Qualifications Reform Review

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 12th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

I will ask my noble Friend the Minister to get back to the right hon. Gentleman on that point.

May I make a correction to what I said in my statement? Qualifications in agriculture, environment and animal care, legal, finance and accounting, business and administration and creative design will not be defunded before 2027, not 2024.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I am minded of that old adage—I suppose I am old enough to remember all these things—that when you ask a fish to climb a tree, it does not make the fish stupid; it just cannot do it. My concern with the qualification review is that we will not have the breadth of scale that allows for student choice and accessibility, and it will try to pinpoint people into roles that they cannot be successful in. How can the Minister ensure that those gifted in academia will have that clear path, and those gifted with job skills will find their place as well, alongside those still searching for their calling who are looking for wide subjects to keep many doors open for their future?

[Janet Daby]

We are keeping 157 of the courses that were outlined to be defunded. That will be reviewed on an ongoing basis depending on uptake. Our focus is very much on economic growth, and our mission is for growth and ensuring that young people have opportunities in T-levels and other qualifications to ensure that they are able to get the jobs that are desperately needed in our country. We are not removing the rules of combination. More variation should support 16 to 19-year-olds to have access to the jobs they wish to do in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 9th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I welcome the Minister’s response about kinship carers. What progress has been made on offering kinship carers respite provision, so that they can be given short-term breaks to ease the pressures facing kinship families?

[Janet Daby]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his very good question. It is important that kinship carers, as well as the children they are looking after, have the support they need. Through the process of family group decision making, families will come together to have conversations about how best to support children in kinship care. Respite and other related matters will be discussed to ensure that the right provision is in place. This Government are committed to getting it right for children, especially where the previous Government failed.

Higher Education: Financial Sustainability

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Thursday 5th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the financial sustainability of higher education.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. Our universities are integral to a thriving United Kingdom. They drive economic growth, ensure that the workforce has the skills necessary for the jobs of tomorrow and boost the UK’s global standing. They are engines of social and economic progress, but behind those important functions lies an equally important reality: the financial sustainability of this vital sector and our economy.

For almost a decade, universities have faced declining investment, despite recognition of our world-leading higher education and research system. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary university group, vice-chancellors from a range of institutions have told me that the pressure to deliver world-class teaching and research with less is becoming more acute. The Government’s announcement on 4 November 2024 of an inflationary increase in tuition fees in England cannot have been an easy decision, but it was necessary. Prior to that announcement, tuition fees had risen only once, by £250, since the introduction of £9,000 fees in 2012. Inflation has cut their value to just £5,924 in 2012-13 prices, while Government grants for teaching have declined by 78% over a decade in England.

The financial picture across the UK is equally challenging. Welsh universities had their fees capped at a lower level than English institutions until 2024, and over the past decade, funding per student in Scotland has declined by over £2,500. In Northern Ireland, funding per student has lagged behind England by over £1,000 a year. The Office for Students estimates that by 2025-26, there will be a net reduction in income for the sector of £3.4 billion and, without significant mitigating actions, a sector-level deficit of £1.6 billion, with up to 72% of providers being in deficit and 40% having low liquidity.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

This is a really important debate, but it does pose a question, and I want to ask the hon. Gentleman for his thoughts on it. He referred to the cost of living pressures that every family has, wherever they may be in this United Kingdom. I suspect that those, combined with the increase in higher education fees, will mean that we are in danger of going back to a state where only well-off families can afford to have their children in university, while the rest will have to go to work to provide the moneys just to live. Does he share my concern about that?

[Adam Thompson]

The hon. Member raises an excellent point, and it is important that we bear that in mind. This is a danger that we need to contend with. The conversation that I hope to start with this debate is about how we might address those issues going forward, and I will touch of some of those points in my speech.

I know from conversations with vice-chancellors that while the causes of the funding challenges vary significantly between institutions, they all feel the pressure to deliver more for less. An inflationary rise in fees is important, because it prevents further erosion of university funding for teaching undergraduates, but it does not reverse the real-terms decline in the value of the tuition fee. That is why there needs to be a concerted and strategic effort by universities and the Government to secure the long-term financial sustainability of our universities—that touches on the point made by the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon).

