School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill

Rob Butler Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 2nd February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford) on introducing this Bill. Good levels of attendance at school are crucial to children’s education. It should go without saying that missing classes can cause serious consequences in later life, so it is imperative that we do all we can to get children who are regularly absent back in school. As my right hon. Friend mentioned, the Bill is a simple but crucial piece of legislation that will combat the real concern about children being away from school by placing a general duty on local authorities to promote regular attendance. It should also help to ensure that schools play their part by requiring them to have a dedicated attendance policy.

I am very pleased that the Government are already committed to confronting absence, with the Education Secretary having said:

“Tackling attendance is my number one priority.”

In 2022, the Department published detailed guidance for schools, academies, independent schools and local authorities to improve school attendance. The Bill aims to make some of those recommendations statutory, and while the move to that statutory footing is generally welcome, I know that some local authorities are a little concerned about the cost implications of moving from an advisory footing to a statutory one. If the Minister could say anything in his remarks about support for those local authorities, I am sure it would be very welcome.

It should be recognised that ensuring attendance is a team effort. I was very pleased that in 2022, the Department for Education launched a consultation seeking views on measures to improve the consistency of support to families in England on school attendance. The consultation had respondents from that very wide joint team effort —school staff, academy trusts, parents, local authorities and other relevant organisations—and those responses were largely in favour of implementing the changes that the Bill aims to introduce, with 71% agreeing with the proposal that schools should be required to have an attendance policy.

I welcome the Government’s recent announcement that over the next three years, up to £15 million will be invested to expand the attendance mentor pilot programme, which provides direct incentives to support more than 10,000 persistent and severely absent pupils. That comes alongside the announcement that there will be 18 new attendance hubs, which will see nearly 2,000 schools benefit from advice on cutting down absences. That is a list of the good things that the Department is doing to tackle this problem, and the Bill would only add to that.

Although the additional funding and the expansion of the hubs is welcome, the support that is currently available to families and pupils can vary significantly depending on the school the child attends and which local authority area they live in, so I am pleased that the Bill intends to end such variability. By requiring local authorities to provide all schools with a named point of contact to provide support with queries and advice, it will reassure schools that they are not on their own, and by mandating local authorities to use their services to remove common causes of absence in their area, it will, I hope, help to combat any socioeconomic factors that may be leading to lower attendance.

Like most right hon. and hon. Members—including, dare I say it, you, Mr Deputy Speaker—I frequently visit schools in my constituency, and I am consistently impressed by the dedication and commitment of the teachers and all the other staff. I am especially proud to have in my constituency a university technical college, which provides education that goes well beyond traditional academic subjects and focuses on developing skills that will be directly relevant in the workplace. That underlines the range of superb educational provision that exists in Aylesbury.

I wish to highlight the brilliant Ofsted report received this week by Aylesbury High School, which was judged to be outstanding in each and every category. That is a tremendous achievement and I hope that the Minister and, indeed, the entire House will join me in congratulating the headteacher and everybody at Aylesbury High School on it.

During my visits to schools, I sadly hear too often about the challenges of ensuring attendance. Of course, the individual school—whether it is a high school, a UTC, a primary school or whatever type of educational setting—needs to implement policies to tackle that attendance challenge, so I am pleased that the Bill will require all schools to implement robust day-to-day processes for recording, monitoring and following up absences. Those data will help the school and the local authority to assess the best ways to tackle short and long-term absences.

It is, though, important that we do not overburden our schools. This is particularly the case for some of the smaller schools, which tend to be those for children of a younger age. I saw this at first hand during a visit to a primary school in my constituency towards the end of last year. Despite it having absolutely excellent facilities, superb teaching staff and happy children, one challenge was prominent in the minds of the staff, and that was attendance.

Despite the school’s considerable efforts at engagement with parents, there were some who simply refused to bring their children to school. Such was the desperation of staff that sometimes they felt they had no choice but to drive in their own cars, at their own expense, and pick up pupils themselves. That cannot be right, but they did it because they were nervous, and even scared, of the implications if they did not—if they could be construed not to have done absolutely everything possible to ensure attendance.

