Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 1 month ago)
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Mr Speaker
Order. The Minister has finished. He may not know that he has finished, but he has.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
7. What steps he is taking to ensure that more adults gain basic English and maths skills.
The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles)
A good grasp of English and maths is the vital passport into the world of work. Of course, people should ideally acquire that good grasp of English and maths not as adults, but at an earlier stage of their education. That is why we have made English and maths essential components of college study programmes, apprenticeships and traineeships.
Alex Cunningham
Two weeks ago, my hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) and I met the principals of the Tees Valley further education colleges, who pressed for an end to the funding disparity between FE colleges and other parts of the education system. They were particularly concerned about English and maths, but they were also worried about further cuts in funds for school leaver and adult funding, and asked whether the FE loans programme could be extended to people over 19 who were on level 3 programmes. I do not know whether the Secretary of State plans to be in government after 7 May, but if he has any influence, what does he or the Minister think can be done to address the issues raised by our principals?
Nick Boles
When it comes to further education funding, we are emphasising the stuff that works. Apprenticeships deliver the most value to the people who do them, much more than any other further education. English and maths are vital—[Interruption.] We are funding them. We are funding them to the tune of more than £300 million a year. That is what we are spending on the provision of English and maths as part of study programmes.
Vince Cable
I have had a lot of discussions with both of them about this issue, but since the hon. Gentleman is an expert on the subject he will know that what really matters is the real effective exchange rate. We have devalued substantially against the dollar, by more than 10%, and that must be put into the mix. One lesson we learned from the 2008 financial crisis, when we had sterling devaluation of 25%, is that that does not automatically translate into improved trade.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
My Department plays and has played a key role in supporting the rebalancing of the economy through business to deliver growth while increasing skills and learning.
Alex Cunningham
The Secretary of State has kindly met me several times, along with local companies from my constituency, to discuss development. In most of the cases, I have been grateful to him for a positive outcome. Jobs are good, but I would ask for his comments on the so-called drop in unemployment in Stockton where just over one third of those no longer claiming jobseeker’s allowance have found a job. Does he have any idea where his Tory colleagues have hidden the hundreds of people from Stockton who have not been that fortunate?
Vince Cable
As it happens, I am going to Teesside today on my last ministerial visit. I look forward to hearing more about the detail on the ground. There is a very positive story in the adjacent seat of Redcar, which is what I shall be celebrating.
Young People in Care
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 3 months ago)
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Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
There could not be a more important subject for us to debate in relation to some of the most vulnerable young people in our society. Many will have found themselves homeless as a result of abuse, family breakdown, bereavement or other catastrophes in their lives, and, at a relatively young age, at the end of their childhood, they are cast into an adult world they are not necessarily prepared for.
The vast majority of professionals in local authorities do their best to meet the needs of this group of young people, but still far too many—some at just 16 years of age—are simply dumped somewhere, perhaps on a Friday night, and left to fend for themselves all weekend in a bed-and-breakfast establishment or unsuitable hostel because there is nowhere else for them to go. It is not good enough. I challenge Ministers, fellow Members, councillors and the professionals responsible for these young people to tell me whether they would be happy for their child, grandchild, niece or nephew to be treated as we treat many young people who need us to care for them—young people who feel abandoned and in great distress.
The presence in the Chamber of fellow members of the Select Committee on Education is testament to the importance of this subject, which was reflected in our report. The Committee identified a series of steps that we feel are needed to ensure that improvements occur, both in the preparation of young people as they move through to greater independence and in the stability and support available. As others have said, one of the core concerns, both of myself and other Committee members, relates specifically to the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation for vulnerable young people at times of need. As the Chairman has said, statutory guidance makes it clear that care leavers should be placed only in suitable accommodation, meaning that it is safe, secure and located so as to allow them to take part in education, employment or training. However, the series of visits we undertook and the discussions we had with young people did little to confirm that that was happening universally and shone a light on the continued use of B and Bs for 16 and 17-year-olds, all too often for protracted periods—for instance, one person spoke of living in a B and B for two years. Little wonder that so many of them feel abandoned.
The hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart) talked about one young woman, and I am going to repeat the story, because what she told us that day in Ipswich really haunts me. When she spoke to members of the Committee, she told us about being placed in emergency accommodation—a B and B—for several weeks. It was a placement primarily for adults. She was the only young person, yet while taking refuge in the care of the state, she was subjected to older men braying on her door late at night and asking her to join them. That is not a situation I would wish on anybody, let alone a vulnerable young person. I hope that the young person hears that her story has been told at least twice tonight—who knows, maybe it will be told more times before this evening is over.
The statutory guidance that states that care leavers should be placed only in suitable accommodation also makes it clear that B and Bs are inappropriate for young people in care and should be used only in very particular circumstances. To be certain, those circumstances should amount to nothing short of an emergency situation; yet, troublingly, the use of B and Bs continues, with as many as 800 care leavers in England being placed in such accommodation in 2013-14 by their local authority. Far from being merely unsuitable, B and Bs often present an environment that feels unsafe and threatening to a young person. I would love to know how many of our directors of children’s services know for certain that the bed-and-breakfast establishments they use for 16 or 17-year-olds are as safe and secure as they would demand for a member of their own family.
Statistics from Barnardo’s, compiled following a series of freedom of information requests, reveal the extent to which many local authorities are failing to observe Government guidance to avoid the use of inappropriate emergency accommodation for young people leaving care. Despite guidance to the contrary, almost three quarters of local authorities in England continued to place care leavers in B and B accommodation during the last year, with 43% doing so repeatedly and an unacceptable 51% doing so for 28 days or more, despite B and Bs being described as emergency accommodation. We can and must work towards a future where their use is abolished altogether.
