Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gyimah]

The hon. Gentleman is asking about the payment of governors in the early years sector. As he is aware, the early years sector is very diverse. Child minders and PVI nurseries do not have school governors. Some maintained nurseries do, but they do not have to pay them.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

There will continue to be a shortage of nursery class places until we address the issue of pay for nursery school staff. Top bankers’ pay went up by 7% last year, and that of those working in nursery schools by barely more than 1%. What will the Minister do about that?

[Mr Gyimah]

I welcome the hon. Lady to her post, but I do not agree with the numbers she cites. In fact, the pay of nursery staff has gone up, according to independent statistics. More important, most of the provision is in the private sector. The Government cannot prescribe wages for people in the private sector, but we can cut taxes so that people can keep more of what they earn, and that is why we have raised the personal allowance to £10,000.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Monday 10th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right, and had she been fortunate enough to join me at the London Academy of Excellence last week she would have seen a free school that is outperforming an independent school. The next time I have the opportunity to visit an outstanding academy or free school, I hope she will come with me to see what the state sector is capable of achieving to outpace and outperform the private sector.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The Lyndale school in south Wirral is a very small but excellent school. It is not currently an academy and it is under threat of closure. One of the options for saving it involves it becoming an academy, so if parents and I can find a way to keep the school sustainable, will the Secretary of State stand ready to help us?

[Michael Gove]

Absolutely; I very much enjoyed visiting the Wirral just two weeks ago, and I will do anything I can to work with the hon. Lady to help the children and teachers in that school.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue. Ofsted has, in its new revised handbook, taken account of the fact that more parents are exercising choice in a way that inevitably compels Ofsted to review its guidance, and explicitly it says:

“Certain types of schools (such as faith, Steiner and Montessori schools) exist as maintained or independent schools. When inspecting such…provisions, inspectors should familiarise themselves with the background information to these types of schools”.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

We heard at Prime Minister’s questions last week about the impact of free schools on the cost of school uniforms. Whatever the rights and wrongs of free schools or uniform policy, may I give the Secretary of State a second chance on this, and will he explain what steps he has been taking, in relation to free or other schools, to keep the cost of school uniforms down for parents?

[Michael Gove]

This is an important issue. Parents need reassurance that we are doing everything possible to keep down the cost of school uniforms. Clear guidance is issued by the Department for Education on how costs can be kept down. I subsequently read the report that was mentioned at Prime Minister’s questions last week and it referred to 13 schools, a small sample, but there were one or two worrying cases. I believe that those worrying cases may well be voluntary-aided schools rather than academy or free schools, but we shall keep the issue constantly under review.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

If the regional growth fund is to be at all successful, it must not only create jobs but improve the skills base in our country. What checks has the Minister put in place to make sure that this actually happens?

[Michael Fallon]

The regional growth fund makes grants not simply to projects and individual companies, but to programmes organised by local enterprise partnerships and other private sector organisations, many of which focus on improving the level of skills in these particular areas.

Child-care Ratios

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Thursday 9th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Many childminders—I recently held a round table meeting with them—told me that they welcome the additional flexibility that they will have under our rules. They also welcome the increased level of trust that we are placing in child care professionals. Rather than dictating from Whitehall what they should be doing, we have a strong inspection regime, we are recruiting new Her Majesty’s inspectors into the sector and we are giving more professional responsibility to people on the ground.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

I have been struck by the number of people in my constituency raising with me their concerns about these proposals. They are concerned that they are rushed and ill thought through. Will the Minister apologise for the manner in which this proposal has been debated in the country, and will she commit to listen properly to people like my mum who have spent their lives in child care?

[Elizabeth Truss]

Our policy is all about giving the hon. Lady’s mum more say over how she runs her own child care. It is a very important principle that no nursery care assistant or childminder is going to be forced to look after more children. What we are doing is allowing them to exercise professional responsibility. We are also doing something about the exorbitant costs that Labour created in our child care system. How on earth can Labour Members be proud of a record of having the highest child care costs in Europe?

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for campaigning against this vile and abhorrent crime. He rightly points out the action that the Government are taking on human trafficking. That is being done in conjunction with BIS, but the Home Office is obviously the lead Department on human trafficking. The Minister for Immigration has rightly been taking the matter forward. Both he and I spoke at a conference this week about human trafficking and the risks to the hospitality sector in particular. We will continue to work with business to raise the awareness of this issue and to clamp down on problems in the supply chain. It is a reputational risk for businesses and we must ensure that there is proper enforcement through the Home Office procedures.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

5. What assessment he has made of access to apprenticeships for young women.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills (Matthew Hancock)]

The number of women starting apprenticeships has more than doubled since this Government took office. The tax cuts for low earners that were announced yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer will take thousands of apprentices—men and women—out of tax altogether.

