Mark Menzies
Main Page: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)Department Debates - View all Mark Menzies's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Michael Gove
I take a close interest in ensuring that we deal with the problem of literacy. I am hoping to visit the prison education programme in Wormwood Scrubs in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency next week. We should do everything possible to support literacy in prisons and in the justice system. If he looks closely at the work the Justice Secretary is undertaking to ensure that in secure settings for young people an appropriate emphasis is placed on education, he will appreciate that the Justice Secretary is more committed than anyone to ensuring that those who are incarcerated have the chance to educate themselves out of the path they have taken.
Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)
T8. Does my right hon. Friend agree that academies turn around some of the worst-performing schools in our country? Will the Government redouble their efforts to create the conditions to allow academies to thrive in Lancashire?
Michael Gove
My hon. Friend makes a very powerful point. It is incumbent on the Labour leadership of Lancashire county council to do as other enlightened Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat local authorities have done and support academy providers in turning around underperforming schools.