Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Dr Whiteford]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point and highlights the fact that young people’s housing problems are caused by undersupply of affordable housing. With the best will in the world, people on normal wages will never be able to buy a house in an urban area such as London, or in places such as Aberdeen and Edinburgh where the housing market is inflated.

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Dr Whiteford]

I will make some progress.

The lifetime ISA is a nice little bung for trustafarians and others with munificent parents or grandparents. An 18-year-old whose wealthy parents put £4,000 into a lifetime ISA every year until he or she is 40 will get a tidy wee £22,000 handout from the Government. That stands in sharp contrast to the Help to Save scheme under which people on breadline incomes—if, by some miracle, they manage to save £600 pounds a year—will get £300 from the Government. In other words, they receive less than a third of the annual benefit available to those who are already wealthy and privileged.

[Michelle Donelan]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Dr Whiteford]

I will not give way at the moment. No wonder that the Chancellor did not have much to say about the Help to Save scheme yesterday. It is a sham opportunity that is being dangled in front of people who can never hope to insulate themselves properly against financial shocks, whose financial security is increasingly precarious, and who are most exposed to the risks of global economic instability. Some people have already started calling the lifetime ISA the LISA, but out of deference to my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Lisa Cameron) I will resist that temptation. Instead, we might consider calling it the PIERS— for People Inherently Entitled to Rich Savings.

However, this is a serious point because we all recognise the need to encourage people to save more for later life, and for almost all of us the best way to do that will be through a workplace pension to which an employer can contribute. At best, the lifetime ISA is a fairly gimmicky sideshow, and at worst there is a danger that it could undermine auto-enrolment, which is the key vehicle for incentivising savings and promoting fairer universal pensions. We must shore-up confidence in auto-enrolment and not distract focus from it. The pensions industry and sector has suffered a real crisis of confidence over recent decades because people have not seen adequate rewards from the process and do not believe that that is the best way to protect themselves for the future.

This morning the Resolution Foundation published a graph that shows how the Government’s income tax cuts will benefit people across the income distribution. It shows that the lowest 20% of incomes will gain a miserly £10 on average, while the wealthiest 20% will gain an average of £225 each. For me, that encapsulates in a nutshell this Government’s warped priorities and the unfairness at the heart of this Budget. There is an alternative to austerity, and I am sorry that the Government have chosen not to take it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

The Chancellor coined this Budget as one for the “next generation”. What struck me was the focus not only on today or next year, but on the years to come after that. “Long-term economic plan” has been said in this Chamber about as many times as “Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker” but the Budget has highlighted that the phrase is not rhetoric or jargon, but a tangible plan to create a saving, home-owning, business-friendly and education-focused nation. Education is the bedrock of opportunity and key to helping the next generation, so it is necessary that a Budget with such a label focuses on education and is bold—and bold it is.

The acceleration of fairer funding to help 90% of affected schools by 2020 will ensure that some older children in Chippenham will also have the chance to benefit from just and equal funding. It will mean an end to the ludicrous existing funding system and will ensure that Wiltshire’s schools get the money they deserve and can continue to offer the fantastic education for which they have become known. Pupil funding in Wiltshire is over £2,000 per pupil less than the national average, so teachers, parents and pupils will be thrilled by this week’s announcement, because they will recognise that their cry has been heard.

I am also delighted that the Government are backing academisation. To be clear, I do not for one moment think that it is the panacea to solve all our problems, but it offers independence, choice, economies of scales and high standards. Abbeyfield School in Chippenham is going through the process and is desperate to become an academy because of the huge benefits and freedoms on offer.

[Michael Tomlinson]

Does my hon. Friend recognise that some schools will have genuine concerns about the change and will need support and guidance about restructuring and the rest of the process?

[Michelle Donelan]

I completely accept my hon. Friend’s point. One of the reasons for the announcement was to encourage schools to take ownership and the process will be school-led. We want schools to choose which multi-academy trusts they join, so it is very much a bottom-up reform.