Accommodation of this sort, whether designed for short-term use or otherwise, fails to offer support to young people and does not allow them to move on and make progress with their lives. Worse still, placing vulnerable young people in such accommodation risks exposing them to a range of dangers and negative influences. I am clear that the use of B and Bs is avoidable, but if we are to achieve the right result for all our young people needing emergency care, more needs to be done, with authorities working co-operatively in their areas to ensure that suitable and safe accommodation is available. Government, too, have a role to play. As my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) said, funding to local authorities has suffered huge cuts in recent years. I hope Ministers will look again at how they can guarantee every young care leaver a safe place to live when they need it.
The north-east highlights perfectly what can be achieved. Local authorities across the area have demonstrated that sensible policies in this area can produce positive results. Both Hartlepool council and Redcar and Cleveland council succeeded in placing 100% of care leavers aged 19 to 21 into suitable accommodation in 2014, while many other councils across the region achieved such outcomes in over 90% of cases. But there is still more to do, and we need to act to make sure that this progress is made sooner rather than later.
The local authority serving my own constituency, Stockton borough council, is a case in point. Last year, it achieved a success rate of 96% in placing leavers aged 19 to 21 into suitable accommodation, putting it in the top 10 of local authorities nationwide. That was not the case for a few, but that small number at least indicates that there were cases of genuine emergency. That said, I am pleased that those in charge of young people’s services are working alongside colleagues from housing to develop an initiative that will allow care leavers to be re-housed in close proximity to their former children’s homes—often on the same street, so that they can continue to benefit from the local support network that is available, preventing any sense of abandonment.
It is thinking like this that will see us making real improvements in this area. I remain in no doubt, and neither does our Select Committee, that bed-and-breakfast accommodation should be banned as soon as practically possible for young people, with proper inspection and regulatory oversight introduced to end the practice once and for all. I know it cannot be done overnight, but I would love the Minister to be bold and to fix a date for a ban to be introduced. Sadly, I already know that I will be disappointed, as the Minister has previously indicated that he has no intention of doing so.
I mentioned the effect of cuts and co-operative working, and emphasise that again. If we are to succeed in taking this step and bringing an end to a practice that so often puts young people at risk, national standards for proper emergency provisions need to be established, while local authorities need to have access to the necessary resources—whether it be through improved communication and working within local authorities, enhanced collaborative working between local authorities and organisations, or increased central funding. Indeed, we too often hear that local authority departments do not work closely enough together when providing accommodation options for vulnerable young people, and I am clear that that needs to be addressed.
Making the transition from care to independence is one of the most challenging periods for young people leaving care, especially for those who have had the most chaotic journeys through the care system. They need support and guidance in many aspects of their lives. It is therefore common sense that service providers communicate with each another, and it would be very interesting to see further consideration given to the sharing of budgets or joint commissioning of services in a similar way to that being examined in Stockton.
Often as a result of the lack of joined-up working, Barnardo’s has reported alarming findings, indicating that young people’s accommodation problems often get worse after their 18th birthday. In its “The cost of not caring” report, examples are given of councils placing care leavers in appropriate accommodation, fully funded by their children’s services, only for that to be withdrawn when they turn 18 and cease to be eligible for support.
Unprepared for the responsibility of paying their own rent and bills, and frequently lacking those all-important independent living skills, young people can find that their accommodation quickly becomes unaffordable as they no longer have the support they had previously relied on. Some on housing benefit find that they can no longer afford their rent, which children’s services departments had previously funded while they were still in care. That forces them into more affordable accommodation in alternative locations—invariably of lower quality. The new benefits regime introduced by the Government only adds to the challenges and misery these young people face.
All of that adds up to care leavers having an increased risk of homelessness, not only during the transition out of care, but over the longer term. Studies have highlighted worrying figures that over a fifth of homeless people have been in care as a child, while 16% of those facing additional complications on top of homelessness, such as mental health problems or substance issues, have previously been in local authority care and had, on average, left care aged just 17.
I often reflect on the fact that my two sons left home in their mid-20s after a life of support and stability, but that is seven or eight years older than the age at which we expect many young people leaving care to fend for themselves. They do not have the luxury of a family to fall back on. It is our responsibility as a nation to ensure that we do not abandon them. We hope to hear from the Minister how he is going to ensure that that is the case.
Mr Timpson
As is often the case, the strange dissection of responsibilities across Government means that ministerial responsibility for CAMHS resides elsewhere in the Department, but the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for East Surrey (Mr Gyimah) works directly with the Department of Health, through the taskforce, to look at what resources are required. In recent weeks, it has been announced that further money has been made available to improve the services that are available to children who have mental health problems.
Every party in the House recognises that the mental health services that are on offer to children, particularly those who are in care, on the edge of care or leaving care, are simply not good enough. That is why we need a fundamental review of how we commission, deliver and review the progress of children and young people who should have access to those services. We have made some significant changes to how we approach special educational needs—there is joint commissioning, and we are looking at a system that can be used from birth to 25—and we can learn a lot of lessons from that in how we deal with mental health services, particularly for children in care and care leavers.
As part of our commitment to improving services for care leavers, we have funded a number of projects designed to stimulate new and innovative approaches. For example, we have given funding to the Care Leavers Foundation to run the New Belongings project, in which care leavers play a central role by helping to identify barriers and find solutions to improve services in nine local authorities. I am pleased to tell the House that we will provide further funding to extend the New Belongings project. The second phase will be rolled out shortly and will involve embedding progress in those nine councils. It will also extend the project to more local authorities. We will also continue to fund the From Care2Work programme, which helps care leavers to get a foot in the door with some of our major employers, providing work experience, apprenticeships and employment opportunities. It is only right that we record the progress that has been made in recent years, but as the debate has shown, we clearly still have some way to go before every care leaver will be getting the support they need.
