Browse content similar to 14/12/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Wednesday in Parliament. | 0:00:17 | 0:00:20 | |
The main news from Westminster: Labour demands a big changing tack | 0:00:20 | 0:00:24 | |
on funding for social care. | 0:00:24 | 0:00:26 | |
Why doesn't she do something really bold? | 0:00:26 | 0:00:30 | |
Cancel the Corporation Tax cut and put the money | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
into social care instead? | 0:00:32 | 0:00:34 | |
Theresa May accuses previous Labour Governments | 0:00:34 | 0:00:36 | |
of ducking the issue. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:40 | |
13 years and no action whatsoever. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:45 | |
Also on the programme: The Education Secretary says she's | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
introducing a fairer funding system for schools, but Labour says | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
disadvantaged areas will lose money. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:55 | |
That will mean the one-to-one tuition going, it will mean | 0:00:55 | 0:00:57 | |
the catch-up classes going, it means the extra curricula, | 0:00:57 | 0:01:02 | |
the drama, the Shakespeare, all those vital things that | 0:01:02 | 0:01:06 | |
I want to see kids in Moss Side and Moston doing, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
will be going as a result of a funding crisis. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:12 | |
But first, it was the last Prime Minister's Questions of 2016 | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
and it certainly got off to a jovial start, with a few jokes | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
at the expense of the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
Mr Speaker, can I take the opportunity to wish | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
you and all the members of the House a merry Christmas | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
and a happy New Year. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:33 | |
Mr Speaker, in the light of the Foreign Secretary's display | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
of chronic foot in mouth disease, when deciding on Cabinet positions, | 0:01:37 | 0:01:42 | |
does the Prime Minister now regret that pencilling "F O" by his name | 0:01:42 | 0:01:46 | |
should have been an instruction, not a job offer? | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:01:48 | 0:01:53 | |
Mr... | 0:01:53 | 0:02:01 | |
Order! | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
There's far too much noise in the chamber. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:06 | |
We've heard the question, but I want to hear the Prime Minister's answer. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
Prime Minister. | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
First of all, I join the honourable gentleman in wishing | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
everybody a happy Christmas. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:18 | |
I will, of course, have an opportunity to do | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
that again on Monday, when I'm sure the House will be | 0:02:20 | 0:02:24 | |
as full for the statement on the European Council meeting. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:28 | |
Funny, it seems to come from this side, "Yes", | 0:02:28 | 0:02:30 | |
but not from the Labour side. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
And I have to say that the Foreign Secretary is doing | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
an absolutely excellent job. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
He... | 0:02:36 | 0:02:43 | |
He is, in short, an FFS - a fine Foreign Secretary. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:48 | |
But it was soon back to serious business, | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
with some spirited exchanges about social care for older | 0:02:50 | 0:02:52 | |
and disabled people. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
The Government is set to allow local councils in England to further | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
increase the amount they can raise for social care via council tax | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
- what's known as a social care precept. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:04 | |
But the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn thought there was another way. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:09 | |
The Prime Minister doesn't seem to be aware that 4.6 | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
billion was cut from the social care budget in the last | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
parliament. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:15 | |
And that her talk of putting it into local Government | 0:03:15 | 0:03:18 | |
ought to be taken for what it is, a con. | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
2% of council tax is clearly nonsense. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:27 | |
95% of councils use this social care precept and it raised | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
less than 3% of the money they planned to spend on adult social | 0:03:30 | 0:03:33 | |
care. | 0:03:33 | 0:03:36 | |
Billions seem to be available for tax giveaways to corporations, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:45 | |
not mentioned in the Autumn Statement, underfunded and many | 0:03:45 | 0:03:47 | |
