Yvonne Fovargue
Main Page: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)Department Debates - View all Yvonne Fovargue's debates with the Department for Education
(9 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Nick Boles
Lord Nash and I are not only great friends but we agree entirely on this issue. It is legally possible under existing provisions for a college to convert to academy status, but there are issues around how the VAT will be dealt with, and how any debt that it has already amassed will be dealt with on its balance sheet. Those issues are tricky, but we are looking at them.
Yvonne Fovargue (Makerfield) (Lab)
Successive rounds of cuts to sixth-form and further education colleges are having a devastating effect. One principal of a college in the west country—a college recently judged by Ofsted as outstanding and a beacon college—recently told The Times Educational Supplement that
“cuts have taken us to the edge”,
and added that any further cuts would threaten the services the college offers.
Will the Minister commit to Labour’s pledge to protect the education budget in real terms?
Nick Boles
I will not commit to a pledge that is as unfunded as every pledge that Labour has made since 2010. Labour Members think that they will pay for all this out of a tax on bankers’ bonuses that has so far been used about 27 times. There was no money left according to the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and that is because Labour has absolutely no idea how to run a budget.