Oral Answers to Questions

Catherine Atkinson Excerpts

Monday 20th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

It is absolutely nothing of the sort. What we inherited was a systematic failure of white working-class kids and children with special educational needs and disabilities in our country. I read the right hon. Lady’s conference speech with great care, and I looked out in that speech for any mention of children with SEND, of children with additional needs or, indeed, of some of the groups she has been talking about this afternoon. She had nothing to say on the topic. It is the usual confected outrage that has become the right hon. Lady’s hallmark.

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

T4. I was delighted to welcome the Education Secretary to St Mary’s Catholic primary school in Derby, the greenest school in the country, where every classroom looks out on to green spaces. We are also lucky to have the stunning River Derwent flowing through our city, which children can paddle, walk and row along. What assessments have been made of the benefits to children of having access to nature as part of their education?

[The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)]

That sounds idyllic, and I hope I can follow the Secretary of State on a visit to that beautiful school. Improving connection to nature helps to address key priorities in the opportunity mission, and we are supporting the University of Oxford’s assessment of the impact of nature-based programmes in secondary schools.