elderly people left isolated and in crisis because of the lack of | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
Government funding of social care. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:54 | |
We see many councils around the country that have taken | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
the benefit of the social care precept and have, | 0:03:57 | 0:04:01 | |
as a result, actually seen more people being able to access social | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
care and needs being met. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:05 | |
Sadly, there are also some councils across | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
the country, some Labour councils, who haven't taken that opportunity, | 0:04:07 | 0:04:11 | |
where we do see a worse performance in relation to social care. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:14 | |
But the Right Honourable gentleman once | 0:04:14 | 0:04:16 | |
again refers to the issue of money. | 0:04:16 | 0:04:18 | |
I might remind him that at the last election, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:23 | |
the then Shadow Chancellor said if Labour were in Government, | 0:04:23 | 0:04:25 | |
there would be not a penny more for local authorities. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
And also that when recently asked about... | 0:04:29 | 0:04:33 | |
When recently asked about spending more | 0:04:33 | 0:04:35 | |
money on social care, the Labour Shadow Health | 0:04:35 | 0:04:37 | |
Secretary said, when | 0:04:37 | 0:04:45 | |
he was asked where the money would come from, he said, "Ooh, well, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
"we're going to have to come up with a plan for that." | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
Jeremy Corbyn said the impact of raising council tax | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
vary across the country. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:54 | |
For example, if you raise the council | 0:04:54 | 0:04:55 | |
tax in Windsor and Maidenhead, you get quite a lot of money. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
If you raise the council tax precept in | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
Liverpool or Newcastle, you get a lot less. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:04 | |
Is she saying that older people, frail, elderly, vulnerable | 0:05:04 | 0:05:08 | |
people are less valuable in our big cities than they are in wealthier | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
parts of the country? | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
The crisis affects individuals, it affects | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
families and it affects the National Health Service. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:19 | |
So why doesn't she do something really bold? | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
Cancel the corporation tax cut and put the | 0:05:22 | 0:05:24 | |
money into social care instead? | 0:05:24 | 0:05:30 | |
Well, the Right Honourable gentleman has quoted | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
Newcastle Council in the | 0:05:32 | 0:05:33 | |
list that he said there. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
I have to say, Newcastle Council is one of the | 0:05:35 | 0:05:39 | |
councils where we saw in September virtually no delayed discharges. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
So elderly people were not being held | 0:05:41 | 0:05:44 | |
up in hospital when they didn't need to be and when they didn't want to | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
be. | 0:05:47 | 0:05:48 | |
So what this shows is that it is possible | 0:05:48 | 0:05:51 | |
for councils to deliver on | 0:05:51 | 0:05:52 | |
the ground. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
Councils work very hard to try to cope with a 40% cut in | 0:05:55 | 0:06:00 | |
their budgets across the whole country and the people who pay the | 0:06:00 | 0:06:05 | |
price are those who are stuck in hospital who should be allowed to go | 0:06:05 | 0:06:08 | |
home and those who aren't getting the care and support they need. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
This is a social care system that is deep | 0:06:11 | 0:06:13 | |
in crisis. | 0:06:13 | 0:06:14 | |
The crisis is made in Downing Street by this Government. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:18 | |
This social care crisis forces people to give up work, to care for | 0:06:18 | 0:06:24 | |
loved ones, because there isn't the system to do it. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
It makes people stay in hospital longer than they | 0:06:26 | 0:06:31 | |
should and leads people into a horrible, isolated life, when they | 0:06:31 | 0:06:33 | |
should be cared for by all of us through a properly funded social | 0:06:33 | 0:06:37 | |
care system. | 0:06:37 | 0:06:38 | |
Get a grip and fund it properly, please. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:44 | |
The issue of social care is indeed one that has | 0:06:44 | 0:06:48 | |
been ducked by governments for too long. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
That is why it is this Government... | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
It is this Government that will provide a long-term, | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
sustainable system for social care that gives reassurance to people. | 0:06:55 | 0:07:01 | |
But when he talks about governments ducking social care, let's look at | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