Moving on, I must also stress my support for the sugar tax on soft drinks, which is another bold move. It sends a message that will educate and encourage consumers, parents, children and the drinks industry. With the two tiers, it will also encourage manufacturers to try to reduce sugar in order to move to the second tier. My grandmother died of diabetes when my father was very young. She had a complete addiction to soft drinks. Although it was a different era and we cannot be 100% sure that soft drinks were the cause of the diabetes, it is extremely likely. The household had a modest income, and I often think what a difference might have been made if we had had the tax back then. So I ask anybody who doubts this policy what they mean when they say it will not have any effect. Do they mean it will save only one or two people? Do they mean it will save only someone else’s grandmother or mother? This tax is not just about that, however; it is also about cutting the obesity rate, which means that we will have more money for the NHS to pay for dealing with ailments such as cancer.

This policy will not deter everyone, and nobody is suggesting it will. You can only lead a horse to water, you cannot make it drink. We can, however, send a strong message about the threat that these drinks pose. I believe that this policy is very Conservative; it is a responsible action by a responsible Government. It is a forward-thinking action, one that does not ban but which encourages personal responsibility. It encourages people to take ownership when they have the right facts and the right message from the Government. A recent study by Public Health England found that the average teenager consumes more than three times the recommended amount of sugar. The report also showed that if they cut down to the 5% target within five years, 77,000 lives would be saved and the saving to the NHS would be £14 billion. That makes the case on its own.

Using the money generated to double the primary school PE and sport premium from £160 million to £320 million per year is a great step forward in encouraging sport and fitness, and tackling childhood obesity. The £285 million a year to allow 25% of schools to extend their school day by an hour will assist parents and reduce their childcare bill. That, too, is a forward-thinking move, one supported by the Sutton Trust. The use of the hour will be key, and I look forward to reading more information about that.

This Budget was business-friendly and it was aimed at combating our productivity crisis. It will help businesses in my constituency and around the country, and it will encourage start-ups. However, we also need to encourage and enable the next generation of business owners, managers, directors and employees, and they will need to be proficient in maths. We need to use this opportunity to bring maths to life—to teach practical and applicable maths. We need to teach maths for real life, to ensure that students are work-ready and life-ready. We need, thus, to be able to give them help with their mortgages, tax returns and balance sheets. We need to give them maths for technical applied roles and basic business mathematics—the list goes on. This is particularly important, given that we have a growing number of self-employed in the economy. There will be 40,000 self- employed people in Wiltshire alone in the next five years.

I must stress that we must not allow this to be the start of a journey towards compulsory A-level maths or a broad-based maths course pegged at this level. I hope that Sir Adrian Smith’s report will reflect the need to enliven and enrich students’ mathematical basis for the real world. We need to ensure that our system creates numerate and mathematically proficient young people, but we must also remember that not everyone needs to be a mathematician—as I well know. We will need to ensure that they have the element that is necessary for the workplace. I repeat that this report and this reform offer us a massive opportunity, but only if we go about this correctly. I also welcome the additional support to encourage lifelong learning, and the recognition it shows that the economy and labour market are moving at a fast pace in our international world.

There are many things I would have liked to have said, but the time limit has severely handicapped me. I just sum up by saying that this is a bold Budget. It is an opportunities-based Budget. It is a Budget designed not only to improve our education system in the long term, but to offer opportunities in the short term and the long term for all.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Tuesday 15th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

As ever, the Chair of the Select Committee has asked some penetratingly good questions, but I fear that I must ask him to wait until tomorrow, when he will hear more, as he will during the next few weeks.

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

Does the Minister agree that we need to give more training support to small businesses to encourage them to hire women who are re-entering the labour market after significant career breaks post-children?

[Sajid Javid]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. We are focusing strongly on the issue, and we are working on it with the Women and Equalities Minister. We want to ensure that women have the same opportunities as men to re-enter the work force, and we will treat that as a big priority.

Engineering Skills: Design and Technology Education

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Tuesday 15th March 2016 Westminster Hall

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered engineering skills and design and technology education.

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bailey. I have called this debate because I believe that the future of engineering and design and technology education is central to the challenges facing our economy today. An under-skilled workforce limits a company’s—and, in turn, the country’s—growth prospects. If our labour supply does not match our jobs market, the result is simple: companies will either relocate or, potentially, close. That is a massive threat facing businesses in my constituency and our country.