What are the main financial risks that universities face? Analysis from PwC shows that a significant number of universities are vulnerable to reductions in international student numbers, increased expenditure and reduction in the growth rate of domestic undergraduate students. The risks identified by PwC’s analysis are not just hypothetical. In many cases, we are already starting to see their impact, especially in terms of international student recruitment. After almost a decade of stagnation, the UK experienced a period of significant growth in international student numbers between 2019 and 2022, driven by a combination of Government policy and the openness of the UK immediately following the covid-19 pandemic.

However, the numbers of international students choosing to study in the UK has since declined, as both political and market factors have changed, and the attractiveness of the UK as a study destination has fallen. According to data released by the Home Office on 28 November, 392,969 visas were issued to international students between October 2023 and September 2024. That is 19% fewer than were issued in the previous year.

Universities understand that growth in international student numbers must be sustainable and that the experience for those choosing to study here should be truly world-class. However, policy changes under the previous Government, such as restrictions on dependant visas, increased visa and immigration costs, and threats to the future of the UK’s post-work study offer, have had a significant impact on the attractiveness of the UK as a study destination, as well as the perception of the UK as an open and welcoming country.

A key finding from IDP’s “Emerging Futures 6” report was that the biggest influence on study destination choice for prospective students was post-work study opportunities, and indeed work opportunities. I commend the Secretary of State for Education for reaffirming the Government’s commitment to supporting and valuing international students. Will the Government back that up by committing to maintaining the graduate route on its current terms for the duration of this Parliament?

Another significant financial risk is membership of the teachers’ pension scheme, which affects a lot of universities. Universities that are statutorily obliged to be members of the TPS—primarily modern post-1992 universities—are now required to pay pension contributions of around 29% for 58,000 members of staff compared with 16.4% in 2019, which is a very significant increase. That is one of the highest employer contributions of any pension across the whole country. Universities cannot exit the TPS or take actions to reduce the employer contribution, and they have not been granted the same additional funding as schools and colleges to meet the cost of the scheme. Will Ministers in the Department for Education commit to working with Ministers in His Majesty’s Treasury to explore how universities can be provided with flexibility to allow consideration of alternative pension pots?

I will turn to the structural issues in university research funding, and in my background as a research scientist, that was something I faced daily prior to my election to this place. Research funding risks seeing the UK’s world-class capabilities and competitive advantages being eroded. Despite recent increases in investment, the current system relies on disproportionate and growing cross-subsidy from universities to make research viable, which, given the current financial challenges faced by universities, has produced a huge gap in funding.

To cite the VCs that I have spoken to recently, research operates at a loss, which is a significant issue that they face. It is estimated that for every pound of public money invested in university research and innovation, the country gets back £10 a year—a huge return on investment. But in 2022-23, UK universities incurred a £5.3 billion deficit in research activities. In short, the system is structurally unsustainable. Although the Budget recently highlighted how serious the Government are about funding university research, we urgently need an ambitious and long-term approach from the Government to funding university research. I would welcome the Minister’s views on that point.

Why does all this matter? The UK’s performance in HE and research is exceptional, in my opinion and life experience, and it surpasses significantly our international counterparts. UK universities deliver the highest degree completion rates across the OECD. They are recognised as world-class and generate £25.6 billion of export earnings, while broadening the UK’s soft power and strengthening global relationships. The UK has the third largest share of the world’s academic publications at about 6.3%—that is what I spent much of the last decade of my life producing—behind only China and the United States, with an even larger share of the world’s most highly cited publications at 13.4%, which is a great achievement and shows how good our universities are.

The latest figures show that the UK higher education sector’s teaching, research and innovation activities had an economic impact of £265 billion, so we are talking about a huge sector here. This impact is felt across the country, including in the east midlands, which I represent, where universities contributed £6.3 billion in gross output and £4.2 billion in gross value added to the UK economy. These figures include contributions from my former employer, the University of Nottingham, and a range of other excellent institutions across my region, all with unique and valuable offerings to their communities and beyond.