[Alison McGovern]

I thank the Minister for his answer, I think. It sounded lovely, but unfortunately the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee reported in November:

“Gender segregation remains a huge problem with only 3% of engineering apprentices”

being women

“compared to 92% of hairdressing apprentices.”

The Select Committee said:

“Such inequality, especially in a publicly funded scheme is not acceptable”.

Since November, what has the Minister been doing about that?

Curriculum and Exam Reform

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend—who used to be a member of the Education Committee—has made a very good point. One of the other problems with contextual value added was that it seemed to embed a culture of low expectations by automatically assuming that students from particular ethnic minority backgrounds would do less well. The “value added” measure that we hope to introduce will be clearer and simpler, and will also embed high expectations for every student.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

Only last Friday, when I visited a secondary school in Bebington, in my constituency, I was greeted at the gates by exasperated teachers who were fed up with learning the latest news about their subjects on BBC News 24. Now that the Secretary of State has apologised, will he put things right by answering the question that he was asked earlier, and telling us how much all this has cost?

[Michael Gove]

Over the last three years, the Department has made significant savings in every area by concentrating on better value for money. I think that, overall, this move will save money for a variety of schools and students by ensuring that modularisation, controlled assessment and coursework—which have absorbed so much energy and time—will no longer absorb energy, time and money from our schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

The Government are supporting women with young children, and families in general, to the tune of about £5 billion through the child care element in tax credit and free early years tuition, which for low-income families has been extended to two-year-olds, as well as tax relief on employers’ schemes. That amounts to very substantial support for child care.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The number of women in the workplace has been increasing for some time, of course, but in Wirral women public servants faced with the threat of redundancy and women leaders of small business tell me the cuts to Wirral council are threatening their job security. Will the Secretary of State ask his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government to have a rethink about some of the heaviest cuts that are falling on places such as Merseyside?

[Vince Cable]

It is never good when people lose their jobs, and I always regret that, but the simple fact is that in Wirral, as in other parts of the country, the number of public sector local and national Government jobs lost is far outweighed by the number of jobs created in the private sector; over 1 million have been created over the past two years.

Special Educational Needs (Wirral)

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Westminster Hall

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to have this debate and hear the Government’s view. The issue affects a few people in my constituency, but its importance is in no way diminished by the number of people affected. Those of us who have listened to the parents of children with significant disabilities can never meet them without feeling a great responsibility to listen to them and understand their concerns, which I will attempt to relay in this debate.

I am not a specialist by any means in special educational needs and assisting children with disabilities and their families, which is another reason why I requested the debate, but whenever I meet my constituents who have children with profound and multiple learning disabilities, I am struck by their commitment and dedication. I have no doubt that every MP thinks that their constituents are special and important, but those constituents of mine are some of the most dedicated people in our society, and they deserve our full respect and appreciation. Their children are deeply important members of our community.

For those reasons, I want to refer to education from the ages of two to 19 in schools in Wirral and specifically the Lyndale school, which I have visited several times, as did my predecessor. I am sure that I speak for him when I say that we have been struck in recent years by how fantastic a place the school is. It has about 20 children, so it is a very small school, and it specialises in education for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. They are the children coping with the most complex difficulties and profound disabilities. All 20 of them use wheelchairs, seven of the children require oxygen, six require suctioning and many have epilepsy.

In 2010, I visited the school to present it with an award from a national epilepsy charity for the care that it gives to children with epilepsy. I was pleased and proud to do so. Although the school is small, it is an expert environment. I understand that some of the children need the help of up to 30 professionals. They may come into contact with lots of different people, which can be stressful. Parents must constantly retell their child’s story. I understand how frustrating, difficult and at times upsetting they must find that.

Having listened to those parents, I understand why they can conclude that the best environment in which to educate their child is one that is more constant than the primary-secondary model. I will refer to the change between primary school, which serves the ages of two to 11, and secondary school, which serves the age of 11 upwards, as transition. Parents have described to me their uncertainty whether they want transition for their child. It can be stressful. They have explained to me that their child’s needs are so complex that they feel that a two-to-19 environment might be better. It is not specifically about a fixed idea that their child should be in one environment throughout that age range; rather, it is the idea that the transition should come at a time that is right for the child and that there should be flexibility around the needs of the family rather than a transition that is decided on in advance.

I should say at this point that although I am not an expert, I understand that the question of a transition for all children is one on which different professionals take different views. I do not presume to know the right answer; my aim is to relay to the Government the views of my constituents. They feel that a transition is not right for them, and they would like Wirral council to consider helping the Lyndale school become two-to-19 if it wishes. Clearly, it is not for the Minister to say what the right decision is for Wirral to take, but I would be grateful for advice and assistance from the Government—I will come to specific asks—to help my constituents to address the question.

