Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I should be delighted to go to Wellingborough. Indeed, I should like to make the visit a political one as well, and, on behalf of my Department, to express my appreciation of someone who has given so much support to the coalition. [Laughter.]

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

Last year, Sheffield Hallam university received £6.9 million as part of its share of the student opportunity fund. That not only helped it to recruit 30% of its undergraduate intake from low-income households—a commendable achievement—but to engage in critical retention work with the most disadvantaged learners. Yesterday, in the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, the Secretary of State agreed with me that the fund’s work would be damaged if its resources were cut. Can the Minister reassure the House that that will not happen?

[Mr Willetts]

We certainly understand the value of the work of the student opportunity fund. Indeed, I have visited Sheffield Hallam university and have seen the excellent work that it does.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

Yes, I will, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s work, especially in her constituency where new academies that link the world of work and the world of enterprise are springing up with her support.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

T10. May I press the Minister for Universities and Science further on why he repeatedly rejected warnings on uncontrolled financial support to students in private higher education colleges? In March, he argued that the policy was important to enable private providers to continue with their expansion, but now that he is faced with a growing black hole in the BIS budget, he has reversed the policy. Will he explain why and will he guarantee no further cuts to student support to pay for his mistake?

[Mr Willetts]

Let us be clear, we inherited from the previous Government a complete rubber-stamping exercise under which there was no control whatsoever over alternative providers. We introduced controls. For example, in the last year, out of 87 applications from alternative providers, 18 were approved and 69 were rejected. That was effective quality control and we have taken further steps to ensure that the Department can remain within its budget.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

As I have said, there is an extensive programme of business rate relief, which extends to half a million companies. That is a very good programme, but there is an issue with how we will continue to pay for it, given the many other claims on Government spending.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

May I press the Secretary of State further on business rates? Does he not recognise that in his constituency, as in mine, businesses are raising the issue of the rising cost of business rates? Businesses in my constituency welcome the proposal to save them £450 by cutting and freezing business rates. Would that not be welcomed in his constituency?

[Vince Cable]

I am aware of this problem in the town centres of my constituency, and I am sure that it is a problem across the country. I repeat that there is an extensive programme of business rate relief. The Government have given local councils the freedom to offer discounts on business rates and we provide a 50:50 matching contribution.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Fallon]

Let me first pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who had responsibility for this industry in the Department for three years. The automotive strategy, published earlier this summer, included a focus on the new automotive investment organisation to attract more suppliers into the UK, work to tackle the skills base by recruiting nearly 2,000 additional graduates into engineering, and further work to strengthen the supply chain throughout the industry.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will know that there is serious concern among our universities about many of the provisions of the Immigration Bill and their impact on international student recruitment. What discussions has he had with universities on the issue and what representations has he made to the Home Office?

[The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts)]

What we are seeing is a continuing increase in the number of overseas students applying to come to study in Britain. We all make it clear whenever we visit overseas markets that there is no cap on the number of legitimate overseas students coming to Britain; they are very warmly welcome.

EU-US Trade and Investment Agreement

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

I add to the congratulations to my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) and to the hon. Member for Aberconwy (Guto Bebb) on securing this debate. What a difference a week makes, or maybe two weeks. Here we are today debating something of importance in relation to our membership of the European Union, focusing on the benefits of our membership, and the Government Benches are empty, in such contrast with the excitable packed Benches we saw—[Interruption.] Practically empty. I apologise to those few Members who are there. The contrast, however, is not with the Opposition Benches today but with the Government Benches two weeks ago. Today we are debating a serious and important issue to do with our membership of the European Union.

[Julian Smith]

The hon. Gentleman says this is a serious and important matter, but does he agree that giving the British people a say on Europe is also serious and important?

[Paul Blomfield]

I thought the debate a couple of weeks ago was more about resolving internal differences in the Conservative party than a wider concern for the views of British people.

What an irony it is that too many Government Members want to lead us out of Europe, just at the moment that the already substantial benefits from our membership of the EU are set to become even better. I might even feel sorry for the Prime Minister if these problems were not of his own making. He knows that our future lies in Europe, just as our past always has done, and he wants this country to be at the heart of the European Union and his party to stop banging on about Europe. He knows the importance of this trade deal, but he made an early mistake back in 2005 when, lagging behind in the leadership contest for his party, he threw red meat to Conservative Members who would take us out of the EU with a promise to leave the European People’s party. He was warned by his Conservative allies in Europe—

[Jonathan Evans]

Perhaps I should point out to the hon. Gentleman that I was leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament at that time, and the Conservative party was never in the European People’s party at any time.

[Paul Blomfield]

The Conservative party’s alliances when the hon. Gentleman was in the European Parliament were better than those it has made subsequently.

[Guto Bebb]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Paul Blomfield]

Let me make some progress, My point is that the Prime Minister did not understand that the more red meat he threw to those on his right, the more they would want. We find ourselves being pushed towards the exit door of the European Union at a time when the case for membership has never been stronger.