Underfunding will restrict universities’ ability to drive inclusive economic growth and the UK’s global competitiveness, and to provide opportunities to current students that are comparable to previous years. Sustained funding that ensures a high-quality student experience and enhances the UK’s ability to deliver world-leading research and innovation will rapidly accelerate the positive contributions of our universities.

The current funding system in England affects students’ ability to meet living costs, which touches on points made by the hon. Member for Strangford, and it is hard to make the most of the range of experiences and activities that make up university life. Frozen household income thresholds and a failure to adequately uprate the maintenance package with inflation mean that the average student’s maintenance loan is estimated to fall £504 short of covering their living costs each month. That particularly affects disadvantaged students, who are forced to take on higher levels of debt and find paid employment, which limits their ability to study. I commend the Government for last month announcing an inflationary increase to maintenance support for students in England, but will they commit to reintroducing maintenance grants for students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds? Can they indicate a timeframe of when that might be possible, if it is indeed possible?

Greater effectiveness and efficiency are necessary for our universities to thrive in the coming decade. They must reform and do things differently, and prioritise some things while deprioritising others. Operating models need to evolve to become more effective and efficient. I know from conversations with vice-chancellors that universities in all four nations in the UK are already making significant changes to adjust to these pressures, including in some cases through significant restructuring and transformation programmes. Indeed, around the time of the election, as I was leaving my former employment, my own university was going through a significant redundancy package.

Without a small change to the overall context, many universities will be forced to make cuts that are in the interests of their institution but not the national interest. Such cuts will jeopardise the crucial role that all types of universities play in their local communities. Some have a profoundly local mission of educating the public sector workforce for their local areas, while others attract amounts of investment. They all play a part throughout the country.

Many of our universities are currently making difficult decisions, which colleagues will know, I am sure. This means closing degree courses that may have low student demand but are of national strategic importance, such as modern foreign languages and arts and humanities courses. We are losing a lot of those courses. There is a real risk that certain courses will be available in a limited number of institutions only, meaning that they will slowly recede out of the reach of students who cannot travel to study or cannot meet highly competitive entry requirements.

Diminished financial stability for universities clearly has potentially harmful repercussions for students, staff and our wider national economy. Therefore, it is essential that change is not just about doing more with less. Universities’ underlying operating models need to evolve to become more efficient and as effective as possible. They must be supported by the Government to do so at the national level.

My understanding is that Universities UK, the collective voice of 141 UK universities, is committed to establishing a cross-sector transformation and efficiency taskforce to seek savings through greater collaboration. The task force is one of the main recommendations from Universities UK’s recent report “Opportunity, growth and partnership: a blueprint for change”, which I strongly encourage colleagues to have a good read of. The taskforce will be established by the end of 2024 and will report for the first time in summer 2025.

The taskforce will take a three-step approach. First, it will evaluate progress and lessons learned since the last major review into sector efficiency, identifying what has been achieved in the past decade while looking forward to the next and making recommendations to unlock opportunities that lie ahead. Secondly, it will identify opportunities for savings through greater collaboration between universities.

There are already some great examples of collaboration. The UCAS system is effectively a shared service, with the university sector’s IT network run by Jisc. Individual universities have found creative ways of working together to share resources, such as the shared out-of-hours IT service set up by Northumbria University, which is now used by a third of universities around the country.

Finally, the taskforce will bring university leaders together to look at structural changes, creating regional groupings of universities, or even mergers and acquisitions where appropriate, which could deliver savings in the long term. I strongly encourage the Government to engage with the sector as deeply as possible as it embarks on the creation of the taskforce.

I will now turn to the steps necessary to support our universities so that they can in turn support our nation’s renewal. Universities UK’s recent blueprint report recommends a two-phase approach for universities and Government. Phase 1 requires some immediate steps, including

“increasing funding for teaching to meet the real costs through a combination of index-linking fees to inflation”

each year and restoring the teaching grant to previous levels. The Exchequer now only contributes 16% of the cost of funding a student through higher education, with the other 84% picked up by the graduate in England. The balance needs redressing through increased Government investment.

Other parts of the first phase outlined in the report include

“ensuring policy stability in relation to international students in order to achieve sustainable, managed growth”

and

“working with the sector to establish a sustainable solution for universities in relation to the significant increase in contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme”.

