Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Tristram Hunt Excerpts
Monday 10th October 2016

(7 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nick Gibb Portrait Mr Gibb
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We have protected the core schools budget in real terms, but the system for distributing those funds, as my hon. Friend pointed out, is outdated, inefficient and unfair. That is why we consulted on the principles and the building blocks of the formula in the spring of this year. That will include sparsity as a concept, and also a fixed sum, which of course helps small schools. We will issue our detailed proposals on the design and impact of the formula for consultation in the autumn.

Tristram Hunt Portrait Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)
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The key to successful educational provision in rural areas is the quality of teaching. The Labour party has long believed in having qualified teachers in our schools. One area of cross-party agreement in the last Parliament was on having a Royal College of Teaching. Will the Minister update the House on how far the Government have enacted that?

Nick Gibb Portrait Mr Gibb
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There is a Royal College of Teaching. We are meeting the initial funding costs of the Royal College of Teaching, and it is going to be a great success. I should point out that 95% of all teachers in our system have qualified teacher status and that 93% of all teachers in academies have QTS.