that 13 years of Labour in Government. | 0:07:05 | 0:07:11 | |
They said... | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
In 1997, they said they'd sort it in their | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
manifesto. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
They had a royal commission in 1999. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:23 | |
A Green paper in 2005. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:26 | |
The Wanless report in 2006. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
In 2007, in the CSR, they said they'd sort it. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
In 2009, they had another green paper. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:42 | |
13 years and no action whatsoever. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:46 | |
Time now to catch up on the latest twists and turns of Brexit. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, had his | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
first appearance in front of the committee | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
set up to investigate the | 0:07:53 | 0:07:54 | |
UK's exit from the EU. | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
Now, the Chancellor said on Monday there is an | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
emerging view amongst business regulators and thoughtful | 0:08:00 | 0:08:02 | |
politicians that it would be generally helpful to have a longer | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
period to manage the adjustment as we leave the European Union. | 0:08:05 | 0:08:08 | |
Can we classify you as a thoughtful politician when it comes to | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
transitional arrangements? | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
Well, I am not sure about the second qualification. | 0:08:14 | 0:08:20 | |
I am hopeful that you can classify me as a thoughtful | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
politician in that context. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:23 | |
Let me be clear about where I think we are | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
going. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:27 | |
Firstly, as the Prime Minister has said a number of times | 0:08:27 | 0:08:31 | |
and I have said a number of times, what we're after is a smooth and | 0:08:31 | 0:08:35 | |
orderly exit - that is the overarching aim. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:38 | |
People get frustrated with us sticking to overarching aims, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
but the point is that is what we are trying to do. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
That is the purpose or at least part of the tactic and | 0:08:43 | 0:08:46 | |
strategy. | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
And within that box, we want to get the maximum market | 0:08:48 | 0:08:53 | |
access for British companies with the minimum of disruption, and so we | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
will do what is necessary to that aim. | 0:08:56 | 0:09:05 | |
What if all of those things can't be negotiated within the... | 0:09:05 | 0:09:10 | |
It could be 18 months, depending on...? | 0:09:10 | 0:09:15 | |
Well, it has been said it will be 18 months and I think | 0:09:15 | 0:09:18 | |
that it is all negotiable in that time. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
That is the sort of core of this, really. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
We have got a lot to do, but that is one of the | 0:09:22 | 0:09:26 | |
reasons. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:27 | |
You may have thought perhaps my opening answer was that was not | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
that helpful, but it is one of the reasons | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
we are taking our time to | 0:09:32 | 0:09:33 | |
get prepared on all fronts. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:34 | |
That is why our 57 studies cover 85% of the | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
economy. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:38 | |
Everything except sectors that are not affected by | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
international trade. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:41 | |
So we are aiming to get ourselves into a | 0:09:41 | 0:09:44 | |
position where we can negotiate within the article 50 process. | 0:09:44 | 0:09:50 | |
After all, the article 50 process | 0:09:50 | 0:09:51 | |
was written to allow departure from the European Union. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
That is its purpose and plainly the architects of | 0:09:54 | 0:10:00 | |
it, the authors of it, thought that it was time | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
enough to do the job. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:03 | |
You are watching Wednesday in Parliament | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
with me, Christina Cooper. | 0:10:05 | 0:10:06 | |
Labour MPs have criticised plans for a | 0:10:06 | 0:10:07 | |
shake-up in the way state schools in England are funded. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:10 | |
The Government wants to introduce a new formula | 0:10:10 | 0:10:20 | |
that places greater emphasis on factors such as sparsity of | 0:10:20 | 0:10:22 | |
population when allocating funds. | 0:10:22 | 0:10:23 | |
Our school funding system, as it exists today, is unfair, it is | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