Finally, Government and the sector should have

“a clear plan to implement should an English university find itself in severe financial distress.”

That is a very real possibility at the moment, although alleviated by the Government’s recent efforts.

The report also recommends:

“Plans to manage the immediate situation and to protect the reputation of the higher education sector should be in place, with the support of independent experts, to guide the institution”

in financial difficulty

“in finding a viable way forward. There are different possible models for such an intervention, but it is crucial to protect students and others who depend on the university, including local public services.”

To summarise, the second phase of the taskforce effort will involve some longer-term steps, which will probably include developing a contract

“with the university sector to deliver sustainable, managed growth in international student recruitment”,

changes to the way that VAT is charged so that it is easier for universities to share services and, finally,

“introducing a transformation fund to enable and accelerate changes to universities’ operating and business models in order to achieve greater efficiency.”

Government and Democracy Education

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[John Slinger]

I agree. I will come to that when I complete my remarks. We are talking about empowering our young people to set the agenda in their schools and, we hope, in their lives.

Learning standard subjects, such as history and science, enables young people to develop core skills, imbibe relevant knowledge and hone the powers of critical analysis that will empower them to thrive in future, whether in study or work.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this debate forward. I agree that it is important for young people to have an understanding of democracy at an early stage, especially in schools. My youngest staff member studied government and politics. There were 28 students in their class in the first year, but that went down to 11 in the second year. They then did a further course comprising 14 students, which included only two girls. Does the hon. Member agree that there is a disconnect between young people and the political system that needs to be addressed, possibly as a mandatory module through learning for life and work?

Apprenticeships and T-Levels

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I am not a great mathematician, but I know that that means four minutes. I congratulate the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) on leading this debate. I know he undertook a lot of work on apprenticeships and T-levels in his time as Minister, and he did exceptionally well. He is in a different role now but he still shares his advice and experience.

We must do all we can to expand education and employment opportunities for young people across the United Kingdom. In every debate I give a Northern Ireland perspective and speak on the things we do well back home. The Department for the Economy has released its yearly statistics on the uptake of apprenticeships, and it is good news that there has been a rise. As of October ’24, there were 1,756 people undertaking an apprenticeship in the electrotechnical field, 500 in health and social care, and 700 in plumbing, which the right hon. Member referred to in opening the debate. In addition, 10,500 were studying for a level 2 award and 3,700 for a level 3 award.

I have spoken before about the importance of apprenticeships and the role they play in teaching young people a unique skillset after leaving school. However, it is crucial that this is properly reflected in their pay. I know this is not the Minister’s responsibility, but we have to ensure that apprenticeship pay encourages young people to stay on and finish their apprenticeships, as their colleagues and friends might be earning much more for stacking the shelves in Tesco or Asda. That is just one example. Apprenticeships are important, but young people need the time and money to get through them.

The right hon. Member for East Hampshire has spoken before about ensuring parity of esteem between academic and vocational routes. There must be an understanding that the university route does not always appeal to young people, and an option to encourage them to get out into the world of work. I believe that the Minister is committed to that, so it would be interesting to get her thoughts.

From July to September 2024, there were some 513,000 unemployed people aged 18 to 24 in the UK, which is an unemployment rate of 13.7%. Unfortunately, that is a rise on the 11.6% in the previous year. Again, apprenticeships are critical to that. Let us get young people into apprenticeships and reduce that unemployment rate.

I hear what the right hon. Member for East Hampshire said about T-levels. There is no doubt success with this option. In 2022, the first T-level results were announced. Out of 1,029, there was a 92.2% pass rate, which is excellent. As far as I am aware, the T-level system is for England and does not apply to the devolved nations, so it would be great to know what the Minister can do to exchange thoughts with the devolved Administrations and see how we can extend that success.

Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to earn while learning and they allow for people to be fast-tracked into the working world. Apprenticeships are available in numerous sectors across the UK. We must encourage young people to see them as an option after they choose to leave school. Many associate the word “apprenticeship” with male-dominant fields such as mechanics, engineering or plumbing, but there are endless opportunities out there in a large range of sectors for people of all ages and with all interests, man and woman. A lady can do a job equally as well as a man. That should never be discredited in any way.

