Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am absolutely horrified by the extremist activity that the hon. Lady alludes to and if she could share that material with me, we will make sure that action is taken.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

22. My right hon. Friend will be aware that his former Schools Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr Gibb), looked into the rating of sex and relationship education in schools, particularly primary schools. At the moment this is an area that is completely unregulated and I know that the Government have been trying to make some moves to get the British Board of Film Classification to look at it. Does the Secretary of State plan to make some progress?

[Michael Gove]

Yes, we do. My hon. Friend makes an important point. As the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) pointed out, we need to make sure that children have the information they need in order to make confident choices. We also need to take account of the fact that technology is changing rapidly. We all know some of the challenges that young people face—as a parent, I know them myself—and it is vital, as my hon. Friend says, to make sure that we do everything we can to keep inappropriate material away from children.

Exam Reform

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The currency was devalued by decisions taken by the Government the hon. Gentleman supported from the Back Benches. The currency was devalued by the introduction of modules and by the extension of controlled assessment. It is not just me taking that view; it is the view taken by business organisations and school teachers themselves. The things that contribute to improvement are Governments committed to raising the bar, head teachers liberated to do a superb job and two parties coming together to make sure that we modernise our examination system in a genuinely internationalist way. If the hon. Gentleman wants to be part of that process, we will welcome him; if he wants to carp from the sidelines, sadly, history will leave him behind.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is not just good for children but essential for our country that our exam results are internationally competitive? An example where we have badly fallen behind is in the EU: although we are 12% of the population of the EU, and back in the ’70s we represented 12% of the EU Commission, now we have fallen to around 4%. One of the key reasons is that we are not good enough at speaking bilingually to compete in that essential area.

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about the importance of language learning. Under the previous Government, the proportion of students who were studying modern languages at GCSE fell, but under this Government, it is at last beginning to rise. On Friday, I had the opportunity to congratulate the Lycée Charles de Gaulle on its bilingual extension, and 60 years of successful Anglo-French teaching. Later this year, I shall visit the first new bilingual primary free school, which is in Hove. The growth of language teaching as an integral part of an all-round academic education is central to what the coalition Government wish to achieve; it is an area where we diverge from the previous Government. Vive la différence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point, and he has a strong record in campaigning on these issues. We want to make sure that everyone who teaches in schools built when building standards were lower has the support that they need. The changes that we have made to building regulations are intended to ensure that schools built in future are fit-for-purpose and refurbished appropriately. I am happy to ensure that officials and Ministers in my Department liaise with him to make sure that teachers and children are protected from unfit buildings.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

If the permanent secretary is considering moving the Department to Northamptonshire, may I recommend Towcester or Brackley? We had a fabulous team win at the Chinese grand prix this weekend.

To come to my point, on adoption, does the Minister agree that, given what we now know about the development of a baby’s brain, it is absolutely essential that, wherever possible, a baby gets the best chance of attaching to new adoptive parents by being adopted before the age of two?

Sure Start Children’s Centres

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Wednesday 27th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The consequence of the Government’s actions is that we have ensured, as both Anne Longfield and Anand Shukla have pointed out, that there is enough money to maintain that network. In addition, under Conservative leadership, Hammersmith and Fulham has been singularly successful in reducing the council tax burden on its ratepayers, and in diversifying the sources of funding it receives to support education and care for children and young people. It is a superb local authority. Instead of continually talking down the service that is provided by public servants in Hammersmith and Fulham, it would be nice to hear from the hon. Gentleman some sunny, uplifting words, rather than grim predictions of disaster, which as we have just heard, turn out never to be true.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating Northamptonshire county council on deciding to go ahead with its plans for 50 children’s centres in the county, and on its support for my proposals to introduce a Northamptonshire parent-infant project in children’s centres, which will provide a parent-infant psychotherapy service for the families most in need who are struggling to bond with their new-born babies?

[Michael Gove]

I am delighted to congratulate Northamptonshire, where not a single children’s centre is closing. It is also the home of the innovative Pen Green children’s centre. More money is coming from central Government to help that council to develop news ways of providing support for children in their earliest years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 21st March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Citizenship runs through everything we do at the Department for Education.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the great concern of some parents about the inappropriate material being shown to their five-year-old and seven-year-old children under the guise of sex and relationship education? Will he take steps to start a licensing regime to ensure that the material being shown is age-appropriate?

Building Schools for the Future

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 14th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

That is an understandable response from the hon. Lady, but the judge was clear that only the local authorities that received a specific form of approval after 1 January and that took part in this action were governed by it, and that no other local authority should consider that it is in time or within its rights to bring a judicial review.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend explain why, in spite of having schools with the same leaky roofs, dilapidated classrooms and overcrowding as those described by many Opposition Members, my constituency was told that there was no chance of even being considered for a BSF project for the next five to 10 years?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend repeats a concern that many hon. Members on both sides of the House have expressed—that the process by which individual schools and local authorities were selected for entry into Building Schools for the Future, even though it might have been conceived idealistically, in the end was not seen as fair. We need to ensure that the successor scheme guarantees that money is spent effectively and efficiently on those in the most need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 20th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

We have secured funding for an additional 75,000 apprenticeships beyond those that the previous Government secured. As a result of that additional investment, we will be making sure that young people have a better chance than they had under the previous Government.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

8. What steps his Department is taking to ensure that children’s centres meet the needs of new parents.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 15th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question and, indeed, for her commitment to this cause. As a result of the coalition Government’s careful stewarding of the nation’s finances, we are able to ensure that more disadvantaged two-year-olds will enjoy access to pre-school learning. We have also ensured that children of three and four will enjoy 15 hours of pre-school learning free, something of which the last Government were incapable. All that is against the backdrop of an historic deficit for which no one on the Opposition Front Bench has yet had either the courtesy or the bravery to apologise.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

While I truly welcome the decision to provide 4,200 more health visitors, surely my right hon. Friend recognises that if the pupil premium does not start until a child is two years old, a valuable opportunity is being missed to build, in those first two critical years of life, the relationships between parents and children that have such a strong effect on those children’s subsequent ability to learn.

[Michael Gove]

I have a huge amount of sympathy with what my hon. Friend has said. The work that we are doing with the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), in alliance with the Minister of State, Department for Education, my hon. Friend Member for Brent Central (Sarah Teather), who is the Minister responsible for children and families, will ensure that we intervene early, particularly in order to help the most disadvantaged children to achieve their potential.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 11th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Not for the first time—nor the last—the hon. Gentleman speaks for me. It concerns me that a grasp of proper spoken and written English, which is the key to enjoying full civic life in this country, is denied to far too many people. I will work with my hon. Friend the Minister for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning to ensure that an ability to speak and write English clearly is at the heart of everything we do, whether in adult, secondary or primary education.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

T9. In the wake of the Munro report, is the Minister as concerned as I am about the growing number of children being taken into care? Does he agree that the best way in which to stop more of those personal tragedies is to invest in prevention programmes for babies and their carers in the earliest years?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Andrea Leadsom

Monday 12th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Like the hon. Gentleman, I am committed to academic excellence, so I should point out that he should have said “fewer”, not “less”. However, he has made a good point. I am worried about the use of so-called equivalent qualifications instead of academic GCSEs. When I raised the issue from the Opposition Benches, the then Secretary of State said that I was talking achievements down, but I am glad to note that we can now form a coalition for excellence across the Dispatch Box.

[Andrea Leadsom (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is regrettable that five secondary schools in my constituency which are in dire need of expenditure on the framework of their buildings have received absolutely nothing under the Building Schools for the Future programme, simply because in theory they are in a reasonable area where children are, in theory, receiving a good education?