Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

Obviously the School Teachers’ Review Body will be getting its remit letter shortly, but what I have tried to set out is a much broader strategy for teaching as a profession, and not just in relation to financial incentives and making sure that they are in the places where we particularly want teachers to teach. Later this week, we will issue our consultation on strengthening qualified teacher status, which I hope will be welcomed. Of course, we are working hard to remove unnecessary workload. Earlier this year, I held a flexible working summit with the professions and unions to talk about how we can make sure that teachers stay in the profession.

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

11. What progress her Department has made on meeting its 2020 target for quality apprenticeship starts.

[Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)]

12. What progress her Department has made on meeting its 2020 target for quality apprenticeship starts.

[Mike Amesbury]

Given that average monthly apprenticeship starts are 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 that target than the Conservative Government?

[Anne Milton]

If he talks to employers, the hon. Gentleman will find that it is only because of the reforms we have introduced, which have allowed employers to be at the very heart of the process, that we have made the progress we have. Numerous Governments have attempted to do something about apprenticeships, but it is only now that we are seeing real change.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Monday 6th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Goodwill]

Certainly, the stocktake is part of this, and one of the most exciting developments has been the way in which innovation has been brought forward in this area. We have invested £200 million in the innovation fund, and I recommend that right hon. and hon. Members have a look at the No Wrong Door policy, which is working very well in North Yorkshire, or the Mockingbird constellation, which is a hub-and-spoke system to support foster carers dealing with some of the more difficult children.

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

What steps is the Minister taking to address the 61% decline in total apprenticeships from May to July 2017?

[Mr Speaker]

In relation to foster carers, I assume. [Interruption.] Well, it will have to be.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Monday 11th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

Financial education is important. It is in the national curriculum and in the maths curriculum, which is an essential way of children becoming financially literate. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and I am particularly keen to discuss textbooks.

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

T10. At a time when 16-to-19 education is in dire need of additional investment, does the Minister agree that schools and colleges should at least receive all the Government funding set aside to educate sixth-form students?

[Justine Greening]

Record funding is going into schools and, overall, we are scaling up our technical-education funding. That is accompanied by more steps to raise standards in further education colleges.

Education: Public Funding

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Tuesday 4th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

It is good to see my right hon. Friend back in her place, and I am happy to confirm that no school will see a cut in funding as a consequence of the reforms to our national funding formula.

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

Will the Minister protect the budgets of schools such as Helsby High, in my constituency, in real terms? Helsby High faces a £700,000 shortfall because of his so-called fair funding formula. It is not fair, and we need increases in real terms.

[Nick Gibb]

The new national funding formula comes in in 2018-19. As I said in my opening comments, no school will see a cut in funding as a consequence of moving to the national funding formula. What the hon. Gentleman is alluding to is the cost pressures on schools that occurred between 2016 and 2017 and that will occur over the next four years. We have already incurred about 3% of those cost pressures, and we will incur between 1.5% and 1.6% of them over the next three years—those are figures from Institute for Fiscal Studies. We are helping schools to tackle those cost pressures, but there would not be those pressures if we did not have to deal with the historic budget deficit we inherited in 2010. Those cost pressures are being borne right across the public sector, but because we are prudent with our public finances, we have record employment numbers and record opportunities for young people when they leave our school system.