opaque, and it is outdated. | 0:10:26 | 0:10:27 | |
The reality is that patchy and inconsistent decisions | 0:10:27 | 0:10:29 | |
on funding have built up over many years on | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
data that is sometimes a decade or more out of date. | 0:10:31 | 0:10:37 | |
She outlined how the new formula would work. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:42 | |
We are proposing to protect resources for | 0:10:42 | 0:10:47 | |
pupils who come from disadvantaged families and are taking a broad view | 0:10:47 | 0:10:50 | |
to target ?3 billion annually of funding | 0:10:50 | 0:10:51 | |
most in need of support. | 0:10:52 | 0:11:00 | |
Our formula will prioritise not only children in | 0:11:00 | 0:11:02 | |
receipt of free school meals but also those who live in areas of | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
disadvantage, helping to support many more families who are most | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
likely to be just about managing to get by. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:10 | |
We will also protect those small, rural schools which are so | 0:11:10 | 0:11:12 | |
important for their local communities by inclusion of a | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
sparsity factor. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
Thirdly, alongside a basic amount and an uplift for | 0:11:19 | 0:11:24 | |
disadvantage, we will be directing ?2.4 billion per year in funding | 0:11:24 | 0:11:30 | |
towards pupils with low prior attainment at both primary and | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
secondary schools. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:34 | |
Can the Secretary of State tell the house how exactly | 0:11:34 | 0:11:38 | |
a funding formula can be fair when it means that a third of local | 0:11:38 | 0:11:41 | |
authorities and around 10,000 schools serving over 2 million | 0:11:41 | 0:11:43 | |
children will be losing money? | 0:11:43 | 0:11:47 | |
In a period where pupil numbers and inflation | 0:11:47 | 0:11:49 | |
is rising in tandem, the | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
pressure on school budgets will continue to increase. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:59 | |
In a constituency like mine, which is a | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
loser under this formula, where I have over 50% | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
of children living in | 0:12:03 | 0:12:04 | |
poverty, the second-highest constituency in the entire country | 0:12:04 | 0:12:07 | |
losing money to their school budgets, that will mean the | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
one-to-one tuition going, it means the catch-up classes going, | 0:12:09 | 0:12:18 | |
it means the extracurricula, the drama, | 0:12:18 | 0:12:24 | |
the Shakespeare, all of those vital things that I want to see kids | 0:12:24 | 0:12:31 | |
in Moss Side and Moston doing will be going as a result of her funding | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
crisis and this announcement today. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:36 | |
The concern in Liverpool will be the coming on top | 0:12:36 | 0:12:38 | |
of substantial cuts to | 0:12:38 | 0:12:39 | |
local Government funding - our schools will lose | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
out at a time when they | 0:12:41 | 0:12:42 | |
are finding it challenging to recruit teachers and head teachers. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:48 | |
She is dressing it up very well, but isn't the reality | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
of what the Secretary of State | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
announcing today is that some of the schools in the most deprived | 0:12:53 | 0:12:59 | |
parts of the country facing the biggest | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
challenges are going to see money taken away from them and that money | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
given to other schools elsewhere? | 0:13:05 | 0:13:06 | |
Wouldn't it be much fairer for her to have | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
gone to the Chancellor and | 0:13:08 | 0:13:09 | |
said have some more money to bring the gap up that way. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
Instead, what she is making is that teachers will | 0:13:12 | 0:13:14 | |
become redundant to pay for this change. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:17 | |
Indisputable, absolutely indisputable, that school overheads | 0:13:17 | 0:13:18 | |
are going up and more secondary schools are going to go into debt. | 0:13:18 | 0:13:21 | |
Why are we continuing to squander money on pointless pet | 0:13:21 | 0:13:23 | |
projects and restructuring? | 0:13:24 | 0:13:25 | |
Surely it is a huge diversion now? | 0:13:25 | 0:13:26 | |
We have seen year-on-year improvements in the education | 0:13:26 | 0:13:28 | |
system, as one of my predecessors said on the Today Programme | 0:13:28 | 0:13:31 | |
earlier this week. | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
I do think it's important we continue the reforms we have | 0:13:33 | 0:13:37 | |
already got under way and that's precisely what we are doing. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
A Conservative supported the new formula. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
Does the Secretary of State agree with me that it starts to address | 0:13:43 | 0:13:46 | |
the myth that constituencies like Cheltenham and Gloucestershire | 0:13:46 | 0:13:48 | |