Let me turn to the trade deal and the comments made earlier by the hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash), who sadly is no longer in his place, when he sought to diminish the importance of our trade with the European Union. The EU is the UK’s main trading partner and comprises around 52% of the UK’s total trade in goods and services. Of course growing markets in China and India are important, but those two markets account for 5.6% and 1.6% of our current trade. Through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Government estimate that 3.5 million jobs in Britain are linked, directly or indirectly, to our trade with EU member states.

Let us look to the future. It has been estimated that by 2020 the UK will have fallen to the ninth largest economy in the world. In contrast, the EU is the largest economy in the world, home to 7.4% of the world’s population and accounting for almost 20% of world GDP. The EU is not important to the UK simply for that reason, but also because of the access it provides to other markets. The EU is the top trading partner for 80 countries and currently has free trade agreements with more than 40. That process is continuing, and the EU is currently negotiating agreements with more than 70 countries, including important UK partners such as India and Japan, as well as growing economies such as Brazil. According to the CBI, the European Union has negotiated trade agreements that cover around 30% of trade outside the EU area, and it is in the process of raising that figure to 70%.

It has been estimated that the deal we are considering today will generate around €119 billion of benefits to the EU and create 2 million jobs. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne pointed out in his opening remarks, that could benefit the UK economy by up to £10 billion a year. My hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey) was right to point out that current tariffs averaging around 4% are quite low, but given the volume of trade, the benefits are significant. Even more significant—my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne referred to this—is the alignment of regulatory standards and the opportunity that offers not only for trade between these two important blocs, but in raising standards internationally.

My right hon. Friend was also right to highlight concerns about the potential privatisation of public services—a threat that has been targeted wrongly at this deal. It is important that we reassure those who are worried about the impact of this deal on public services, and the health service in particular, which might disappoint some Conservative Members who would like to see much greater privatisation.

In the free trade agreements that the EU has negotiated, public services exemptions are provided in two ways: first, by provisions that refer to

“services exercised under Government authority”—

the police, for example, and the justice system—and, secondly, by provision for public utilities, which would cover health care. The former provisions are automatically excluded from all trade agreements. The latter are not automatically excluded but reservations are attached that allow EU member states to maintain public provision or limit access to a certain number of providers—both domestic and foreign—in those sectors.

It is important that we send a clear message that the EU-US trade agreement in itself cannot lead to further privatisation of health care in this country. The policies of this Government will do that—or perhaps not, if they are successfully defeated. The trade agreement could, however, lead to a significant boost to the UK economy. It would be the most significant bilateral agreement, and our combined economies are worth almost 40% of world GDP. We must be honest when responding to comments made by some Government Members who are no longer in their seats, and recognise where we stand internationally. The UK alone would not have the negotiating clout of the EU in striking the sort of deal that would benefit all member states, including the UK. As with so many other things, we are stronger together in Europe, and this deal is yet another reason why we must be at the centre of the European Union.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

I note what my hon. Friend has said. Of course, it is worth recalling that banking services are being disseminated through the post office network, and one of the consequences of our being able to save that network from large-scale closures is that banking services are available now even in the most remote rural areas.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State say what discussions he has had with the Home Office about the introduction of cash bonds for student visas, which has had a lot of negative press coverage overseas? Does he agree that the introduction of such bonds, either for student visitor visas or for tier 4 visas, would further damage international student recruitment?

[Vince Cable]

I am in constant contact with the Home Office about such matters. It is worth pointing out that the concept involves offering the possibility of a bond to people who have otherwise been rejected in the course of a visa application, so if it operates according to that spirit, it should ease, rather than make more difficult, access to visas.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

As the hon. Lady knows, the Birmingham authority does not have a particularly good record, whether under Labour or the coalition, in providing an appropriate level of challenge. In Birmingham, it is head teachers who are providing the opportunity—people like Sir Christopher Stone are doing a fantastic job in making sure other schools improve—and the best school in Birmingham, Perry Beeches, has now opened a free school, which is showing the way. If we empower teachers in the spirit in which the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) suggests, we can do a lot more to raise standards than we ever did when we empowered bureaucrats.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

6. What plans he has for child care and early intervention provision; and if he will make a statement.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mr Edward Timpson)]

There is consensus across the House that early intervention is both effective and necessary, and the Government are determined to build on that, with the Early Intervention Foundation, formally launched on 15 April, playing an important role in gathering information about what works. We already know how powerful high-quality education and child care can be as an early intervention tool, which is why we are extending early learning for two-year-olds from low-income families.

[Paul Blomfield]

In Education questions on 4 March, I asked the Secretary of State about the cut of 27%, or £6.8 million, to Sheffield’s early intervention grant, forcing the council to make deep cuts in early years provision. In his reply, he cited a grant of £25.2 million, describing it as an increase of 3.9%. I have since confirmed the position with council officers, who said that they could only—I quote—

“assume the Minister made an error on this. The £25.2 million refers to the current year. The figure of £6.8 million EIG reduction was the figure provided by DCLG. The cut in fact was £7.4 million when the Government confirmed the Council funding for 2013.”