I understand that a significant minority of special schools in the country are two-to-19 schools. In its 2006 report on special educational needs, Ofsted found that the crucial factor in the successful education of children with special needs is not the type of school but the quality of the environment and the education that they receive. That makes sense to me. Having visited various schools, I know that what is important is not necessarily the name on the door or the structure within which the school operates, but rather the expertise of the people assisting the children. That is reflected in my constituents’ desire for their children to be looked after in a way that centres on their needs. They are children for whom the challenges are greatest. We as a community have the biggest responsibility to assist them, given the complexity of their needs.

Expertise states that the transition between primary and secondary school is less of a priority for parents than their children’s specific needs. Those views should be listened to, as we should listen to all parents about their concerns for their child’s needs. I hope that there is cross-party acceptance of that basic principle. As has been explained to me, some professionals in the Wirral view transition as important. However, one of our neighbouring authorities, Cheshire West and Chester, has several two-to-19 schools. If a school such as the Lyndale, which has expertise, wants to go in that direction, it is important to consider how we can empower it to do so.

Before I delineate how I hope that the Government, the Minister and civil servants might help us address the concerns of parents at the Lyndale school, I note that the funding system for all schools—specifically, special schools—is changing. As we can all understand, those changes will affect the smallest and most specialised schools the most. A small fluctuation in numbers can have large consequences for them. Additionally, because those small specialist schools assist children with the greatest and most complicated difficulties, such changes can cause a lot of stress that does not happen in a normal school environment. I have tried to consider the issue in the light of future funding changes and how they might force a need for change.

I have two questions for the Minister and a request for help. First, professionals take different views on whether a transition is required or advisable and parents feel differently about that. The assistance that we can give children with disabilities is changing all the time and expertise is developing. I should be grateful to the Minister if he confirmed whether the Department can help us in Wirral with some expert advice on whether to transition and how a two-to-19 environment might assist children with profound and multiple learning difficulties with the most complex of needs. Will he say how we can access more advice and whether there are national specialists who may be able to help us in the Wirral?

I am conscious that nearby authorities do things slightly differently and that schools throughout the country may have already looked at how to assist children with profound and multiple learning difficulties and considered whether they should transition. Ministers and civil servants may be aware of other factors, in terms of the advances that are being made helping children facing the most difficult educational challenges.

Secondly, how will the new funding arrangements affect the smallest schools? No doubt, the Government will be aware of other small schools—for example, those in rural areas where it is not realistic to ask children to travel—when considering the new funding arrangements. I should also like the Minister to say how this impact can be borne in mind in relation to schools, such as Lyndale, where parents already deal with significant challenges: their working lives are made more complex by their family’s needs and the rest of their family life will be affected by the needs of one child. It is our duty, as politicians, to understand those needs and do everything that we can to support those children and the wider family and help parents—having listened to and understood them—to make decisions about their child’s education.

Funding changes will affect the smallest schools the most, particularly special schools, and parents of children at such schools will have more stresses, and so on, to think about than the average family. I should be grateful to the Minister if he said what has been considered in respect of how funding changes will affect schools, including the Lyndale in my constituency.

We have a responsibility to give care and attention to children with profound and multiple learning difficulties, to understand them as individuals and to try to give them the most expert care that we can. To do that we need to listen to their parents, who know them best and understand their needs. We in the Wirral are wrestling with the somewhat technical point about whether there should be transition. I ask the Minister and the Government what expertise they can help to bring to bear in that regard, so that we can resolve this question and truly give the parents of those children the best possible service.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Monday 3rd December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The Sutton Trust and Sir Peter Lampl have done wonderful work to advance social mobility. Not every aspect of the open access scheme necessarily recommends itself to the Government, but I applaud all the independent schools, such as those in the King Edward VI Foundation in Birmingham, which have done so much to extend a brilliant education to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

[Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State spoke earlier about the canon. He may recall that, in 2009, he said:

“the greatest artists and thinkers are great precisely because their insights and achievements have the capacity to move, and influence, us all”.

Does he agree with the great artist Danny Boyle, who said recently:

“If there is any way you can help make culture, music, dance, theatre a core of the new English baccalaureate you will have given something beyond what you give every day”

[Michael Gove]

As an admirer of Danny Boyle’s film-making, and indeed of the amazing work that he did at the opening ceremony for the Olympics, I hesitate ever to disagree with him in any respect. That is why I was so pleased this morning to be able to talk to representatives of the culture sector, including those responsible for dance education, drama and visual arts, and to agree on what we can do together to ensure that every child has access to the best that has been thought and written.