do not have areas of deprivation? | 0:13:48 | 0:13:49 | |
The reality is that Cheltenham has intense urban challenges and this | 0:13:49 | 0:13:52 | |
starts to address funding on the basis of need | 0:13:52 | 0:13:54 | |
and not postcode. | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
I strongly agree with him. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:57 | |
I think that up until now, school funding has been the ultimate | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
postcode lottery and funding is really overly being determined | 0:14:00 | 0:14:05 | |
by where children are growing up. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:07 | |
That's completely unacceptable. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
If we're really going to make Britain, and in this | 0:14:10 | 0:14:12 | |
case schools in England, a country where all schools can | 0:14:12 | 0:14:15 | |
progress, we have to get on with the reform. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:21 | |
progress, we have to get on with fair funding. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
Staying with education matters, the Lords has been discussing | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
a proposal to enable 10,000 children from low-income families to attend | 0:14:25 | 0:14:28 | |
private schools in England. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:29 | |
The idea has been mooted by the Independent schools Council | 0:14:29 | 0:14:31 | |
The idea has been mooted by the Independent Schools Council | 0:14:31 | 0:14:34 | |
in response to a Government consultation on the | 0:14:34 | 0:14:35 | |
future of education. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:36 | |
The council says that if the Government pays | 0:14:36 | 0:14:38 | |
around ?5,000 a year, the cost of a state school | 0:14:38 | 0:14:41 | |
place, private schools would cover the rest. | 0:14:41 | 0:14:42 | |
My Lords, we welcome the positive way which the Independent Schools | 0:14:42 | 0:14:45 | |
Council has responded to the consultation document | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
Schools That Work For Everyone by putting forward a number | 0:14:48 | 0:14:52 | |
of proposals for ways in which the independent school | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
sector can achieve the aim of improving access to families | 0:14:54 | 0:14:59 | |
at a good school places. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:00 | |
The consultation period closed on Monday this week | 0:15:00 | 0:15:05 | |
and we are considering all responses received and will be publishing our | 0:15:05 | 0:15:08 | |
response in due course. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:09 | |
My Lords, I declare my interest as a former general secretary | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
of the Independent Schools Council and current president | 0:15:12 | 0:15:14 | |
of the Independent Schools Association, | 0:15:14 | 0:15:15 | |
one of the Council's constituent bodies. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:20 | |
Has my noble friend noted that the proposals contain plans | 0:15:20 | 0:15:23 | |
that are specifically designed to assist social mobility | 0:15:23 | 0:15:29 | |
by providing large numbers of new places across the age range | 0:15:29 | 0:15:34 | |
based on need and need alone at no extra cost to the Government? | 0:15:34 | 0:15:40 | |
So this is not a repetition of the assisted places scheme. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
I wonder if the minister realises how unrealistic this is for areas | 0:15:43 | 0:15:49 | |
like the north-east and given that that is one of the prime areas | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
where there needs to be both improvement in education outcomes | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
and in social mobility, it really isn't going to make much effect. | 0:15:55 | 0:16:01 | |
We have very few independent schools in the north-east. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:06 | |
That's for history reasons, because there's never been enough | 0:16:06 | 0:16:13 | |
money around to support them, and on that basis, will the Minister | 0:16:13 | 0:16:15 | |
make sure that this is not seen as a realistic way of addressing | 0:16:15 | 0:16:22 | |
what is a very important issue in our part of the country? | 0:16:22 | 0:16:27 | |
I agree entirely with the noble lady's comments about the education | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
issues in the north-east and, of course, this isn't a panacea. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
Only 7% of the population are educated in private schools | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
and they are predominantly in the south of England, so, | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
as I say, our proposals will have to be practical. | 0:16:40 | 0:16:44 | |
as I say, our proposals will have to be practicable. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:49 | |
What this reveals is the cost of educating a pupil in the state | 0:16:49 | 0:16:53 | |
sector is about ?5,500. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:53 | |
Meanwhile, the average cost of private school fees | 0:16:53 | 0:16:55 | |
is about three times that, which I think is very revealing | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
in terms of the different offers to children in the different sectors. | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
