Speech in Westminster Hall - Mon 24 Feb 2014 Holiday Pricing
"Obviously, it is difficult being a Minister in a different Department. Will the Minister ask the Ministers in the Department for Education to write to me and the other hon. Members who have spoken in the debate about what pressures Ofsted is putting on schools to reduce the number of …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"A number of participants in the debate think that head teachers are making the wrong decisions. If Ofsted is putting pressure on numbers, guidance would help us to analyse that in more depth. Prior to the changes, less than 10% of parents took advantage of the process in primary schools …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"The discrepancy between the Minister’s figures and mine may rest on the fact that mine deal with authorised absence, whereas hers include unauthorised absence as well. Unauthorised absence is increasing, which is another factor in this debate...." John Hemming - View Speech
"On that point, schedule 14 to the Deregulation Bill will give schools the power to set term and holiday dates, but in constituencies such as mine, one family may have children in a primary school in the Birmingham local education authority and children in a secondary school in the Solihull …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"I thank you, Dr McCrea, for your chairmanship, Mr Turner for his able work, and all the contributors to the debate. I do not think that there is any advantage in repeating what everyone has said, but there are some issues that must be sorted out, so let us get …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"Does my hon. Friend agree that this is about the physical efforts of the uniformed services, and that the £10 million will not derail the whole package? We need to be aware that certain jobs are particularly physically demanding, and that people cannot keep on doing them until they reach …..." John Hemming - View Speech
"The Opposition seem to be saying that the decision should be made today without negotiation, but does my hon. Friend agree with me that negotiation is the best way forward, and that to have such negotiation, we need to support the Government’s proposal for negotiation?..." John Hemming - View Speech
"I declare an interest on behalf of myself and my hon. Friend the Member for Cheadle (Mark Hunter). We are both members of the Campaign for Real Ale. Does my hon. Friend agree that the social environment of pubs is very important?..." John Hemming - View Speech
"I agree that we should constrain the amount of money we send to Europe, but in financial terms the difference between the amendment and the original motion could be less than £1 a year. Why divide the House when we all wish to constrain that amount?..." John Hemming - View Speech
"In Birmingham, 283,000 people have benefited from a tax cut of £220. Will the Minister assure me that we will continue to try to protect the low-paid by reducing how much tax they pay?..." John Hemming - View Speech