The staff were particularly concerned that it might result in the school’s being downgraded by Ofsted. I do not think that is what the Government or anybody else intend when they say they want to secure really good attendance. We must make sure that this legislation does not increase the likelihood of that added burden and pressure on school staff, who already have plenty to keep them occupied that is rather more legitimate in achieving the best possible education for the children in their schools.

Overall, I think the Bill has the potential to go a very long way in tackling pupils’ absence from school. It will further assist the Government’s long-term commitment to improving education and help to ensure that children get the most that they possibly can out of school. Let me repeat my congratulations to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford on getting her Bill to this stage. I look forward to seeing it reach its next stages, both in this place and in the other place.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

I call the shadow Minister.

Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity

Rob Butler Excerpts

Wednesday 8th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak in this historic debate following the first King’s Speech in more than 70 years.

Opportunity manifests in many ways, but one thing is clear: it is the Conservatives who are the party of opportunity. As a comprehensive school student during the Thatcher years, I was inspired to look for opportunities and seize them—not to expect to be given a handout, but to work hard as a way to achieve my ambitions. I recognise that I have been very lucky. I have had many opportunities and some successes along the way, and one reason I sought election to this place was to help to give other people better opportunities, whatever their background or whatever may befall them.

Key to opportunity is the economy. That is the case for everyone, whatever walk of life they are in. Too many people sneer at the private sector and criticise the profit motive, but it is entrepreneurs who take the risks and make the investments, and businesses that create the jobs and generate the wealth. Without them, there would be no money to pay tax and therefore no money to deliver the excellent public services we all deserve and want.

I was delighted that His Majesty began his Gracious Speech by stating that his Ministers’ focus was on increasing economic growth. We need to remove the barriers to growth if we are to remove the barriers to opportunity. That means reducing regulation, incentivising investment and lowering taxes, all in a fiscally responsible way. I am particularly pleased that the Government have committed to addressing the drivers of low growth over increasing the national debt. That is in marked contrast to the Opposition’s solution of more tax, more borrowing and more debt, but we should not be surprised; after all, that has always been Labour’s way, and we know the shadow Chancellor is a fan of “cut and paste”.

I share the Government’s firm belief in the ability of education to break down barriers to opportunity and improve life chances. We are doing that in Aylesbury, where our excellent schools strive to give every child a brilliant start in life. Buckinghamshire is renowned for its grammar schools, and deservedly so, if my recent visit to Aylesbury High School is anything to go by. The spirited questions from its sixth formers reminded me somewhat of this place. However, it is not just academic education flourishing in Aylesbury. Since my election I have been a strong supporter of Aylesbury University Technical College, and I am extremely pleased to have been able to help to secure its long-term future. I am also pleased to see the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon)—who I know is an equally ardent supporter of UTCs—on the Front Bench.

I warmly welcome the Government’s commitment to high-quality technical education, affirmed in the King’s Speech, and the parity of esteem that will be achieved with the introduction of the advanced British standard. That is how we open up more opportunities for young people, by providing options and educational choice—quite the contrast, once again, with those on the Opposition Benches, from whom all we have heard is the politics of envy in the form of taxing independent school fees. That is red meat for the militant left, but not a feasible plan for the Government. What better illustration could we have of the fact that on the Conservative Benches we believe in opportunity for all, whereas the Labour party believes in division?

Moreover, where better to illustrate the Conservative commitment to opportunity than my own county, where Buckinghamshire’s Conservative council runs the Opportunity Bucks programme to address education, health and income inequalities? While Buckinghamshire as a whole may be a wealthy county, parts of Aylesbury struggle with considerable deprivation. To tackle that, ambitious plans are in place for the redevelopment of our town centre. I look forward to working with the local business community, local councillors and the Levelling Up Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Jacob Young), who is on the Front Bench, to ensure that the right long-term decisions are made for Aylesbury to remain a great place to live, work, visit and invest.

Unfortunately, these days it can be something of a challenge to get to Aylesbury and experience all that it has to offer, as a result of appalling traffic congestion. Much of that could be overcome by the rapid construction of the link roads that have been planned to circle the town, so the formal announcement in the King’s Speech of Network North is a welcome way to speed up the approval of funding for the south-east Aylesbury link road and the eastern link road project.