I turn to the specific issues that have been raised in the Education Committee report and by hon. Members today, beginning with the difficult but important issue of bed-and-breakfast accommodation. I agree with all Members, led by the Chair of the Education Committee, who have said that bed-and-breakfast accommodation is not suitable for care leavers. That is, of course, what the law says. However, as I said in our response to the Committee’s report, we do not think an outright ban is the right approach. We are not a lone voice—the chief social worker for children and families has said:
“A total ban on bed and breakfast restricts the ability of professionals to exercise their judgement in making best interest decisions about young people’s safety and welfare.”
The charity Catch22 has said:
“The reality is that there is a need for emergency, crash-pad accommodation for a very distressed young person who is in an urgent situation and needs accommodation. An outright ban could deny them access to much needed support in an emergency.”
That position is supported by the Association of Directors of Children’s Services and by the Local Government Association. The Care Leavers Foundation has said that it
“reluctantly concedes that permitting use of B&B in emergency situations is probably a necessary caveat, as there may be circumstances where in the absence of a B&B option a care leaver could potentially be at risk of street homelessness or being warehoused in a hostel.”
As I indicated to the Education Committee, in light of those concerns we want to test further the practical implications for local authorities if a total ban were introduced. We have started that process and are continuing to talk to relevant parties such as the independent reviewing officers group, Barnardo’s, Catch22, the Care Leavers Foundation, homelessness charities and others to better understand the issue. I know that the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) raised that point.
We know that there are some excellent examples, which hon. Members have noted today. The hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) mentioned Hartlepool and other parts of the north-east, and Wiltshire has also managed to find ways to provide suitable accommodation without needing to resort to bed and breakfast, so it can be done. I should add that the Department for Communities and Local Government has provided £1.9 million to support local authorities in developing sustainable solutions to stop the unlawful use of bed and breakfast for families and children. The seven funded councils have achieved and sustained a 96% reduction in the number of households with children in bed and breakfast for longer than six weeks.
Alex Cunningham
I do not want to tease the Minister, but if a large number of authorities across the country can achieve a 100% reduction, the best practice is out there and authorities know how it can be done. Is it not time just to say, “Do it”?
Mr Timpson
Of course we want every local authority to do it, and the more that we can help them achieve that the better, but we have to consider the practicalities of a ban, bearing in mind the mixed views about how it could be implemented and the emergency situations in which bed and breakfast might be required. We must also ensure that local authorities that are falling short understand how ending the use of bed and breakfast can be achieved, and that is one purpose of the innovation programme—to spread good practice so that places such as Wiltshire and Hartlepool do not hold a secret but can impart their knowledge successfully across the country.
I can confirm that, following the Committee’s report, we have further strengthened our statutory guidance to make it clear that for 16 and 17-year-olds emergency placements in B and B should be used only in exceptional circumstances and be limited to no more than two working days. I will write to all directors of children’s services shortly on a range of matters relating to children in care and care leavers, and I will bring to their attention in that correspondence the amended guidance on bed and breakfast. It may be a good opportunity to let them know about the good practice in other parts of the country.
On 31 March, we will receive data collected on the accommodation of 19, 20 and 21-year-olds and whether it was deemed suitable, including a breakdown on bed and breakfast. For the first time next year we will collect data on 17 and 18-year-olds too, and that will help us to establish the impact of the strengthened statutory guidance on bed and breakfast. I return to the arguments made by the chief social worker and the central premise that if we have a high-quality professional body making sound decisions and backed by tailored support, no care leaver need be put in unsuitable accommodation.
Mr Timpson
I anticipated that I might be asked that question and, in his usual manner, the Chairman of the Committee has established my exact thoughts. I am told that, for technical reasons, we cannot collect data until after the age of 16 as young people are still in care before that point, but we intend to refine the data when we receive them to establish whether any 16-year-olds are in bed and breakfast. The data are collected on the young person’s birthday as opposed to at financial year end. They cannot be collected on their 16th birthday so we have to wait until their 17th birthday. We will look at how we can retrospectively analyse the data and establish how many 16-year-olds have been in bed-and-breakfast accommodation during that year. If we can refine the data in the future, we will look to do so.
Several hon. Members raised the issue of alternative accommodation. It is right that all forms of alternative accommodation—bed and breakfast, supported lodgings, foyers and so on—should provide care leavers with a safe and secure place to live. Clear legal duties require that children are placed only in accommodation that meets their needs. Ofsted, through its new single inspection framework, monitors local authorities’ performance in supporting care leavers in the round, including the quality of accommodation provided. Care leavers have access to a personal adviser who can advocate on their behalf and challenge decisions by the local authority if, for example, they believe that the accommodation provided is unsuitable.
We are considering whether further external oversight is needed of the decisions that local authorities make. I am not persuaded, having listened carefully to hon. Members, that we need to establish a new inspection regime in order to achieve our aims, and others share that view. The chief social worker, Isabelle Trowler, has said that regulating all alternative accommodation would severely limit placement choice and the ability of professionals to use their discretion. Social workers should be visiting placements on a regular basis to ensure that the accommodation remains suitable for the individual. Most critically, we already have checks and balances in place.
As I have said, Ofsted inspects the quality of support provided to care leavers as part of the single inspection framework, and independent reviewing officers consider the decisions made about a child and would, of course, be expected to raise any concerns about unsuitable accommodation placements. We need to trust and support professionals to make sound judgments in the best interests of the child, rather than creating further bureaucratic processes. Local areas already have a clear duty to ensure that children are placed only in accommodation that meets their needs and, as mentioned, we already have checks and balances in the system to ensure that the best interests of the child are met.
Alex Cunningham
The Minister will recollect the story that the Chair and I shared about the young woman in extremely unsuitable accommodation. She was there for some time, with men braying at the door trying to gain entry. If the current inspection regime is not stopping that sort of thing, what will the Minister do to ensure that it does not happen again in future?
Mr Timpson
Clearly the situation that the hon. Gentleman describes is totally unacceptable, and we would not wish it on any young person. The statutory guidance makes it clear what checks local authorities have to make before they commission any alternative accommodation place.
The hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak (Steve McCabe) referred to the view of Catch22 that any universal approach to regulation on quality assurance would face considerable challenges. It may also stifle the creativity and support arrangements needed to allow young people to practise their independence skills. Ofsted was not convinced that stronger regulation of a complex and varied sector would address the uneven quality of care and support for young children. I take very seriously the point raised by the hon. Member for Stockport (Ann Coffey) about safety checks and ensuring that those charged with the care and protection of children and young children make every effort to place them where they are safe and secure. The DFE statutory guidance could not be clearer:
“Young people should only be placed in accommodation where they receive high quality support which meets the needs set out in their care plan. Where local authorities use unregulated supported accommodation for young people aged 16 and 17, they should ensure that all providers are vetted and approved to the standards they require.”
That is being achieved by local authorities such as Hertfordshire, which uses a clear framework of quality assurance to assess provision before placement.
I understand the desire of hon. Members to be confident that all possible avenues have been explored fully to help to improve placement decisions on alternative accommodation for care leavers, as well as the accountability and oversight surrounding those decisions. To that end, I intend to commission a piece of work in the Department to look carefully at other arrangements to establish in more detail the veracity and likely consequences of taking a different approach, as proposed by the Committee, together with other potential options.
“Staying Put” was mentioned by a number of hon. Members, particularly my hon. Friend the Member for Calder Valley (Craig Whittaker). The “Staying Put” duty, which we introduced last year, is giving more young people the opportunity to remain in a stable and secure family setting beyond the age of 18. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak wanted to know how the implementation was going. I will happily write to him with the details, as time prevents me from going into detail at this stage.
Some Members would like to see the extension of the Staying Put principle to those in residential care settings. As they may be aware, we are continuing to work with the NCB, the Who Cares? Trust and others to explore how that might work, and providing funding from the innovation programme to test a model of “Staying Put” for those in residential care. That is with North Yorkshire county council, to the tune of £2 million, under its No Wrong Door project. That will work with about 700 young people and, importantly, ensure that if young care leavers up to the age of 21 need it, they will be able to use that intensive period of extra support through the hub linked to their independent living.
Early feedback from children in care suggests that, while the majority of young people in residential care would like to have some kind of “Staying Put” arrangement, a single model of “Staying Put” would not be suitable—a view I think endorsed by my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton). I will of course consider carefully the scoping study and its recommendations. I have only just received that advice and cannot comment further at this stage. We commissioned that important work and I look forward to considering it in the next few weeks.
I am aware that my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness will want to say a few words at the end of the debate, so in conclusion, I once again thank hon. Members for demonstrating that they, like me, care deeply about what happens to children who have been in the care of the state. It would be good if we could widen the field of Members at these debates beyond those present, so they too could demonstrate their commitment. The Government have worked hard to put children in care and care leavers at the heart of our efforts to improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society. We have taken a series of important steps to achieve just that, but I accept there is still more to do. I, and the Government, remain fully committed to giving children in and leaving care the support and future they deserve.
Durham Free School
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 3 months ago)
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Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)
I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to hold this debate, which, in my opinion, is much needed, given local anxiety about the situation of Durham free school and the strong interest in its future.
I begin by expressing great sympathy for the parents and children facing this most unfortunate set of circumstances, but I called the debate to put in the public domain factual information about why the school is facing an announcement by the Secretary of State of her intention to withdraw its funding. Members will know that I have had concerns about the free school for some time, partly because it has been so difficult to get accurate information about it and its funding. However, even I was surprised by the response from the Secretary of State to my question last Monday. I thank her and the Minister for the honesty and decisiveness of her response.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
This report is probably the worst I have ever seen during my years in education. I have been inundated by e-mails from parents who still think it is a great school, that there have been inappropriate conversations with children and that there is some sort of political agenda, yet a Conservative Secretary of State has taken the decision to close a school that is part of the Government’s flagship policy. Does my hon. Friend think that the inspectors could get it so badly wrong in such circumstances?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
My hon. Friend raises an interesting point. As I will say later, the decision has been made not just on the basis of the Ofsted inspection, but in the light of other information.
To date, 18 parents have written to me about the school, and an additional 25 with no direct knowledge of the school have also written about the proposed closure, requesting that the decision be reversed. Nearly all these letters concentrate on challenging very selective aspects of the Ofsted report. A handful of parents have also written to say that the school should be closed in the light of the Ofsted report and to urge that their voices be heard too.
Information I have obtained from the Education Funding Agency and elsewhere indicates that a thorough analysis and evaluation of the school has taken place. As I suspect most people now know, the Department was alerted to problems at the free school by a whistleblower, which prompted the inspections due to take place early in 2015 to be brought forward to November 2014. The EFA inspection was comprehensive and included representatives from the EFA, the office of the schools commissioner, the Department and the due diligence unit, as well as the free schools section.
The inspection findings underpinned the financial notice to improve that the school received in December, with a time scale for it to reply by 19 December 2014. The notice chronicled failure not only in financial management, but in other aspects of governance, and prompted a request from the schools commissioner to the Secretary of State for an Ofsted inspection. This, too, was carried out in November 2014. The Ofsted report chronicled failure at every level and showed the school to be inadequate in every category, including in leadership and management; behaviour and safety of pupils; and quality of teaching and pupil achievement. It found that students’ achievement was weak; that leaders, including governors, did not have high enough expectations; that governors placed too much emphasis on religious credentials when recruiting staff; that teaching was inadequate over time; that teachers’ assessment of student work was inaccurate; that the behaviour of some students led to unsafe situations; that leaders, including governors, had inaccurate views of the quality of teaching and students’ achievements; and that targets for achievement were set too low. That is in great contrast to what I think the parents believed the school would deliver. In 2012, the head teacher said that it would be a
“unique secondary school providing a high quality of education in a close-knit”
scaring—[Interruption]—or rather, a close-knit “caring school environment.” Indeed, it appears to have gone from being caring to scaring for some of those young people.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) has said, it is unusual for a school to receive such a negative report. To put that in context, as of 31 October 2014, the proportion of all schools judged good or outstanding by Ofsted at the most recent inspection had reached 81%. That compares with 70% for free schools. Even so, it is highly unusual to get a school rated as inadequate across all its categories. The report would be worrying for any school and community, but, coupled with the detailed report from the Education Funding Agency, it is obvious why the Secretary of State would consider issuing a notice to close the school. It appears to be based not on any one aspect of the school’s weakness, but on the combined picture of mismanagement and poor quality education observed and inspected thoroughly by the EFA, the Department and Ofsted. I am aware of no evidence to date that these inspections were not in any way suitably robust or conducted in a way that they should not have been.
