Ukraine
Debate between Stuart Anderson and Vicky Ford(2 years, 4 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Vicky Ford
The UK and our allies are providing a range of support to Ukraine, including through work that is enhancing Ukraine’s defence capability. It is really important that we continue to reiterate that the support is fundamentally defensive in nature and that neither NATO nor Ukraine pose any aggressive threat to Russia.
Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
As we see the build-up of troops on the Ukraine-Russian border, I would be keen to know whether the grey zone sub-threshold attacks, such as cyber and disinformation, are also increasing at the same pace. What do the Government have in place to deal with those attacks to ensure that we control the threat?
Vicky Ford
I will not comment on intelligence matters from the Dispatch Box.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Stuart Anderson and Vicky Ford(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Vicky Ford)
The Government are committed to ensuring that more women can take up the opportunities in science and technology. Currently, only one in five of the technology workforce are women, but projects such as the skills bootcamps aim to turn that around. Of the 2,799 attendees at our first bootcamps, 47% were women. In the west midlands, the courses on women in data and women in software were oversubscribed by around four times. We are investing another £43 million to provide another 16,000 places.
Stuart Anderson
Science, technology and biomedicine have been at the forefront of our response to the covid-19 crisis and they will help us on our road to recovery. What steps is my hon. Friend taking to ensure that we get more people into those careers, including stem cell research for women?
Vicky Ford
My hon. Friend is absolutely right: bioscience is a really important area and never more so than during this pandemic. It is our chemists, our biochemists and our biologists who are leading our way out of covid. The work that we do through our science learning partnerships aims to increase the take-up of triple science at GCSE—chemistry, physics and biology—and that will make sure that more of our young people can become the scientists of the future.
Education
Debate between Stuart Anderson and Vicky Ford(3 years, 4 months ago)
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Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
What steps his Department is taking to support parents with childcare provision.
Vicky Ford
We have made an unprecedented investment in childcare of £3.6 billion this year. Childcare settings have been prioritised for reopening, childcare bubbles have reduced pressure on working parents, and from next Easter, disadvantaged children will be able to take part in our holiday activities and food programmes all across the country.
[Official Report, 23 November 2020, Vol. 684, c. 581.]
Letter of correction from the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford).
An error has been identified in the response I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire.
The correct response should have been:
Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
What steps his Department is taking to support parents with childcare provision.
Vicky Ford
We have made an unprecedented investment in childcare entitlements of £3.6 billion this year. Childcare settings have been prioritised for reopening, childcare bubbles have reduced pressure on working parents, and from next Easter, disadvantaged children will be able to take part in our holiday activities and food programmes all across the country.
National Funding Formula
The following is an extract from Education questions on 23 November.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Stuart Anderson and Vicky Ford(3 years, 4 months ago)
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Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Vicky Ford)
We have made an unprecedented investment in childcare of £3.6 billion this year. Childcare settings have been prioritised for reopening, childcare bubbles have reduced pressure on working parents, and from next Easter, disadvantaged children will be able to take part in our holiday activities and food programmes all across the country.[Official Report, 24 November 2020, Vol. 684, c. 5MC.]
Stuart Anderson
The Minister will know of my enthusiasm for campaigning for another outstanding secondary school in Wolverhampton. Will she work with me to see that that comes to fruition and that we get another outstanding secondary school in Wolverhampton?
Vicky Ford
My hon. Friend shares our passion for making sure that we improve education in Wolverhampton and all across the country. He has been championing that non-stop, lobbying my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. The free schools programme has created thousands of high-quality school places. Three secondary applications have been received from my hon. Friend’s constituency, and we hope to make a decision later this year.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Stuart Anderson and Vicky Ford(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Vicky Ford
I am enormously proud of the fact that we are one of the few countries in the world that have asked schools to remain open for vulnerable children, including those with the most severe disabilities. Although we know that they could not all attend due to their own circumstances, it is incredibly important that they all get back to schools. On remote learning, to support schools in delivering remote education, we have delivered a range of resources and guidance, including specific support for children and young people with SEND. Obviously, those who were eligible for laptops, receive laptops and devices as part of that programme.
Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)