That would go some small way to begin compensating for the huge disruption and devastation that has been caused in my constituency by the construction of phase 1 of High Speed 2. It is a blight we see every day with woodlands being felled; it is a blight we feel every day sitting in yet more traffic as HS2’s heavy goods vehicles ruin our roads. Funding that comes from the cancellation of phase 2 of HS2 would be an important contribution to greater connectivity for individuals and firms alike. As the Federation of Small Businesses told me recently, connectivity is absolutely key to the success of companies across the country.

I will briefly address another barrier to opportunity: involvement in the criminal justice system. As the House knows, prior to my election, I served as a magistrate and was a member of the Sentencing Council and a non-executive director of His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. My determination, and even passion, to improve the criminal justice system is one of the principal drivers of my work in this place. Over the past few years, we have seen a welcome increase in the emphasis on getting former prisoners into jobs, because we know that paid work can dramatically reduce the risk of reoffending. A job provides not only an honest wage but a sense of worth. Sadly, however, too many ex-offenders do not yet have that opportunity. That is partly because short prison sentences do relatively little to reduce reoffending, so I am pleased that the Government are embarking on radical sentencing reforms, especially by increasing the focus on robust community orders.

The concept of a virtual prison is one that we should also explore—to seize the opportunities afforded by digital innovation to create opportunities for personal change, growth and success. It is also right that for the worst offenders, the entire prison sentence will be spent behind bars, and that, for the most appalling crimes, life will mean life. That, too, represents opportunity: the opportunity for victims of crime to know that justice has been done; and the opportunity for the public to be safe, secure and protected from harm—the Government carrying out their first and prime duty to their citizens.

Whether in justice, in education or in the economy, the King’s Speech sets out Bills for the months ahead that show a brighter future for our country—a brighter future that can come only from this Conservative Government.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

We have speeded up a bit. My guidance still stands, but it is now for speeches of eight or nine minutes.

Water Safety: Drowning Prevention

Rob Butler Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

I rise to speak in this debate with mixed emotions: pleased that the important topic of water safety and the prevention of drowning is being raised in the House, but with sorrow because it stems from a tragic loss—that of 12-year-old Sunnah Khan, who drowned in May in the sea close to the pier at Bournemouth. Sunnah’s mum, Stephanie, is a constituent of mine and is in the Public Gallery this afternoon with her own mother. May I, on behalf of the entire House, extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Stephanie and her family, and also to the family and friends of the young man who died on the same day at Bournemouth, Joe Abbess? Joe was just 17.

Stephanie told me a little about her daughter:

“Sunnah was such a happy girl with a large multi-faith family and more friends than I’ve ever had in my life! She was so smart and bright. Extremely pretty and very tall. She was the glue that held our family together… The summer holidays are fast approaching, and I am concerned about the likelihood that more parents will receive the devastating news that their child has drowned. This pain I could not wish upon my worst enemy, it is a pain that has no word to describe it. The only thing getting me through is the thought that I may be able to do something to prevent this from happening again.”

That, Madam Deputy Speaker, is why we are here today: to try to improve water safety as we approach the summer holidays, and with World Drowning Prevention Day on 25 July.

Last month, the Royal Life Saving Society UK published its “National Drowning Report UK”, which was marked by an event here in Parliament attended by Mr Speaker. I am grateful to the RLSS for assisting me in preparing for today’s debate and for allowing me to quote from its report in detail. That report was supported by the National Water Safety Forum, which comprises numerous charities and organisations dedicated to improving safety in the water, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. The report makes sobering reading. Last year, there were 226 water-related accidental fatalities in the UK. Although that was a fall from the previous year, the number of children who died increased by 46% compared with the five-year average.

In Sunnah’s case, it is thought that there was a rip current or rip tide off Bournemouth beach on that terrible day. In her email, Stephanie said:

“The water should be a safe space for people to enjoy especially on a lifeguarded beach, and if it cannot be made safe then people should not be allowed to swim in it. I am not naive and I understand that the sea is a natural and unpredictable body of water. This does not mean that more cannot be done to reduce the prevalence of drowning. I am 32 years old and only learned what a rip current was last year when I went to Cornwall. And to be honest with you I am still unsure what exactly it is.