We must be bold. We cannot just tinker around the edges and hope for the best—not if we want to fulfil the infamous long-term economic plan, support British businesses, boost productivity and give young people a fair shot in life by encouraging them to study subjects that are more likely to lead to employment. The UK is the 11th biggest manufacturer in the world. We are competitive in our ability to research and develop highly specialised technologies. However, to maintain our influence, we must focus on exports and address the UK’s productivity crisis. Since 2013, the UK’s productivity has been stagnating. That is simply unacceptable and needs addressing.

We have a severe shortage of engineers. According to the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the country will need almost 2 million more engineers in the next seven years. I repeat: 2 million. That is a flabbergasting figure. Each week, I visit businesses in my constituency, and time and again the same message is echoed: they are struggling to hire adequately skilled staff. Shockingly, some businesses are considering the possibility of relocating. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills estimates that companies are struggling to fill 43% of their STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—vacancies because of the skills gap.

[Kevin Foster (Torbay) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing a debate about such an important topic. Does she agree that it is not just the commercial sector that is affected? The shortage of skills in the wider economy also has an impact on our military, who train people in STEM subjects; the Royal Navy has one engineer for every two it would like in some sectors, because of private sector companies desperately trying to recruit people with the skills in which it provides training.

[Michelle Donelan]

I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent point. The shortage of STEM skills is vast across a number of sectors, and we need to face that. In the military, the private sector and the public sector, it is a big problem facing us. Also on that point, there is a problem with the numbers of females and of people from socially deprived backgrounds in STEM. We must try to make the industry much more representative. The number of women in engineering is just 6%. Something needs to be done to address that.

A business in my constituency, Alford Technologies, summed the situation up well in an email to me. It said:

“Engineering is sadly underrated in the UK. Britain needs to do something to raise the profile of engineering, to make it something more people aspire to do. In order to stay at the forefront of the modern, technological world, the Government really needs to invest in encouraging the next generation of great engineers, designers and innovators.”

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. She says that the Government must do more to engage and promote engineering, but does she agree that there is also an important role for businesses to play? They should be getting out there, into primary and secondary schools, promoting their business and showing what they do behind what might appear to be closed doors to families and children, who often do not know what engineering means until it is too late.

[Michelle Donelan]

I thank my hon. Friend for that point, which I will touch on in a minute. I completely agree: the link between business, companies and education needs to be aligned much better. There is a big stigma and misconception about this sector, and the only way in which we can myth-bust is by introducing young people to real people in the industry, who will tell them what life is like in the job.

[Lucy Frazer (South East Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend accept that businesses are already doing a great deal in this area? In my constituency, Marshall does a great job of inspiring young people to go into engineering and aerospace, and yesterday I met representatives of TWI, a company just outside my constituency, which is doing the same. However, businesses need to do more and they need to do it at an early stage if they are to inspire young people at the ages of six, seven and eight to get involved in engineering.

[Michelle Donelan]

Yes. I thank my hon. and learned Friend. Again, I will touch on that point in a minute, but I totally agree. The problem is that there is inconsistency. A number of businesses and schools in my constituency are also doing an excellent job, but not every school is offering the same link with businesses and not every business is engaging as much as it could be.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

I am sorry to interrupt my hon. Friend; she is being intervened on a lot by hon. Friends, and I am sure that we are all providing her with excellent advice—I hope she will take it in that spirit.

I am the co-chair of the all-party group on design and innovation, so I have an interest in this area. Will my hon. Friend comment on the link that there should be between the sectors that she is talking about and education? We recently had a meeting with the Minister to discuss whether this subject could be included in the English baccalaureate. I understand the reluctance about that, but will my hon. Friend comment on the relationship with education generally?

[Michelle Donelan]

The main thrust of my speech is about the EBacc, so I will leave that point and my hon. Friend can eagerly anticipate what I will say in a few moments.

[John Howell]

Touché!

[Michelle Donelan]

Linking education with business can be done in a variety of ways. The most important way is to get businesses into schools to talk to children face to face. Only a certain amount of information can be had from books and the media, and if we continue to perpetuate stereotypes, we will not get anywhere. That is the reality.

To go back to my speech, we must support businesses such as Alford. We must inspire the next generation of thinkers and create an innovation-hungry economy. Britain needs more businesses making more things, designing more things, inventing more things and exporting more things. We must recognise that engineering and manufacturing are an important part—indeed, a vital part—of Britain’s economic future.

