Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Suella Braverman Excerpts
Monday 25th April 2016

(8 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Baroness Morgan of Cotes Portrait Nicky Morgan
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We know from the international evidence that the more autonomy those on the frontline have—heads, teachers and governors—the more they take responsibility for the results that are achieved. I want the good schools in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency to share their expertise with other schools that are not yet so good. That way we have a strong education system, which is what I as Secretary of State for Education and this Government want to be available for everyone.

Suella Braverman Portrait Suella Fernandes (Fareham) (Con)
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In Fareham, primary schools such as Hook with Warsash Church of England and St Anthony’s converted from maintained schools to academies and saw their results improve, surpassing the local authority average. Does my right hon. Friend agree that this policy represents an opportunity for Hampshire, which performs well as a local authority, to get involved and create a mass to enable more autonomy and improvement overall?

Baroness Morgan of Cotes Portrait Nicky Morgan
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My hon. Friend is right to say that we can see that the results in primary sponsored academies, for example, which have been open for two years have improved by an average of 10 percentage points, which is double the rate of improvement in local authority schools. She is right to say that there are many talented individuals working in Hampshire local authority and I hope they will take advantage of the new system as well.