Now I am a nurse, and an educated woman. I would say that I am fairly intelligent, and I think if I only learnt that last year, there will be thousands of people who get into the water every year who do not know what a riptide is. More worrying still is that I myself only knew how to escape a rip current following my daughter’s death. Which means again, thousands of people will not know this. None of my children knew what a rip current was.

This to me is unacceptable. I believe this is a matter for Parliament to address in how they can make sure this does not happen again. I need to do something to honour my daughter and protect other children from this harm.”

Let me address that specifically now, quoting from the Royal Life Saving Society website. It explains that:

“Rip currents are currents of water typically flowing from the shoreline back out to sea. They are commonly formed by a build-up of water on the beach caused by wave and tidal motion”.

Crucially, its advice on how to escape rip tides is:

“Do not swim against the current. Swim parallel to the shore—this makes sure that you are swimming out of and not back into the rip current. Once out of the rip current, swim towards the shore, being careful to avoid being drawn back in by feeder currents.”

While that advice now forms part of the official record of the House of Commons, we must recognise that few children are watching our proceedings or reading Hansard, so there is a strong case for water safety to be taught to children in particular. The most obvious way to do so is at school, so I am glad that the Minister responding this afternoon is from the Department for Education, and I am grateful to her for the conversation we have already had this afternoon about the topic.

This is not the first time such concerns have been raised in Parliament. In 2021, a petition achieved more than 108,000 signatures calling for increased curriculum content about water safety as part of swimming lessons. That was debated on 12 July that year. As we speak, Lord Storey has a private Member’s Bill before their lordships’ House that would

“require the Secretary of State to include water safety and training in prevention of drowning as a compulsory part of the curriculum for all schools in England”.

I notified Lord Storey that I would be referring to it in this House today.

I recognise that there are countless requests to the Department for Education to add subjects to the curriculum. Likewise, I know that many schools already provide swimming lessons, although that is not quite the same as teaching water safety in its broadest sense. However, according to the RLSS, provision for children to access statutory school swimming is decreasing. Worryingly, it notes that children from low-income and ethnically diverse communities in particular are less likely to access statutory school swimming. That must be of concern when we know that children from low-income and ethnically diverse communities are disproportionately over-represented in child drownings.

Indeed, the thematic report by the National Child Mortality Database at Bristol University, which was published only this morning, found that in cases of drowning, the death rate for children and young people living in the most deprived neighbourhoods was more than twice that of children and young people living in the least deprived neighbourhoods. It also found that children described as black or black British have the highest death rate, at more than three times that of children from white or white British backgrounds. So I respectfully suggest to the Minister that it is worth giving additional consideration to increasing education on water safety in our schools.

There are other ideas to increase awareness closer to the water itself. One is to alert children and adults to risks with increased provision of signs at the beach. Stephanie has asked me to bring that recommendation to the House’s attention in particular, as she believes that would bring a significant benefit. After all, if someone sees a sign immediately before entering the water, the advice will be very fresh in the mind. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has a standard sign that can be used to warn about rip currents, and I have been pleased to learn that it is used in many places, but obviously not everywhere. Therefore, there is undoubtedly scope for even more prominent displays of warnings.

Stephanie has also asked me to make a suggestion regarding the visibility of swimmers. Sadly, it took a considerable amount of time to find Sunnah in the water, which may have been because she was wearing a dark-coloured swimming costume. Stephanie would like to see far more brightly-coloured swimwear so that people can be easily identified in the water in the case of an emergency. Stephanie said to me:

“Every minute counts. If Sunnah had been wearing something bright, she might still have been here.”

This message is endorsed by lifesaving charities. As the RNLI pointed out to me, lifeboats are orange specifically so that they can be seen in poor conditions. So bright or fluorescent swim hats and tow floats are particularly effective.

It is particularly important to recognise that deaths do not occur only at the coast. In fact, last year 60% of fatalities were on inland waterways—rivers, canals, lakes or lochs, quarries or reservoirs—so water safety matters to everyone, wherever they live, whether by the sea or inland. In fact, last year, 90% of the children who drowned in open water died inland.

