Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Monday 25th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

The Government’s plans for introducing 30 hours of free childcare for working parents have rightly received cross-party support, but, as we have already heard, there is still some way to go with regard to parents seeking employment. What work will the Minister do with parents who are currently seeking employment to enable them to access the childcare?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Lady appears to have phoned not one friend, but two. We are deeply grateful to her and to those hon. Members.

[Mr Gyimah]

It is encouraging to see that the Scottish National party has followed the Conservative party’s lead and is now pledging 30 hours of childcare in the upcoming Scottish elections. The hon. Lady will be aware that we have the childcare element of tax credits in England, so that parents who do not qualify for the second 15 hours can get support for up to 75% of their childcare costs through that policy.

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[Danny Kinahan (South Antrim) (UUP)]

I lost my voice at the weekend, and I am afraid that that makes it a bit harder for me to speak.

The all-party parliamentary group for education will shortly launch an inquiry into how well our education system is preparing children for the world of work. Will the Secretary of State ensure that schools have enough resources to teach “soft” skills, such as IT skills, so that young people are well prepared for their careers?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman’s mellifluous tones can still be heard. I am pleased to inform both him and the House of that.

[Nicky Morgan]

I very much enjoyed listening to the hon. Gentleman’s question, and I welcome the work of the all-party parliamentary group. We are, of course, already teaching computing throughout all the key stages of the national curriculum, having introduced coding last year. The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to the important role of our education system in preparing young people for the world of work and for 21st-century Britain, and I look forward to hearing more from the all-party parliamentary group.

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[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

I refer to my answer to question 3.

[Mr Speaker]

It is in our minds.

[Anna Turley]

I appreciate the Minister’s response. My constituency of Redcar has obviously just experienced a huge and extreme tragedy with the loss of our steelworks. The challenge now for our further education campuses is to use the £3 million that the Government have provided to ensure that people get back into work. However, the campus at Redcar college has been under threat, and in the light of the review, there is some concern that we may not be able to retain that campus. I want to impress on the Government how extremely important that is for the economic and social regeneration of our area.

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[Mr Gibb]

I am very happy to meet my right hon. Friend to go through the figures for Chelmsford. In Essex, we created more than 2,000 new places between 2010 and 2014. Many more have been delivered since then or are in the pipeline. I am very happy to discuss his constituency in more detail.

[Mr Speaker]

Put the details in the Library, so that we can all see them.

[Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con)]

21. What progress the Careers and Enterprise Company has made on improving the provision of careers education and inspiring young people about the world of work.

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[The Minister for Schools (Mr Nick Gibb)]

My hon. Friend is right: every young person should learn about the holocaust and the lessons it teaches us today. In recognition of its significance, teaching of the holocaust is compulsory in the national curriculum. For the past 10 years the Department for Education has funded the Holocaust Educational Trust’s “Lessons from Auschwitz” project, which, as my hon. Friend said, has taken more than 28,000 students to visit the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. We will continue to promote, support and fund teaching of the holocaust.

[Mr Speaker]

Of course, as some Members will know, we commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day in a reception in Speaker’s House last week. Many survivors of the holocaust were there, and I do not think anybody present is likely to forget the occasion.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

As somebody who went on a “Lessons from Auschwitz” visit with schoolchildren from Manchester in the last few weeks, may I echo earlier comments about how moving and important it is?

In their manifesto of 2010—notably dropped in 2015—the Conservatives pledged to

“close the attainment gap between the richest and poorest”.

Revised GCSE results published last week showed that, despite Lib Dem policies such as the pupil premium, the GCSE attainment gap between pupils on free school meals and their peers has actually widened since 2010. With the Conservatives now governing alone, can the Secretary of State tell the House whether closing the attainment gap is still an objective and, if so, why she is allowing it to widen on her watch?

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I would like to get a couple more in if possible, so pithy questions and pithy answers.

[James Berry (Kingston and Surbiton) (Con)]

According to analysis in The Daily Telegraph, Kingston was the best local educational authority in the country for GCSE results. Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State join me in paying tribute to teachers and pupils in Kingston? Will she explain to the House how learning from the best schools will be rolled out across the country to help those schools that still have some way to go?

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[Nicky Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising an important point, which my hon. Friend the Minister for Children and Families has already touched on. We are looking at raising the qualifications of social workers, attracting the brightest and the best into the profession, and making sure there is strong leadership for them to benefit from. We are also looking at setting up a new body to regulate the training of children’s social workers, who form a hugely vital, but often under-appreciated service, and we want to make sure that it gets the same attention as our teachers and schools rightly do.

[Mr Speaker]

Last, but not least, the voice of East Antrim, Mr Sammy Wilson.

[Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Many churches, youth groups and youth organisations are concerned that they may be subject to Ofsted regulation as a result of the nationwide registration scheme. The Prime Minister has said that they will be exempt: the head of Ofsted has said that they will not. Will the Minister tell us who is right?