Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 12 Jul 2016
Early Years Development and School-Readiness
"I congratulate the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (James Berry) on securing this debate. I cannot compete with the expertise. A lot of people have done a lot of work in this field already. I am, however, the grandfather of six grandchildren, all of whom are close to me. …..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Early Years Development and School-Readiness
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 05 Jul 2016
Teachers Strike
"There is a section of the Government that does not believe in experts, but, for the record, is the Minister really contradicting the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which predicts an 8% fall by 2020 in school budgets, in real terms?..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Teachers Strike
Written Question
Friday 27th May 2016
Asked by:
John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools founded since 2015 are compliant with section 5 of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010 were replaced by the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, which came into force on 5 January 2015.
58 fee paying independent schools have been registered since 1 January 2015. Not all of these have been inspected since registration. The normal procedure is for an independent school to be inspected in their first year of operation.
14 schools have had a standard inspection since registration, and two schools have had material change inspections. Three of the standard inspections do not yet have a report available due to them having taken place very recently.
Of the 11 inspection reports available, only one shows a failure to meet standard 5.
All schools will have been inspected prior to registration and judged likely to meet all of the standards. Schools are not permitted to register unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the school is likely to meet all of the standards on registration.
Written Question
Friday 27th May 2016
Asked by:
John Pugh (Liberal Democrat - Southport)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many enforcement actions have been initiated by her Department for contravention of the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010 section 5 since 2015.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010 were replaced by the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, which came into force on 5 January 2015 and set out more demanding standards that independent schools must meet. Standard 5 places requirements on schools on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
The Department commissions Ofsted or one of the approved independent inspectorates to inspect independent schools and report on whether or not they are meeting the standards. Where a school fails to meet the standards, the Department issues a statutory notice requiring an action plan to rectify the failings. In nearly all cases the school improves to meet the standards and regulatory action can stop. However, in rare cases where a school fails to make the required improvements the Secretary of State can take enforcement action: to impose a relevant restriction or to remove the school from the register of independent schools. More information on how the Department regulates the independent sector is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulating-independent-schools
Since 2015, the Secretary of State has taken enforcement action against two fee-paying independent schools for a failure to meet standard 5. Both schools were also failing to meet a number of the other standards.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 25 May 2016
Education, Skills and Training
"Does the hon. Lady accept that the volume of legislation is not an indicator of the quality of government, and a little legislation on schools would not go amiss now?..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Education, Skills and Training
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 25 May 2016
Education, Skills and Training
"That is an excellent suggestion, but does the hon. Lady agree that there is an overlap between design and technology and IT, and that that might be affected by her proposal?..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Education, Skills and Training
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 25 May 2016
Education, Skills and Training
"I apologise for missing the Minister’s opening peroration. I am sure it was very impressive and persuasive.
Politicians are, generally speaking, good talkers but poor listeners. However, I and many others listen carefully to the Queen’s Speech. I also try to listen to the Minister for Schools, the Secretary of …..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Education, Skills and Training
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 10 May 2016
Key Stage 2 Tests
"Returning to the tests, the Minister cannot do them, the Department cannot organise them and schools cannot understand them. Does the Minister agree with the headmaster of a major primary school in my area, Adrian Antell, who wrote to him saying,
“The primary assessment system in our schools is nothing …..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Key Stage 2 Tests
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 09 May 2016
“Educational Excellence Everywhere”: Academies
"Can the Minister specify why she objects to the line put across in The Times today by PricewaterhouseCoopers—presumably, a vested interest—who argue that academisation is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for school improvement, or is evidence utterly irrelevant?..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: “Educational Excellence Everywhere”: Academies
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 13 Apr 2016
Schools White Paper
"Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome. At the start of every Parliament somebody suggests that, before political capital is exhausted, there should be an attempt to restructure a major public service, with the hopeful, if naive, …..."John Pugh - View Speech
View all John Pugh (LD - Southport) contributions to the debate on: Schools White Paper