Right hon. and hon. Members may recall that, shortly before Christmas, four children died at a lake in Kingshurst in Solihull in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Saqib Bhatti). He, too, is campaigning to improve teaching on water safety with the Department for Education and asked me to remind the House of that.

This is not an issue that affects only children—far from it. Last year, the average age of an accidental death in inland water was 35; at the coast, it was 51. So we need to ensure that we raise awareness in an age-appropriate way. I pay tribute to the many organisations already working to achieve that, including the RLSS, which I referred to, the Canal & River Trust, the National Water Safety Forum, the RNLI, Swim England and the National Fire Chiefs Council. Whatever our age, there is clear advice from the RNLI on how to keep safe in the water: swim at a lifeguarded beach, between the red and yellow flags; in an emergency, call 999 and ask for the coastguard if at sea or for the fire service if inland; and if you find yourself in difficulty in the water, float to live. There is more detail on all those tips on the RNLI website.

The summer holidays are almost upon us. Many of us will be heading to lakes, rivers and the coast to spend time relaxing. The water is a great place to enjoy, but we need to do it safely, because, at the moment, too many people are dying when they do not need to. As Stephanie says:

“We can do better. There’s no need for this to keep happening. It’s preventable. If we teach it at school, we are setting them up for a lifetime of safe water.”

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 12th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend and I have discussed education standards on the Isle of Wight on a number of occasions, and I pay tribute to him for the support he gives his schools and his determination to see standards rise in those schools. The Springhill English hub that he referred to is supporting primary schools on the Island to improve their teaching of phonics. As I said, it is already working with 11 primary schools, five of which have received intensive support, with the intention of ultimately finding a school on the Isle of Wight itself that has sufficient expertise to spread practice within the Island. That conference is taking place at the end of the month, and I hope all primary schools will be able to attend.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

9. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of technical education pathways at secondary schools.

[Mrs Flick Drummond (Meon Valley) (Con)]

15. Whether her Department is taking steps to increase the provision of specialist technical education at secondary schools.

[The Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education (Robert Halfon)]

To complement our reformed, more rigorous GCSEs, we are ensuring that high-quality vocational and technical qualifications are available. We have introduced new technical awards at key stage 4 in engineering, technology and many other subjects, and we have our own prestigious T-level offerings for those from 16 years old onwards.

[Rob Butler]

I am very proud to have Aylesbury University Technical College in my constituency. It provides excellent technical education for young students on a specialist pathway, but not everywhere has those specialist schools. As such, a proposal has been made to my right hon. Friend’s Department to introduce UTC-style courses in mainstream schools for some pupils who are perhaps better suited to that type of education at key stage 4. What progress has the Department made in assessing the feasibility of such courses, which would provide the qualifications, employment skills and work experience that are so important to today’s economy?

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

Of course, we always want to support our students, and we have been increasing the maintenance loan. We have kept the fees flat as well, and we have increased the hardship fund. However, I know this is a concern, particularly in some big cities where housing costs have gone up and where perhaps there is a shortage of housing available for students as well. We do urge universities to act on this, because we have seen some crunch points where there is not enough housing, which can create pressure on students’ budgets.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

T3. JCL Glass, a really successful family business in my constituency, wants to offer apprenticeships, but its directors tell me that there is no scheme in the glass manufacturing industry. Will my right hon. Friend set out what efforts are being made to create apprenticeships in sectors that do not yet have them, and how companies that want to be involved, such as JCL Glass, can help to develop them?

[The Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education (Robert Halfon)]

Employers have developed 660 high-quality apprenticeships, including 150 in the engineering and manufacturing sector. Where employers identify the need for new and emerging skills, including in green jobs, they can work with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, which stands ready to work with employers to introduce new apprenticeships. I would encourage JCL Glass to speak to the institute about this.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 16th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon]

That is wishful thinking on the part of the hon. Gentleman. The Government are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25. We will be investing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-to-19 education over the same period of time. That includes £500 million a year for T-levels. I mentioned the £290 million being spent on institutes of technology and we have committed £1.5 billion to an upgrade of the FE college estate in England over the next few years. The Government are investing in, and championing, further education and skills. The hon. Gentleman should recognise that.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

6. What steps her Department is taking to help improve outcomes in alternative provision settings. [R]

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Claire Coutinho)]

As set out in our special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision Green Paper published in March, our ambitious alternative provision reforms will keep all children in AP with the right support in the right setting at the right time. Our reforms will enable children with medical needs or behaviour that present barriers to learning to have the support, skills and confidence they need to thrive.