Alex Cunningham
Tomorrow the chief executive of Ofsted is due to appear before the Select Committee on Education. Parents will want us to hold him to account for the decisions made at Durham and in Sunderland, where just last week Grindon Hall free school was also put into special measures. Does my hon. Friend think there are any particular challenges we should be laying at his door tomorrow?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
It is important that the chief executive of Ofsted establishes very clearly that the inspections were carried out in a suitable way and following the correct guidance, and therefore that there should be public confidence in their outcomes, because I know that a number of colleagues have received letters from a variety of people calling into question the veracity of the Ofsted inspection.
Mr Gibb
The hon. Gentleman says that, but the local community in Bowburn says differently, and that is why it got together and formed a committee to open the free school.
Prior to opening, all free schools undergo a rigorous assessment and Durham free school was no exception, but the real test of a school’s effectiveness comes when the school is open. The leadership and governance of the school must be strong. The standard of education must be high and sustainable to realise the promises made as the school prepared to open. A key strength of the free schools programme is that we can act swiftly and decisively where we find schools that are not performing well. We closed Discovery new school within six months of an Ofsted monitoring inspection showing that insufficient progress was being made. Since then we have reviewed our funding agreements with proposers, improving our ability to act without delay.
The Government have a zero-tolerance approach to under-performance in our schools, which is why the Secretary of State took the decision last week to issue a notice of her intention to terminate Durham free school’s funding agreement just three months after receiving notification of the initial concerns.
Alex Cunningham
I welcome that decisive action, but Durham free school was receiving its bursary services from Grindon Hall Christian school, which itself has just been found to be in special measures. What measures will the Minister take to make sure all these free schools and academies—and everything else, for that matter—have appropriate financial systems and support and that we do not have one poor school trying to provide services to another?
Mr Gibb
We want collaboration between schools as part of a school-led autonomous system, but we now have very strong financial controls through the Education Funding Agency, and they are stronger in academies than any maintained school, with annual reports that are audited and very detailed academy financial handbooks that academies have to adhere to.
Durham free school is a mixed 11-19 secondary school with a Christian ethos. It has an overall capacity of 630. It opened in September 2013 with 31 pupils. It currently has 92 year 7 and 8 pupils on roll, out of 120 available places.
National Minimum Wage
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Dan Jarvis
I absolutely would. There are number of different sectors of the economy to which that could be applied.
Dan Jarvis
I know that my hon. Friend has a specific concern about care workers, and I am happy to give way to him.
Alex Cunningham
I am sure that my hon. Friend will agree that no matter at what level the minimum wage is set, it must be complied with. Would he be surprised to learn that although the Government claimed to include a minimum wage requirement in their social care commitment, such a requirement was not included? Following my intervention, the Minister who is responding to the debate added a paragraph to the commitment. Does my hon. Friend agree that a paragraph on a piece of paper is one thing, but we need much more robust action by Government to ensure that no one in the care industry or anywhere else is short-changed by unscrupulous employers?
Dan Jarvis
I absolutely agree with that point, and I am grateful for the work that my hon. Friend has done in that area. Robust action by the Government is required to ensure that no one in the care industry is short-changed by unscrupulous employers.
I conclude by putting on record the fact that if there is a Labour Government after 7 May next year, we will set a national goal of halving the number of people on low pay over the next 10 years. We will introduce a target for a minimum wage of at least £8 by 2020. We will use tax incentives to encourage more firms to pay a living wage, and we will make a world of difference to working people such as Catherine in my constituency. When I asked her what difference a higher wage would make to her life, she could not quite imagine it. She said:
“I could cut down my hours, couldn’t I? I would have some time to do other things.”
That is the important difference that I am arguing for today.
I would like to end with the words spoken in this place by my right hon. Friend the. Member for Derby South during the debate on the introduction of the national minimum wage 17 years ago. These words were true of the case for introducing the national minimum wage then, and they are true of the case for strengthening it now:
“That policy is right, it is fair, it is just and it is sensible. It is a clear example of how a Labour Government can and will make a real difference to the lives of people across Britain, contributing to fairness and prosperity for the many, not the few. I commend the Bill to the House.”—[Official Report, 16 December 1997; Vol. 303, c. 173.]
Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Mr Laws
I would be happy to look into that. The hon. Gentleman will know that we allocate basic need and maintenance money directly to local authorities, and the free schools programme is managed directly from our Department. If he wishes to provide me with examples of this issue, I will happily look into them.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
T7. The decision by the Education Funding Agency to halt the move by Academies Enterprise Trust to privatise a range of academy services from teaching assistants to ground maintenance in one huge £400 million contract, has been welcomed by schools, trade unions and staff, many of whom saw it as a mechanism to drive down wages and reduce other terms and conditions. I am grateful to the Secretary of State for her personal intervention, but will she outline what advice she has given to academy chains such as AET about the need to concentrate on the poor performance of many of those schools, rather than on partnerships that drive money away from our children?
The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)
Academy chains want to find efficient ways of providing back office services, but the hon. Gentleman is right to say that chains that are under performing, including the AET chain, are receiving the close scrutiny of the Minister responsible.
Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 5 months ago)
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Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)
2. What steps she is taking to ensure equal pay for men and women.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
8. What steps she is taking to ensure equal pay for men and women.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities (Jo Swinson)
It is good to see that over the past year the gender pay gap has fallen significantly to 19.1%—its lowest ever level. However, we are determined to build on this, and our aim must be to eliminate the gender pay gap. We are promoting pay transparency through the Think, Act, Report initiative; transforming the workplace to ensure flexible working and shared parental leave; and, through the Your Life campaign, encouraging girls and young women to consider a wide range of careers, including well-paid careers in technology and engineering.
Alex Cunningham
The Minister talks of grand initiatives, but the hourly rate of pay for women working part time is a third less than that for their full-time counterparts. Given that 42% of all working women now work part time, does the Minister think that it is time for big companies to publish the average hourly pay for men and women in their work force to expose this continued pay gap?
Jo Swinson
The hon. Gentleman raises several issues. It is true that, for men and women, part-time work is often paid at a lower rate. Of course, as he points out, many women are working part time. This is an important issue where we need generally to value much more the contribution made by people working part time. Organisations such as Timewise are doing some wonderful work that tries to remove the stigma around working part time by highlighting people at very senior levels who are doing so. He is right that transparency is a really important tool in making sure that this can be tackled. That is why we have the Think, Act, Report initiative to encourage companies to think about and act on the issue, but also, crucially, to report on it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 7 months ago)
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Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
T7. We are more likely to find high-stakes fixed odds betting terminals in deprived areas of urban constituencies such as mine than in the leafy towns of Suffolk, so it is betting shop staff in places such as Stockton and Billingham who will have to consider giving permission to punters who want to place stakes of greater than £50 a time. Will the Minister explain how the Government decided on the sum of £50, the criteria that they would have betting staff use when deciding whether to grant permission, and how the system will be monitored and enforced?
Nursery Schools
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 8 months ago)
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Westminster Hall is an alternative Chamber for MPs to hold debates, named after the adjoining Westminster Hall.
Each debate is chaired by an MP from the Panel of Chairs, rather than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. A Government Minister will give the final speech, and no votes may be called on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)
It is a pleasure, Sir Roger, to serve under your chairmanship—something that I seem to have done quite a bit recently; we are entertaining one another on the same Bill Committee. I welcome the Minister to his place. We genuinely look forward to working with his team, and I hope his appointment will usher in a new era of listening, which we have not had a lot of from the Department for Education team in the past four years. He will be relieved to know that I do not intend this debate to be made up of political ping-pong; the neglect of nursery schools in this country spans this Government and the previous Government. I hope, however, that we will at least get a Department that listens to what is happening and ceases the neglect.
The maintained education nursery sector does not have a long history in this country. Prior to the 1970s, local authorities were prevented from opening education nursery schools and offering early-years education. I do not know why that is, so do not ask me, but that was what happened. In the early 1970s, the rules were changed and local authorities were encouraged to provide nursery education for pupils aged three and above. Prior to that, most centres known as nursery schools were social services-run provisions or health-run provisions, largely admitting children with significant special educational needs or children on the at-risk register. From the early 1970s onwards, local authorities started to open education nursery schools, often concentrating on areas of deprivation first. The first nursery schools that opened in the 1970s were often large, 52-place provisions, offering early education to 26 children in the morning and 26 children in the afternoon.
Once the benefits of early universal provision became clearer from the 1980s onwards, local authorities started to follow a policy of opening nursery classes attached to infant or primary schools, with the long-term intention of creating universal coverage, but that meant that local authorities often had an uneven pattern of provision by the 1990s. Nursery classes were attached to most, but not all primary schools, and large nursery schools often sited in the wrong geographic areas. From the early 1990s onwards, there was a programme of gradually reducing standard numbers in nursery schools, amalgamating nursery schools and nursery classes and closing some nursery schools. There were moves to more appropriate buildings or more appropriate geographic settings for others.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. I know she has tremendous experience in child services. She talked about closures, and we have learned on Teesside that the North Tees and Hartlepool Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is closing two nurseries, at North Tees hospital and Hartlepool hospital. Will she join me in expressing shock at such a decision, which will lead to excellent provision going away and lots of jobs being lost?
Pat Glass
I am disappointed to hear that, because I remember visiting those nurseries when I was an assistant director of education in Sunderland in the mid-1990s. They were seen as a beacon of good integrated practice, bringing together education, health and social services. They were offering what we were hoping would be the future.
Mr Stuart
Well, it will, but not for a Treasury Minister. As the hon. Gentleman will know, every Department comes along and says, “If only you gave me more money, you’d save so much later. No one would go to prison and you’d be saving money all round.” Understandably, the Treasury is a little sceptical. On that basis, we would for ever simply throw more money at the education system, because if we only provided the right start in life, we would have greater economic success and more highly skilled industries, and would live in nirvana.
The greatest thing I can say about the previous Government’s education policy is about how much they spent on education. The fruits are slow to emerge, but that is not to say that there are not benefits to be had if those resources are used well. Given the constraints we are under and the overspending by Government today, let alone five years ago, we are going to have to find the money for early-years provision from re-engineering our education budget. That could be said to be the more mature debate. It is always easy to say, “Oh no, we should just find the additional money.” The truth is that that will be very difficult.
On status, the Committee said in our report that the message that early-years teachers will not be equal to teachers in schools is “strong and unjust”. On pay, we said that it is not enough simply to set out a vision of equality with other teachers: if we accept the premise that the early years are a peculiarly critical time in a child’s development, Ministers need to set out—and this is the key point, whether it is done through finding more money or re-engineering the budget—
“a course of action…to a position where equal pay attracts equal quality”
of applicants. That is the key. We cannot have Government setting out an aim of an integrated work force, with that equality as a premise, and then failing to put in place any of the building blocks to take us there. At the moment, it seems to be all aspiration, with very little evidence of a closing of the gap. Even if it were to take 10 or 15 years, we would at least have a vision of how we were going to create a genuinely integrated work force, in which early-years teachers were given pay and status equal to that of teachers elsewhere in the education system.