Will the Secretary of State apologise and accept that he was in error and that my figures were right and, more importantly, apologise to the parents of Sheffield whose child care is being threatened?

[Mr Timpson]

The hon. Gentleman will know that the Secretary of State is always delighted to speak to people and professionals in Sheffield to see how the early intervention grant, which is rising from £2.3 billion to £2.5 billion, can be best spent in the Sheffield area. I am sure that is a discussion he will be happy to have.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend, who has a formidable record in campaigning to support family life. It is a massive challenge. No single set of Government interventions will help to sustain family life, but it is important that we do what we can. I look forward to working with him to ensure that we can support people who stay together and who demonstrate love and support for the next generation.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

T4. The Government have cut Sheffield’s early intervention grant by 27%, or £6.8 million, forcing the council to make deep cuts to early years provision. Last week the Secretary of State was invited to present evidence to the council’s children, young people and family support scrutiny committee. As he missed that opportunity, will he now tell the House what he would say to some of the most vulnerable families in our city whose child care is threatened as a result of his decision?

[Michael Gove]

I am reliably informed by the Department that in this financial year £25.2 million has been allocated to Sheffield in the early intervention grant. [Interruption.] It is a 3.9% increase on last year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

My hon. Friend is right. There is no cap on the number of overseas students who come to Britain. All legitimate overseas students are warmly welcome in our country.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

Will the Minister acknowledge that both universities in my constituency, along with many others across the sector, have been negatively impacted by the ill-considered and hastily introduced student control measures last year? Will he recognise that he made a mistake by rushing into that and explain what he is going to do to mitigate the damage?

[Mr Willetts]

Let us be clear. The student control system that we inherited involved allocating a fixed number of student places to every university in England. We do not believe that that is the right way of ensuring competition and choice in our education. That is why we are introducing new flexibilities, so that universities that succeed in attracting more students can take on more students.

Examination Reform

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Mactaggart]

Members on the Government Benches have said a number of times that there is space in the curriculum for these subjects. The problem, which none of them has yet addressed, is that since the introduction of the EBacc, school after school has reduced provision in those subjects. A tool is available, which the Government have chosen not to use. I do not think there is a respectable argument not to include in the EBacc at least one subject in which a young person’s creativity is what is assessed. I am arguing not for the exclusion of anything, but for the inclusion of assessment in subjects such as design and technology, music, art and drama.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

George Nicholson, a published composer and director of graduate studies at the university of Sheffield, makes precisely the point my hon. Friend has made about the degrading of creative subjects. Would she argue that, at the very least, a sixth pillar must be added to the EBacc, covering such subject areas, as the Henley review recommended?

[Fiona Mactaggart]

That is precisely the point I am seeking to make: there needs to be an additional pillar that includes these kinds of subjects.

I am worried about the Secretary of State, because in his response to my question about the achievements in Nobel prizes and so on, he said:

“The arts are mankind’s greatest achievement.”

We both share that view, but he went on to say:

“Every child should be able to enjoy and appreciate great literature, music, drama and visual art.”—[Official Report, 3 December 2012; Vol. 554, c. 579.]

That is not enough; it is not sufficient for children just to be able to enjoy and appreciate, and one thing we have to do as part of education is to develop in children the ability to create. I welcome Henley’s report, but Robinson’s report on creativity in education, produced more than a decade earlier, rightly suggested that we should define creativity as

“Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value.”

This is one thing that children should learn in school. It is not sufficient to expect them to learn it outside school. Many of us ensure that our children are able to learn it outside school, but many children do not get that opportunity and it is those about whom I am most concerned.

I am also concerned about the effect on our country’s achievements. There is a reason why we are a world leader in creative industries: our tradition of creativity in education and of requiring these subjects to be part of every child’s entitlement. I am concerned—I have yet to hear an answer on this from Government Members—as to whether there is any tool that ensures what I believe the Secretary of State wants, which is that children should be able to learn the ability to create. The schools that he most admires—Eton, just next to my constituency, and others—provide outstanding creative education. They are not following a set of league tables that make them jump through hoops and be judged just against their EBacc levels.

On this issue, I am reminded of the bit in Dickens’ “Hard Times” where Thomas Gradgrind says to Sissy Jupe, who knows everything there is to know about horses, “Define a horse.” She sits there silent, not knowing how to do it, and then Bitzer says, “Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth”. That is of course the right answer, because ours is a world determined by facts. The bit of the story that many of us have forgotten is where the inspector speaks later. Dickens has him saying:

“You are to be in all things regulated and governed…by fact. We hope to have, before long, a board of fact, composed of commissioners of fact, who will force the people to be a people of fact, and of nothing but fact. You must”—[Interruption.]

Oh! Trust iPad!

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts

Monday 29th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

18. If the legal action against Ofqual is successful, and it is decided that pupils were treated unfairly—which the Secretary of State himself believes, although he refuses to do anything about it—what action will the right hon. Gentleman take?

[Michael Gove]

I would not wish to pre-empt any judgment in the courts.