But will the Minister say if he knows whether or not this | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
offer would be conditional on selection tests being operated | 0:17:04 | 0:17:14 | |
to see who would be able to take up those places? | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
Because if that happened, would he not agree with me that | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
what would be not so much poor children per se were helped, | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
that already bright children themselves were helped to achieve | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
what they would very likely have achieved in the state sector anyway? | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
Would he agree that if selection is to be involved in this offer, | 0:17:27 | 0:17:30 | |
then the Government should not accept it? | 0:17:30 | 0:17:32 | |
Well, there are a range of proposals being submitted under | 0:17:32 | 0:17:34 | |
the consultation document. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:35 | |
Some will involve selection and some won't and we will look at them | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
all before we designed the final proposals more carefully. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:44 | |
Now, last month, there was a brief walk-out by prison officers | 0:17:44 | 0:17:47 | |
in protest at the escalating violence in jails in England. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
On that day, the Justice Committee had been due to hear from governors | 0:17:50 | 0:17:53 | |
of the six reform prisons who have been given greater control | 0:17:53 | 0:17:56 | |
over their affairs. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:57 | |
That session had to be cancelled because of the walk-out, | 0:17:57 | 0:17:59 | |
but this time they finally made it. | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
And they reckoned they had a good news story to tell. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
We are in the process, for example, of fitting 494 grilles to windows | 0:18:04 | 0:18:11 | |
as a deterrent to drones, smuggling of drugs, | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
and actually to ensure that rubbish isn't thrown out of the windows. | 0:18:14 | 0:18:17 | |
We want a decent environment. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
This is a healthy prison and it starts with having | 0:18:20 | 0:18:22 | |
a clean environment, where staff and prisoners | 0:18:22 | 0:18:24 | |
feel better themselves. | 0:18:24 | 0:18:26 | |
So we've done a whole range of things. | 0:18:26 | 0:18:28 | |
Some of the technical stuff right through to the relationship issues, | 0:18:28 | 0:18:33 | |
and I think we've seen... | 0:18:33 | 0:18:35 | |
I mean, I've looked at some of the figures for violence, etc, | 0:18:35 | 0:18:38 | |
etc, and we appear to be doing- early days- but we appear | 0:18:38 | 0:18:43 | |
but we appear to be doing better. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
Would you say the way the Government characterises this as the biggest | 0:18:45 | 0:18:48 | |
shake-up since the Victorian era is really how it feels in terms | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
of the way your rules have changed? | 0:18:51 | 0:18:53 | |
I mean, again... | 0:18:53 | 0:18:54 | |
So there is something really fundamental happening | 0:18:54 | 0:18:57 | |
in the way we run our presence that is different to how | 0:18:57 | 0:19:00 | |
in the way we run our prisons that is different to how | 0:19:00 | 0:19:06 | |
we have run them, I mean, all the time I have been associated. | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
You've got well over 100 years of prison experience in front | 0:19:09 | 0:19:11 | |
of you this morning and this is feeling significantly different | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
in terms of how we are operating. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
The biggest single difference at the moment is not having | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
the sense of the line manager telling us what to do and shaping | 0:19:18 | 0:19:21 | |
how we are behaving, so that is kind of significantly different. | 0:19:21 | 0:19:24 | |
Prison officers have gone from being something | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
which is prestigious, professionalised to almost | 0:19:26 | 0:19:27 | |
de-skilled and infantalised. | 0:19:27 | 0:19:30 | |
I exaggerate to make the point. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
Do you think that you're going to be in a position to bring back, | 0:19:33 | 0:19:36 | |
restore the professional pride, | 0:19:36 | 0:19:37 | |
so that people can say I can have professional career development | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
and I'm going to go places, I'm going to become a proper skilled | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
professional in my own right? | 0:19:43 | 0:19:44 | |
Is this going to help you do that? | 0:19:44 | 0:19:46 | |
So that is fundamentally an aim of what we are trying to do. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:49 | |
I mean if, in terms of her prison officers have been seen in the past, | 0:19:49 | 0:19:53 | |
I mean if, in terms of how prison officers have been seen in the past, | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
I'm not sure they have ever have the respect they deserved, | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
at any time, in the time that I have been... | 0:19:59 | 0:20:02 | |