Job creation is an important issue for the entirety of the UK. To get individuals into the job market, encouragement and prospects must be there from school age. We must do more to encourage young people to think about their careers and futures. More importantly, we must make them aware of the options for what they want to do when they leave school. I look to the Minister to see if engagement is possible on expanding T-level qualifications to Northern Ireland and Scotland. Will the Minister commit to undertaking future discussions on this with the Department for Education back home? Equal opportunities for all young people should apply across the whole of this great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Primary School Breakfast Clubs

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dhesi]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the importance of free breakfast clubs in getting rid of the stigma.

One in 10 young people lives in a household classed as food insecure. During the covid pandemic, pupils from families using food banks attained, on average, GCSE grades half a grade lower than their peers. We know that working people are facing some of the toughest economic conditions in decades. The price of essentials has skyrocketed, childcare has become a luxury for many, and many parents feel as though they have been left out in the cold as they continue to do their level best to give their children a better future.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. There is such a crowd in the Chamber because we all agree with him.

Northern Ireland launched the extended schools programme in May 2006. Since then, some £167 million has been given to the most disadvantaged areas to offer a wide range of services, including free breakfast clubs, and it has been successful. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Government and Parliament must provide greater central funding to ensure that all UK schools can offer free breakfast clubs to give children a good breakfast to boost their energy levels for the day? Quite simply, hungry children do not learn.

[Mr Dhesi]

I fully agree with the hon. Gentleman. He is right both to highlight Northern Ireland and to make the wider point. He is a regular feature of Adjournment debates, and I feel honoured that he has intervened on me.

The Minister and the Government need only see the number of Members in the Chamber at half-past 9, here to speak on behalf of their constituents and underline the importance of universal breakfast clubs. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reports that families whose children use breakfast clubs five days a week during term time save a staggering £760, which is a significant saving for working parents. With the roll-out of funded breakfast clubs, imagine the money that could remain in the pockets of working families in Slough and beyond.

Family and Work Visas

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Member for Belfast South and Mid Down (Claire Hanna) for securing the debate. She and I may have some constitutional and political differences, but this is a unifying issue for us both and for the community that we represent.

Connectivity across the UK is a subject that I have raised on multiple occasions over the past number of weeks, and the reason is clear: the lifeblood of Northern Ireland is our ability to trade skills and products with the mainland UK on a reciprocal basis. The ferry system is as vital to that ability as oxygen is to the very lungs with which we breathe in this Chamber. The current situation is concerning. It needs not simply a debate in this place, but action by the Government. We very much look to the Minister for assurance that the needs are heard and will receive attention and action.

Ferry routes across the Irish sea are vital to national infrastructure. They ensure that trade, tourism and essential services flow; without them, Northern Ireland cannot exist in this modern world. We need that movement, as the hon. Member for Belfast South and Mid Down outlined. The insidious Northern Ireland protocol, with its difficulties for the haulage companies and delays in transport, has highlighted the nature of Northern Ireland and shown that, within days of delayed shipping, shelves were empty. That is a fact of where we are. Our trade is important, and Stena Line in particular, which carries the bulk of trade, economy and tourism across the water, is very important. Clearly, the ferry routes must be protected and prioritised as vital infrastructure.

I therefore ask for a commitment by the Government, and the Minister in particular, to engage with Stena and its parent company to find a solution, perhaps using—I offer this as a solution—the offshore well boat concession as a template to solve the problem. There has been an understandable focus on the politics and the paperwork of the Windsor framework, but an offshoot of that has been that insufficient thought has gone into ensuring that we have the people with the necessary skills on the seafaring routes to ensure that there is no disruption to trade across the Irish sea. Their vital role must be protected. If the ferry routes are not able to operate in the future because we do not have qualified seafarers, that could lead to empty shop shelves, lack of certain medical supplies and certain difficulties for my constituents.

The hon. Member for Belfast South and Mid Down mentioned the fishermen. My understanding is that last week, the Government made concessions for horticulture and farming, including for those in mushrooms, vegetables and potatoes; but they have not made those concessions for the fishermen, although they could have done. Fishermen’s work is not only skilled but seasonal.