[Rob Butler]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that answer. Many of the children I have met in the youth justice system have been excluded from mainstream schools and instead sent to alternative provision. Standards are often very good, but sadly that is far from always the case. Indeed, the Youth Justice Board, on which I used to sit, said:

“An improvement in standards and practice across alternative provision is needed.”

What action is the Minister taking to ensure that alternative provision is not a dumping ground for difficult pupils who mainstream schools want to exclude, and that, by contrast, there is always high-quality teaching and welfare support in AP?

[Claire Coutinho]

My hon. Friend is a passionate believer in youth justice—in fact, I think that is what we spoke about the first time we met—and he is right to be concerned about this area. There are some great AP settings—I was talking to Mark Vickers of Olive Academies recently—but we know that some settings are delivering very poor outcomes for young people. I am really excited about our proposals on AP. I think they will be transformational and I am happy to discuss them further with my hon. Friend.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

I can confirm that we have a world-class education system and we will attract the brightest students from around the world. That is good for our universities and delivers growth at home. We were proud to meet our international student ambition earlier this year to attract 600,000 international students per year by 2030. Today that is worth £29.5 billion and we are now focused on bringing in £35 billion from our education exports, which are the best in the world.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

T3. Like many parts of the country, Aylesbury has too many people who are economically inactive despite the overall unemployment rate being extremely low. We also have many job vacancies where we need people with new or different skills. How can my right hon. Friend’s Department ensure that courses in schools, university technical colleges and colleges equip young people with the right skills for today’s job market?

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Robert Halfon)]

The first thing we need to do is invest, and we are investing an extra £3.8 billion over this Parliament in skills. We have introduced the T-levels and higher technical qualifications. We are strengthening careers advice and, of course, championing apprenticeships. I am pleased to say that apprenticeship starts have increased by 8.9% over the past year.

Making Britain the Best Place to Grow Up and Grow Old

Rob Butler Excerpts

Monday 16th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Swansea East (Carolyn Harris).

This Queen’s Speech promises to deliver an agenda that reflects the ambition and aspirations of the British people. Our debate today focuses on some of the most significant periods of our lives—growing up and growing old—and the Bills in the Queen’s Speech will make Britain an even better place to do both.

Education is the ultimate expression of levelling up. It is good not just for our employment prospects but for our wellbeing and personal development. It is good not just for the individual but for the economy and society. Einstein said:

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think.”

An educated, thinking population creates a productive, dynamic, innovative and entrepreneurial population capable of meeting the challenges of this country, so I am pleased to see in this Queen’s Speech the Government’s determination to deliver an education for all ages, whether you are starting out at a primary school, a student at the local technical college or in your 40s or 50s wanting to retrain and learn new skills.

My constituency has superb grammar schools that consistently feature among the top state schools in the country, but as well as pure academic qualifications, we also need young people with the technical and vocational skills fit for the modern economy. Buckinghamshire University Technical College, with its offer of health and digital courses, is an excellent place for children in my constituency to learn those skills and it is one that I am proud to champion. Bucks College is an enthusiastic advocate and adopter of T-levels, a qualification that—like my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education—I want to see as famous and respected as A-levels.

The Schools Bill promises to help every child to fulfil their potential by raising standards. As a former school governor, I have seen at first hand how joining a strong multi-academy trust can enable schools to flourish as they benefit from high standards and expectations. This is exactly what far more schools will do with this legislation. I am also pleased that the Department for Education has published a SEND Green Paper. My constituency has excellent volunteer organisations such as GRASPS—Greater Resources for Autism Supporting Parents and Siblings—which help parents to navigate the minefield of education, health and care plans. Many parents have come to my office in sheer desperation trying to resolve difficulties with EHCPs, and I am glad that the Government—particularly the Minister sitting on the Front Bench, the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince)—are working really hard to improve this. I would respectfully urge Ministers in the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that the NHS plays its part in ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities are treated as they should be. Sadly, all too often the delays and difficulties that I see stem from health rather than from education.

