

Safeguard children and services to

families and children should be

delivered in a coordinated way.

The

Prime Minister's refusal to remove

foreign students from immigration

figures is damaging our

universities. What discussion has

the Secretary of State had with the

Home Secretary on the financial

contribution of overseas students

and staff and their classification

as government immigration

statistics?

We have a world-class

university system that is highly

regarded by international students.

There is no cap on the number of

international students who can come

and indeed we have seen a rise in

the number of Chinese students

coming to study in the UK.

As my

Right Honourable friend will be

aware 2018 is the year of the

engineer and one of its aims is to

change the perception of

engineering, particularly for young

women. Would she meet with me in my

role as the Government's envoy in

this campaign to discuss how her

department can work together with

the Department for Transport to

further these aims?

I'd be delighted

to meet my honourable friend and I

would like to praise the work that

he has done on apprenticeships. It

was a delight to see him at world

skills in Birmingham and also praise

the work he's doing on the year of

engineering next year.

Sir Edward

Davey.

The Secretary of State may

not be aware yet but I wrote to her

on the 4th of December to ask for a

meeting on the high needs issue in

Kingston. It is due to overspend by

£6.5 million or 35% this year, the

worst in London. Will she meet me as

soon as possible to discuss this?

We

are providing high needs funding of

5.84 billion rising to 5.97 billion

next year to help local authority

support children and young people

with Special Educational Needs.

Earlier this year we gave local

authorities £23 million to support

the strategic review of their

special provision and allocate 215

million of capital funding for local

authorities to create more places

for those with Special Educational

Needs and Disabilities and I'd be

happy to meet him to discuss this

issue.

Single sentence inquiry and a

single sentence reply, conservatory?

Dividing lines of opportunity are

much more between metropolitan areas

and rural areas now. Will the

Minister assure me that the creation

of apprenticeships and IoTs will

centre on rural areas as well as

towns?

We want to ensure that

institutes of technology are

regionally based everywhere in our

country and she's right to flag up

that rural areas are a place where

we want to see more opportunity.

Mr

Speaker, what is the Minister doing

to help young people obtain

apprenticeships who have hearing

difficulties?

There is a lot of work

and a lot of money going into making

sure that young people with learning

difficulties can access

apprenticeships. It's why we have

the targets, so that by 2020, 20% of

all apprenticeship starts will be

from people with learning

difficulties.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is

essential to highlight job

opportunities to our young people

and where there are needs in

business and I cite the £6 billion

landscape industry which has big

gaps. With the Minister agree with

me that there are big opportunities

through our careers service to

address this?

It was a delight to

launch the careers strategy last

week, and we have running through

that the spine of the careers

strategy, the Gatsby benchmarks,

absolutely critical pilot in the

north-east demonstrating just how

much progress we can make if schools

meet all of those targets.

Class

sizes are above the average and is a

former teacher I know the impact

this can have, does the Secretary of

State accept this has a detrimental

impact on pupils?

As we have heard

routinely through this oral question

session school standards in England

are rising and in the end that's

what parents care about, 1.9 million

more children in better primaries

and secondary schools, tremendously

improving the outcomes on literacy,

and I think for once it would be

good if the opposition could welcome

that.

Mr Speaker, with the schools

Minister join me in congratulating

Swindon Academy in conjunction with

Marlborough College for doubling

their intake this year with children

of all backgrounds now having a real

chance of accessing the top

universities?

I'd be delighted to

join my honourable friend in

congratulating the Academy and I

enjoyed the visit I had with him and

meeting Brett Robinson, the

exceptional principle of that school

where they do special programmes to

help the most able children fulfil

their potential as well as providing

very high standards of education

across the board.

If the Minister is

serious about meeting his target for

apprenticeships, surely the Minister

would agree with me on the need to

reclassify apprenticeships as

improved education or training to

save young hard-working

apprenticeships like Chloe from Hull

money on her transport costs and

prescription costs.

As the

Honourable Lady will note transport

is the responsibility of the local

authority. We are determined to make

sure there are no barriers to

anybody taking up an apprenticeship.

I go around the country. It is

amazing to hear the stories and I'm

delighted at the success that the

programme has demonstrated so far.

Always good if we can see a smiling

Sammy Yatim of questions. Sammy

Wilson.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

T-Levels are being developed in

England but it is not clear whether

they will be available in Northern

Ireland and the regulatory body will

be based in England. This has the

potential to disrupt higher

education, employment and transfer

-- transferability of skills. Will

she worked with the Northern Ireland

exam board to ensure T-Levels are

available in Northern Ireland?

Is

this a version of a one sentence

question?

I'm happy to meet to

discuss that, we want T-Levels to be

transformative in improving

technical education in our country

and I have no doubt he feels the

same about Northern Ireland so