Last Saturday I was in the advice centre at Portavogie. Fishermen came to see me and underlined the issues clearly: they need a seasonal work system, so that they can bring people in for eight or nine months a year. Last week, the fish producer organisations met the Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs—a very constructive meeting—and I spoke to him before a debate. The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs was hoping to speak to the Minister who is in her place today. I suggest that more such contacts should be made, because I believe there will be a way forward. I make a plea for some help for the fishing sector.

The hon. Member for Belfast South and Mid Down and I did not agree on Brexit—I just say such things—and we did not agree on the protocol or on many other Northern Ireland issues, but I can tell hon. Members this: the visa programme is a clear uniting issue. That so often happens—that there are things that bring us together. I like to focus on the things that bring us together, and the hon. Lady likes to do so as well. We need those crews to operate, and they must be able to continue as they are, or Northern Ireland might well come to a standstill.

I look to the Minister again for consideration and action. I am happy, if necessary, to facilitate a meeting between the fishermen, Stena Line, the hon. Member for Belfast South and Mid Down and me to make that happen.

[Mark Pritchard (in the Chair)]

We now come to the Front Benchers—five minutes each for the two in opposition and 10 minutes for the Minister.

Kinship Carers

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government support for kinship carers.

It is, as always, a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I start by welcoming my hon. Friend the Minister to her place. It is a real pleasure to see her in this role. Not only does she bring experience as someone who has worked in children’s social care, but her compassion and drive to improve situations for young people right across the country will be a powerful motivator to ensure that we deliver the change we have committed to as a Government, and will benefit of kinship carers in my constituency and right across the country over the coming years.

I am delighted to introduce my second debate on kinship care, having held one in the immediate aftermath of the last Government strategy earlier this year. As MPs, we get to meet, I think it is fair to say, quite a wide range of campaigners, all of whom are very powerful. I have to say that some are more convincing than others, but there can be no group more powerful or moving to work with than kinship carers. I was privileged, before I was even an MP, to be grabbed by Carol and Amanda, two kinship carers in the then constituency, to talk through some of the challenges they were facing. It was impossible not to be moved by their determination to do right by the young people in their care and young people in kinship care right across the country, so we stepped forward and agreed to work together.

I was soon to find that kinship carers are, rightly, an incredibly tenacious group of campaigners. One week after I was elected, Carol and Amanda pitched up at my surgery to ask what I had managed to do so far, and what I would be doing in the next week, to take their cause forward. It should have come as no surprise, then, that one month after my re-election—albeit in a slightly different constituency—they were beating down my door again. They did so because this is a cause that matters. Kinship carers do amazing work on behalf of the young people in their care right across the country. They step up at a moment of real trauma for a young person and ensure, through love, compassion and dedication, that everything possible is done to give that young person the stability, the common identity and the compassion they need to thrive.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman, who is equally tenacious, and so is everyone else in this room. Last year in Northern Ireland, there were 3,801 children in care. We welcomed the boost for foster carers earlier this year, but we did not see a boost for kinship carers. Does he agree that there must be more financial provision for kinship caring across all of this great United Kingdom?

[Alistair Strathern]

I thank the hon. Member for making incredibly poignant remarks, as he always does in these debates. I think I have yet to attend a debate here where he has not brought something to the table, and I could not agree more that we need to be thinking about the breadth of support that kinship carers get. I hope to touch on some of those points later in my remarks.

As a former councillor and lead for children’s services, I was also privileged to work closely with kinship carers and see at first hand the impact they could have in transforming the outcomes of the young people in their care. They were making sure, in those difficult moments, that the young people had the stability of place, the familiar face and the retention of their identity needed in order to be as resilient as possible in the face of more traumatic circumstances than many of us will ever have to comprehend or grapple with personally. It came as no surprise, then, that the independent review of children’s social care a few years ago remarked clearly that kinship carers deliver far better outcomes than many other parts of the care sector, but are often underserved by a care network that just is not set up to fully consider them, fully recognise their needs and fully embrace the role they can play in supporting young people through that really difficult moment.