At present, figures from the Pre-school Learning Alliance reveal that pre-school staff earn, on average, £17,000 a year, which is only around half as much as primary school staff, who earn an average of £33,000. The former Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk, confirmed that England has the biggest gap in salaries between those who work in nurseries and those who work in schools of any country in western Europe. As all members of the Select Committee here today, and others, know, the key issue in raising educational quality for anyone, at any time, is the quality of the teacher. That is what counts. If we pay people half the rate of what is paid to those working with children who are just a little bit older, is it any wonder that we struggle to bring in the innovators, pioneers and greatest communicators? We need to set out a plan—it would be good to hear the Opposition’s funded plan from their Front-Bench spokesperson—to bring about that outcome.
It can be no surprise that there is a continuing disparity of status between early-years and school-based teaching. The impact of that lower status is felt beyond the issue of attracting high-quality recruits into the nursery sector. Naomi Eisenstadt told us that the perceived low status of children’s centre staff can create a barrier to successful multi-agency working, adding that
“if you do not have status within the community and you ring the health agency, they are not going to ring you back.”
Delivering equal pay for early-years teachers would of course require the extra resources I have talked about.
Alex Cunningham
The hon. Gentleman will have heard me refer earlier to the nurseries at the North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals, which are scheduled to close. He has talked about staff. The Ofsted report on the nurseries says:
“All staff attend a wide range of training to develop their knowledge and skills”,
so there is ongoing professional development in that hospital nursery setting. Does he agree that that model should be rolled out elsewhere? Does he also share my opinion that those making the decisions on those nurseries might have benefited from the scrutiny and clinical examination that he would have given them had their decision come before our Committee?
Mr Stuart
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point. I do not know all the details surrounding that case, so I will not rush to judgment on those who made that decision, but he makes powerful points, which I hope will be heard clearly by those responsible for those centres, as they consider what they will do about them in the future.
The issue is that we either find additional money or rebalance the existing budget. Speaking for myself, that gives us yet another demonstration of why it was a poor use of over £1 billion of taxpayers’ money to offer free school meals to the children of middle-class parents who can already afford them, rather than deploying that funding in the classroom, where it could have been used to attract and retain the quality teachers who we know make such a difference to children’s attainment.
In conclusion, the Government have more to do, to ensure the survival of maintained nursery schools, to encourage the development of the network of nursery schools with children’s centres around the country and to set out a strategy to realise their proper aspiration for an integrated nought-to-18 work force.
Lucy Powell
I am pleased to hear that the hon. Gentleman took such a delegation to see Ministers. I hope some of that is taken forward. I passionately believe that we cannot do early years on the cheap. This will require some tough decisions on how slim resources will be spent, but will allow some of the best examples of early years education in this country to have not only the extra resources that are coming into the system, but the freedoms to give them the security and allow them to have the sort of innovative, creative and leadership role that the Oxclose cluster or Martenscroft nursery school in my constituency provide in some of our most deprived areas.
In conclusion, I reiterate the points that have already been made. My party has to accept its responsibility for ignoring the potential of nursery schools during our time in office. Nursery schools provide some of the best education and provide for some of our most vulnerable children, not just those who are deprived, but those with disabilities, special educational needs and those who would elsewhere be turned down by private providers, which do not have to accept them. My hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham recently published a fantastic report on child care for disabled children, which is a long-forgotten issue in this area. Parents with disabled children face barriers up to 10 times greater than those without disabled children.
Alex Cunningham
I am grateful that my hon. Friend raised the issue of children with special needs. Claire Guffick and Russ Andrews’s 16-month-old son Dylan attends the North Tees nursery that I spoke about earlier. He has a severe form of atopic dermatitis—a form of eczema. He is registered disabled because of the high level of care he needs. His mother said:
“We visited a number of nurseries but North Tees was the only nursery able to cater to his health condition and also cater towards his restricted diet.”
That is all the more reason why that nursery should be saved: it caters for the very special needs of very special children.
Lucy Powell
I completely agree with my hon. Friend. He and I both attended the launch of the report by my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham, which examines how we can better look at meeting the child care costs of parents with disabled children. We heard some profound examples of just the sort of situations that my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) describes. Nursery schools are often the only option that many parents have. I would gladly join the Minister in making progress on the issue.
If the Minister has not done so already, I urge him to read the final report of the Education Committee on some of the issues we have been debating. There are good recommendations in it, and perhaps he will use today’s opportunity to update us on how he is advancing those. Does he agree with me about enabling nursery schools to hold the pupil premium for the early years? Will he consider the question of allowing nursery schools some of the freedom that other schools have to take on academy status?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mr Sam Gyimah)
I congratulate the hon. Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass) on securing today’s debate. She has a long and commendable track record in education and the welfare of young children, within and outside the House, and I thank her for obtaining the debate. I thank the Select Committee Chairman, my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart), who made his case with characteristic forcefulness, and the shadow spokesperson, the hon. Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell), for her arguments. I did not realise that we shared an alma mater. I notice that she is wearing the colours of Somerville college, red and black, today. However, I guess we share something even more important, in that we are both parents. When it comes to early years, we have the same objective as most parents—wanting the best start in life for our children. There is no greater responsibility or privilege.
The hon. Member for North West Durham made a point about listening, and in the spirit of willingness to listen, I will mention that the Department is planning a series of visits. We will make sure that Pen Green nursery school in Corby is on that list, and I shall go sooner rather than later. I thank her for that recommendation.