Growing up is not just about getting good exam results, a great apprenticeship or a job; it is also about becoming a rounded adult, confident and secure in oneself. That is why I am delighted to see the inclusion in the Queen’s Speech of the conversion therapy Bill, which will ban frankly evil and abhorrent practices that are intended to change sexual orientation. We all need to be free to love who we want to love. For too many of us, it took too long to be able to do that: too long to accept ourselves for who we are and too long for others to accept us. Let us hope that this Bill will be another step to enable today’s generation of young people to feel safe and secure in acknowledging and expressing their sexuality.

We are often keen to talk about the delights and opportunities of childhood, but less enthusiastic about confronting some of the challenges of growing old. Too often, elderly people are almost hidden from view. So I am extremely pleased that the Government are putting older people at the heart of their plans for social care, with a comprehensive vision and substantial investment, coupled with the massive commitment to the NHS through funding, recruitment and the construction of new hospitals.

No one can deny that we face difficult times in the months ahead, but with the measures announced in the Queen’s Speech our country is equipped to encounter any challenge and any adversary, with skill, experience and expertise; with resilience, enthusiasm and true British grit.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review

Rob Butler Excerpts

Tuesday 29th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s characteristically thoughtful question. We made a commitment in the Green Paper, and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has also made this commitment, to ensure the workforce provision is adequate. The best way to ensure that is through the transparency of a local data dashboard so people can see their child has consistency of support.

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

The Green Paper highlights that many families find the current system bureaucratic and adversarial, which is exactly what I hear from incredibly frustrated local parents in Aylesbury. Can my right hon. Friend tell me how local parents can feel absolutely confident that these proposals will mean that everyone, whether in the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education or the local authority, is genuinely working together to secure one and the same thing: the best provision for children with SEND?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I thank my hon. Friend for his thoughtful question. He is right that we intend to make a number of changes after consultation on the Green Paper, whether it is a national system so that parents can see exactly what provision they should be getting so that their area is consistent with every other postcode in the country, or whether it is a local plan co-produced with all stakeholders around the table—including parents—a local dashboard and consistency on EHCPs. In many ways, it is frustrating when parents say, “My plan and this person’s plan are completely different.” There should be consistency across the board to make the system as frictionless as possible for parents.

Childcare Bill

Rob Butler Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 29th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Rob Butler (Aylesbury) (Con)]

I am grateful to be called to speak in this important debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Reading East (Matt Rodda) on the campaign that he has run to emphasise the importance of being able to access the free childcare to which hard-working parents are absolutely entitled. He reminded us of its value, which I am acutely aware of, having been the governor of a primary school and nursery many years ago. The benefit of access to early childcare was made clear to me then.

I will pick up on clause 3 and, I hope, provide some reassurance in terms of awareness. I gently suggest that what the hon. Gentleman is calling for represents duplication, in that a huge amount of information is easily accessible. I will take the opportunity of mentioning it in the House to remind people who watch the debate what is already there. If people search for “free childcare” on Google, Bing or any other search engine, within less than a second the gov.uk site is the first to come up. That takes people to an entire portal designed to assist parents in accessing that childcare.

The portal is clear and easy to understand, and there is even a function where people can enter their postcode to find out their local authority so they get the right information for their area. I am pleased to say that, for Government IT, it does work. I tried it this morning for Aylesbury and I was clearly and correctly directed to the Buckinghamshire Council website and all the necessary facts. Another excellent Government site is called childcarechoices.gov.uk, which is very easy to navigate and attractively set out. Those websites work alongside the plethora of help and support across civil society, including citizens advice bureaux and charities, to make sure that we are well informed.

There is also statutory guidance to local authorities that tells them that they must

“Maintain a service that provides information for parents”,

and that, importantly, says that those who do not have access to the internet must be able to get the information they need about eligibility for free childcare and how to obtain it. I hope that I have highlighted that there are those requirements and that information is available.

The overriding point made by the hon. Member for Reading East is well intentioned. It is incumbent on us all, including MPs, to promote awareness in our local areas. I congratulate him on his work to highlight that availability.