Schools: Local Oversight

Debate between Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes and Lord Nash

Monday 28th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that the previous Secretary of State for Education has been a hero in this field in introducing and carrying out policies that have greatly enhanced educational opportunities for children throughout the country?

[Lord Nash]

I entirely agree with the noble Baroness’s comments. He is the first Secretary of State for many years, I think, to stop the decline in school standards. His changes, which are dramatic, will take years to have effect, but we are already seeing quite significant early signs of the positive nature of their effect.

Schools: Expenditure Per Pupil

Debate between Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes and Lord Nash

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

As the noble Baroness said to me recently, I was not around, but I think our record on this is rather better than that of the party opposite. Indeed, we now have a very strong presumption that schools cannot sell off their sports facilities unless they are replacing them with equivalent ones. We are very keen to see all new schools have sports facilities. Where we are building schools in confined spaces, which we often are, we have used artificial turf or maybe sports facilities on the roof. We consistently now use games such as table tennis and basketball, which can be played by many pupils in confined spaces.

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes (Con)]

My Lords, does the 7% that my noble friend cited as being high achievers include those children in this country who have the finest free education in the world at our remaining grammar schools?

[Lord Nash]

There is no doubt that our grammar schools provide an extremely good education. It is an interesting fact that, whereas 7% of the population get 50% of the top jobs, the grammar schools, which educate about 4.5% of the population, get more than 20% of the top jobs. This means that 90% of the population are getting into under 30% of the top jobs. It is that kind of inequality, particularly for poorer pupils, that this Government are particularly determined to improve.

Education: Curriculum, Exam and Accountability Reform

Debate between Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes and Lord Nash

Thursday 7th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

As I said earlier, we have listened to the consultation and have adapted our proposals accordingly. We have many changes to make to the English education system to render it internationally competitive, and it seems odd to me that when we actually listen and make some changes to one of our proposals, we get criticised.

[Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes]

My Lords, I would be grateful to my noble friend if he could elucidate on something that appals me, which is the return of coursework, unless it is divided where it would be appropriate; for example, in engineering and subjects of that sort rather than in the academic sphere.

[Lord Nash]

I can assure the noble Baroness that her concerns will not be founded.