We can all agree on the importance of early education. The research about effective pre-school, primary and secondary education published by the Department for Education today shows that the effects of pre-school last to the age of 16, so it is vital to ensure that children get a good pre-school start. In that context, maintained nurseries are delivering. As we have heard several times in the debate, they are often doing that in disadvantaged areas, where such high-quality provision can make the greatest difference. I fully support those schools where they are delivering high-quality, sustainable provision responsive to parents’ needs. One example of that is Beechdale nursery school in the constituency of the hon. Member for North West Durham, with outstanding provision and additional child care beyond the free entitlement. Another is the maintained nursery schools that are part of the Bristol early-years teaching consortium, where designated teaching schools link with local primary schools and private-sector providers to share their best practice. I look forward to the continued success of those fantastic maintained nursery schools, and more like them, in the years to come.
We should always bear three things in mind in considering child care and early education. We need it to be accessible, affordable for parents and of high quality. There has been some discussion of priorities, and with that triangle the equation is not always as straightforward as it can seem. With child care, one size does not fit all. Parents are obviously concerned about their children’s learning and development, but often they also want somewhere for them to be looked after while they are at work, or when they need a break. Parents look for various solutions when they look at the child care marketplace.
Maintained nursery schools make up a very small part of early education in this country. As we have heard, there are now 414, compared with nearly 7,000 primary schools with nursery classes—6,843, to be precise—and almost 18,000 private or voluntary day nurseries and pre-schools delivering early education. We have a mixed economy for child care and early education. To respond to what the Select Committee Chair said, that should be evidence enough that the Department is not pursuing coherence at the expense of equity. We do not actually have a coherent sector at all; we have a mixed economy, with different types of provision.
Alex Cunningham
I congratulate the Minister on his new role. I do not want to be boring about the North Tees and Hartlepool hospitals nursery closures, but they are part of the mixed economy the Minister has talked about. Can he suggest any intervention he could make? Could his officials speak to the hospitals about advice or other help that the Government could provide that would save the specialist provision of those nurseries for disabled and other special needs children? That would enable parents to set their anxieties aside.
Mr Gyimah
I suggest that the hon. Gentleman write to me, and I will then respond accordingly and get my officials to look into the matter.
I am conscious of the time, so I shall race quickly through my remaining points. Closures have been mentioned several times. The small number of closures that have happened are not necessarily a sign of a long-term trend or a decline in the number of maintained nursery schools. Some have merged or federated with neighbouring schools, so some of the reduction in the overall numbers from 468 10 years ago to 414 now is down to sensible restructuring based on assessment of local need. Despite that reduction, I can reassure all hon. Members that the number of pupils attending maintained nursery schools has increased over the same period, from 39,000 in 2004 to 40,000 in 2014. The hon. Member for North West Durham would describe that as static, but it is a modest increase, and it does not seem at all like a decline to me.
There is as much protection for maintained nursery schools as there is for any other school, if not more. Local authorities cannot close maintained nursery schools without following due process. In fact the current school organisation guidance, published in January 2014, states clearly that
“there is a presumption against the closure of nursery schools”.
That does not mean that a nursery school will never close. Indeed, it cannot be right to guarantee that maintained nursery schools will stay open at all costs, without ensuring that they provide sustainable, high-quality provision that meets the needs of local parents and children. Nevertheless, the case for closure should be strong. The guidance requires that
“any proposal to close should demonstrate that: plans to develop alternative provision clearly demonstrate that it will be at least as equal in terms of the quantity as the provision provided by the nursery school with no loss of expertise and specialism; and replacement provision is more accessible and more convenient for local parents”.
Oral Answers to Questions
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Matthew Hancock
I am slightly surprised to hear that question. In the hon. Lady’s own constituency, the number of apprentices over the past few years has increased by 85%, giving more chances to people. Recently, representatives of half a million employers, mostly small employers, wrote in to our consultation to support the direction of travel, which is supported by the shadow Chancellor.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
14. How many disadvantaged two-year-olds received the 15-hour free entitlement to child care in the latest period for which figures are available?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Elizabeth Truss)
In May 2014, 116,000 two-year-olds were in early learning places, which is 89% of the 130,000 allocation. That means that more two-year-olds are getting a good start in life, preventing a gap from emerging with their wealthier peers when they start school.
Alex Cunningham
I do not think that the Sutton Trust feels that provision is that good or comprehensive. Oxford university research shows that the Government are failing to provide sufficient good-quality places for children already covered, and that they should get that right before expanding the scheme. Will the Minister accept its advice, or will she just push ahead with poor-quality provision, which will do our children little if any good?
Elizabeth Truss
Well, 90% of those two-year-olds are in good or outstanding places. I am pleased to tell the hon. Gentleman that, in June, very high-quality places opened in his own constituency of Stockton at Tilery primary school. We are making it much easier for schools to offer those places to two-year-olds, which typically have teacher-led provision.
Michael Gove
My hon. Friend is a man after my own heart. There are some outstanding local councils, not least, for example, in the north-east and Darlington. They do a great job in supporting head teachers to raise standards and exercise a greater degree of autonomy. Sadly, however, there are those who want the creeping tendrils of bureaucracy once again to choke the delicate flower of freedom, and I am afraid that the Opposition Front Bench is a particularly rank unweeded garden when it comes to nurturing those tendrils.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
Does the Secretary of State expect multi-academy trusts, which are significantly changing the way in which their services are delivered to their academies, fully to consult their head teachers and local governors before these changes are set in train?
Birmingham Schools
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(9 years, 11 months ago)
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Michael Gove
Clear requirements apply to all voluntarily aided faith schools. They are, of course, allowed to make provision for appropriate worship and for freedom of conscience, but they must also offer a broad and balanced curriculum, as has always been the case. They must also respect British values, and, as a result of the proposals on which I intend to consult from today, they will always be required to promote those values actively in the future as well.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
In the light of what we have learned today, does the right hon. Gentleman agree with what appears to be the Home Secretary’s view—that there is no real need to increase spending on anti-extremist programmes?
Michael Gove
I totally agree with the Home Secretary and I think that her leadership on counter-extremism has been exemplary.