They never get mentioned in the same way, for example, | 0:20:02 | 0:20:04 | |
alongside nurses, police officers. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:05 | |
That's true. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
Nobody thinks about the fact that there will be thousands | 0:20:06 | 0:20:08 | |
of prison officers working on Christmas Day. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
They will talk about nurses, they'll talk about police, | 0:20:10 | 0:20:12 | |
but they won't talk about prison officers. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:14 | |
So I'm not sure they've ever had the respect they deserve | 0:20:14 | 0:20:17 | |
for the work that they do. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:18 | |
Prison officers will say they don't want to be locking | 0:20:18 | 0:20:20 | |
locking and unlocking, doing exercise, taking | 0:20:20 | 0:20:22 | |
prisoners to education, | 0:20:22 | 0:20:23 | |
coming back again and repeating the same stuff in the afternoon. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:26 | |
They will absolutely say to you, I think without fail, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:28 | |
that they want to be able to engage effectively to help people. | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
Again, we all have our little nuances, I'm sure. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
My sense of success for us will be when I see prison officers sitting | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
on the end of beds helping men read and write letters and then | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
encouraging them to go into education because there | 0:20:40 | 0:20:42 | |
is a need there that they've identified. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
My guys simply don't have time to do that work right now. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:46 | |
I don't think we've ever had such a positive session on prisons. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:49 | |
Your enthusiasm is striking and I think slightly surprising | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
for the committee to hear. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:55 | |
To go back to challenges, I am sorry, for a minute, | 0:20:55 | 0:20:58 | |
do you feel that the new freedoms you have are actually | 0:20:58 | 0:21:04 | |
helping you with staff relations, for example? | 0:21:04 | 0:21:05 | |
Can we deal with that first? | 0:21:05 | 0:21:07 | |
Particularly as you couldn't come last time because of a quite major | 0:21:07 | 0:21:10 | |
staff relations issue. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:15 | |
If you're a member of staff walking along on A Wing today, would | 0:21:15 | 0:21:18 | |
you feel significantly different? | 0:21:19 | 0:21:20 | |
Well, staff facilities have improved a little bit, | 0:21:20 | 0:21:21 | |
we've invested in wellbeing, with talked about training, | 0:21:21 | 0:21:23 | |
we've invested in wellbeing, we've talked about training, | 0:21:23 | 0:21:25 | |
we talk about recruitment, we talk about what the | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
regime will look like. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:28 | |
But fundamentally, it still feels pretty similar at Wandsworth. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
It's probably safer, is less violent, there's lest drugs around, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
It's probably safer, is less violent, there's less drugs around, | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
but fundamentally as a prison officer, you don't see colleagues... | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
There is that slowness, but it's been since the 1st of July, | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
so there is that transition to have to make here. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
Of course, the really important outcomes around reducing reoffending | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
back in the community and doing that through improved outcomes around | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
housing and employment, those are going to take longer. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
We would expect to see difference within a couple of years in those | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
outcomes and much more immediately in terms of the impact, | 0:21:56 | 0:22:00 | |
so more education, more work, more time out and therefore less | 0:22:00 | 0:22:05 | |
violence, less drugs, those are the things we need to see | 0:22:05 | 0:22:08 | |
much more quickly in a matter of weeks and months. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:12 | |
Bringing the session to a close, the committee chairman, | 0:22:12 | 0:22:14 | |
the Conservative Bob Neill, wished the witnesses luck | 0:22:14 | 0:22:17 | |
in their role as trailblazers for the new regime. | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
Now, the United States is going to limit arms sales | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
to Saudi Arabia over concerns about civilian casualties | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
during the conflict in Yemen. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
Saudi Arabia is conducting air strikes in Yemen in a bid to help | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
the Government put down a rebellion. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:33 | |
The SNP leader at Westminster is putting pressure on the UK | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
