Building Schools for the Future Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Education
Oliver Colvile
Main Page: Oliver Colvile (Conservative - Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport)Department Debates - View all Oliver Colvile's debates with the Department for Education
(13 years, 3 months ago)
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Michael Gove
I appreciate the passionate and effective way in which the right hon. Gentleman makes his case. I had the opportunity to talk to Sandwell’s council leader on 5 August, when he brought a delegation of teachers, parents and young people to the Department for Education, and I am very, very happy to ensure that, in the process that we now have, I listen fairly to all the representations made by Sandwell and its Members of Parliament.
Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con)
The Building Schools for the Future programme was put together according to political criteria rather than being based on Schools’ state of dilapidation. Does my right hon. Friend feel that that was right?
Michael Gove
My hon. Friend makes a very fair case. As I mentioned earlier, some local authorities and schools in the Building Schools for the Future scheme were badly in need of investment, and I, like all right hon. and hon. Members, am sorry that the money simply is not there to invest in every school that needs it. But, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) quite rightly makes clear, the school estates of many local authorities outside BSF were also in need of renovation.