Educational Opportunities

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Wednesday 13th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I congratulate the hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) on securing the debate and setting the scene. I thank him for being here and giving us all an opportunity to participate.

I have two helpful suggestions for the Minister. If things we have done in Northern Ireland have been successful, I want to share them and tell others about them. In Northern Ireland, the Minister of Education, my DUP colleague Paul Givan, has acknowledged that there are barriers and has implemented a new scheme called the RAISE programme. That it is an important opportunity to look afresh at the issues caused by deprivation and drive forward the whole community. It is a place-based approach to remove the barriers to learning and educational achievement. That is important to us because in Northern Ireland, young, white Protestant boys are not achieving their goals. The Government and the Education Minister recognise that and have set about trying to address it. The Education Minister said:

“My department will now continue to engage with key stakeholders in each RAISE locality through a series of workshops over the coming weeks and months—to identify needs, build the evidence base and bring forward strategic plans for consideration.”

I know the Minister here is always keen to participate. Has she had the opportunity to discuss that programme with Minister Givan, as she might wish to put it in place here too?

I want to reflect on one of the most effective residents’ associations in Strangford. The Scrabo Residents’ Association has a project to build up the confidence of young men within communities, so that they will understand that they can find a job, break the cycle within their family and have pride going to their job. I have met some of those young men; their pride in what they can do is excellent to see.

Government have made funding available for some residents’ groups to do such projects on the ground, thereby giving people jobs. Success stories include HGV driving, and work in factories and in fields. Will the Minister consider some of the things we have done in Northern Ireland, such as the Raise programme and projects that we are pursuing with community groups? With those we can add value, and add value to the local community at the same time.

School Transport: Northumberland

Jim Shannon Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2024 Westminster Hall

[Joe Morris (Hexham) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered school transport in Northumberland.

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris.

In Westminster Hall today, I am delighted to see Members who share my concerns about school transport, not just in my constituency but across the county. I place on the record my thanks to organisations such as Contact, Adapt North East and local schools, in particular Queen Elizabeth high school, for their valuable contributions. The future of school transport is a pressing and increasingly concerning issue affecting my constituents —parents, students and teachers—in Hexham and in Northumberland more broadly.

I grew up in Hexham. I was fortunate enough to have been educated at Sele first school, Hexham middle school and Queen Elizabeth high school. I am, and always will be, incredibly grateful to my teachers for the valuable education that I received. In particular, I mention Tony Webster, my former headteacher at QE—he filmed a video supporting me during the general election campaign—for his constant support and mentorship.

Meeting students and teachers across my constituency—from Queen Elizabeth high school to Longhorsley St Helen’s Church of England first school and back to Sele first school, where I went a few weeks ago—has provided valuable insight into the issues affecting our local schools, and school transport in Northumberland is raised again and again.

During my maiden speech, I said:

“a great state education has the ability to change lives and to lift and change entire areas. I want every child in the constituency to have access to the kind of education that I was lucky enough to get.”—[Official Report, 19 July 2024; Vol. 752, c. 347.]

That is my motivation to secure this debate. Ensuring that every child in Northumberland gets the best education is a commitment that I share with my hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith), and with my hon. Friends the Members for Blyth and Ashington (Ian Lavery) and for Cramlington and Killingworth (Emma Foody), who cannot join us today.

Home-to-school transport is an integral part of our education system in Britain. It ensures that no child of compulsory school age is prevented from accessing education by a lack of, or the cost of, transport.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. He is right to bring up the issue of school transport, especially in rural areas. We should never deplete services that children rely on to get to school; instead, we should increase their accessibility. I had a meeting with my Translink bus service and the education authority, and we were able to sort out some of the problems with rural transport. Does he agree that more needs to be done for bus services, especially in rural areas where transport is already limited, to ensure that kids’ education does not falter as a result of bus service issues? That is what could happen.

[Joe Morris]

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention and for his attendance. I think he has attended every Westminster Hall debate that I have spoken in. I completely share his assessment. The provision of appropriate bus routes is important, and it comes up in my casework. I have spoken to families in villages such as West Woodburn, where they allegedly have a choice of school, but the only available routes go to one single school.