Government to follow the American lead. | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
The US Government has just said that, and I quote, | 0:22:39 | 0:22:43 | |
"Systematic endemic problems in Saudi Arabia's targeting drove | 0:22:43 | 0:22:48 | |
the US decision to hold a future weapons sale | 0:22:48 | 0:22:54 | |
the US decision to halt a future weapons sale | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
involving precision-guided munitions." | 0:22:57 | 0:22:58 | |
The Saudis have UK-supplied precision-guided Paveway 4 missiles. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:00 | |
They're made in Scotland. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:01 | |
The UK has licensed ?3.3 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
since the beginning of the bombing campaign. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
What will it take for the UK to adopt an ethical foreign policy | 0:23:09 | 0:23:12 | |
when it comes to Yemen? | 0:23:12 | 0:23:16 | |
Well, as the Right Honourable Gentleman knows, | 0:23:16 | 0:23:19 | |
the intervention in the UN... | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
..in Yemen is a UN-backed intervention. | 0:23:21 | 0:23:25 | |
As I've said previously, where there are allegations | 0:23:25 | 0:23:28 | |
of breaches of international humanitarian law, then we require | 0:23:28 | 0:23:30 | |
those to be properly investigated. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
We do have a relationship with Saudi Arabia, the security | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
of the Gulf is important to us and I would simply also remind | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
the Honourable Gentleman that, actually, Saudi intelligence, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:45 | |
the counter-terrorism links we have from Saudi Arabia, | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
the intelligence we get from Saudi Arabia has saved | 0:23:47 | 0:23:52 | |
potentially hundreds of lives here in the UK. | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
Now, as a turbulent year draws to a close, the late MP Jo Cox | 0:23:54 | 0:23:58 | |
is very much in the thoughts of her colleagues. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:01 | |
This coming Friday is exactly six months since the Labour MP | 0:24:01 | 0:24:04 | |
was murdered in her constituency. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:05 | |
As a tribute to Jo Cox, the Parliamentary rock band MP4, | 0:24:05 | 0:24:09 | |
along with several pop stars, have released a single. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
It's a cover of the Rolling Stones' song You Can't Always | 0:24:12 | 0:24:14 | |
Get What You Want. | 0:24:14 | 0:24:16 | |
Proceeds from the download will go to the Jo Cox Foundation. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:20 | |
Sadly, Mr Speaker, our late colleague Jo Cox will not be | 0:24:20 | 0:24:24 | |
celebrating Christmas this year with her family. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:26 | |
She was murdered and taken from us. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
So I hope the Prime Minister, I'm sure she will, will join me | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
in encouraging people to download the song, which many | 0:24:32 | 0:24:36 | |
members helped to create, as a tribute to Jo's life and work | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
and in everlasting memory of her. | 0:24:39 | 0:24:44 | |
Well, The Right Honourable gentleman is absolutely right | 0:24:44 | 0:24:46 | |
to raise this issue. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:50 | |
I'm sure everybody in this House wishes to send a very clear message | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
to download this signal... | 0:24:53 | 0:24:54 | |
this single for the Jo Cox Foundation. | 0:24:54 | 0:24:55 | |
It's a very important cause and we all recognise that Jo Cox | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
was a fine member of this House and would have carried | 0:24:58 | 0:25:01 | |
on contributing significantly to this House and to this country | 0:25:01 | 0:25:05 | |
had she not been brutally murdered. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:08 | |
It's right, I think the Chancellor is waiving the VAT on the single, | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
I think everybody involved in it has in fact given their | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
services for free. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
I'm having a photograph with MP4 later this afternoon. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
Peter Wishart is a member of MP4. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:22 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
And... | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
And once again, once again, let's just encourage everybody | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
to download this single. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
There were rave reviews from the Speaker, who called MP | 0:25:32 | 0:25:38 | |
for "An outstanding band". | 0:25:38 | 0:25:39 | |
Well, that's it from Wednesday in Parliament, but do join me | 0:25:39 | 0:25:42 | |
at the same time tomorrow for another round-up | 0:25:42 | 0:25:44 | |
of the news from Westminster. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:45 | |
Until then, from me, Christina Cooper, goodbye. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:50 |