What is the answer to all these problems? We need to improve our careers education system, starting at primary school age. Studies show that from age six children rule out careers. That is just perpetuating the stereotyping and the reluctance of girls to enter this industry. We need to strengthen further the links with local businesses and to increase the emphasis that we place on local labour market intelligence, so that we inform our young people about local opportunities and the best career choices and options are available to them.

[John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)]

I am extremely grateful to my fellow Wiltshire MP from my home town of Chippenham for initiating this debate. Does she concur that one of the great opportunities in Wiltshire is provided by QinetiQ? That company provides thousands of apprenticeships in science and technology, and there is its initiative with the 5% Club to target high investment in apprenticeships, so that local people in Wiltshire can see the opportunities for apprenticeships in science and technology at age 18 locally. That is a good start on the journey that my hon. Friend will take us on this morning.

[Michelle Donelan]

I thank my hon. Friend, who is right. I know at first hand the work that that company is doing in Wiltshire, especially in the area of apprenticeships, which is vital for our economy and for giving young people the opportunity to experience these industries from a younger age. We need to run more schemes like that.

I believe that we need to go further and measure schools on destination reporting—reporting on what careers young people go into—so that we can better measure what is happening. However, this is really all quite simple. To make our economy more productive, we need to make our education system more productive. To put it another way, we need to wake up to the fact that we need to align the business sector and the education sector and ensure that they are working much more to support each other.

The Government have already done quite a lot in this area, and I do not want to overlook that. They have recognised the need to focus on STEM with initiatives such as STEMNET, providing £6.3 million a year to run a number of programmes. That includes more than 28,000 STEM ambassadors. The Big Bang Fair is another initiative that I have seen at first hand in Wiltshire, and Wiltshire College is doing an excellent job of celebrating STEM for young people in the UK. There is also the “Your Life” campaign, which is increasing the number of pupils taking on A-level physics and maths.

University technology colleges are another fantastic way to address the STEM shortage, and I am delighted that more than 55 UTCs will be open by 2017, catering for more than 33,000 students. A number of other initiatives focus on further education and university education, of which the most important is the removal of the cap on university places for STEM subjects. Those are all great initiatives, but we still face a huge skills gap that is threatening our economy.

I believe that the answer to addressing the skills gap lies in the new design and technology GCSE course. For too long, design, technology and engineering subjects have been misunderstood, stigmatised and stereotyped, which is quite ironic given that the skills shortage means that we are in dire need of encouraging more young people to pursue those careers. It is also ironic given that all those subjects give students the best shot at getting highly valued, highly paid jobs, and given the UK’s productivity crisis. Those in the know—business leaders—see design and technology as an essential part of the UK’s remaining a global leader in product design. If we are to plug the ever-growing skills gap and address our rather shameful productivity crisis, we must listen to business and act urgently.

Education is the key to addressing the skills shortage, and design and technology is a key part of that. Entries for the D and T GCSE have declined by 18% since 2010—a decline that, at 26% over the five-year period, is even more dramatic among girls. In addition, the recruitment of D and T teachers has hit an all-time low. Since 2010, their number has fallen by 2,300, and the number of teaching hours has fallen by 16%.

The Government are rightly pushing ahead on ensuring that education is vigorous and gives students the core skills they need for the workplace. It is vital that the Ebacc remains purely academic, ensuring that students leave education with the skills that they need to get on in life. I fully support that. However, the push towards the Ebacc in its current form threatens to undermine any progress being made to address the stigma associated with technology and engineering. I would like the vastly improved D and T GCSE to be included as an option of the science element of the Ebacc. There is huge support for that within the business community and the teaching community—not just in my constituency and not just in Wiltshire, but across the country. They are crying out for this change, and something needs to be done.

Figures vary, but estimates suggest that there are about 54,000 vacancies for the 1,200 graduate engineers each year. That is a brake on business and a drag on the economy. Let me be clear: I am asking not for a U-turn in the policy, but for a minor change to strengthen, improve and safeguard the Ebacc given the scientific and academic nature of the new D and T GCSE. There will be no outcry from vocational subject pressure groups, such as art, music and religious education, as that is a totally different debate.

There is a precedent for the change in the example of computer science. In recognition of the changing economy, the former information and communications technology qualification was revamped as computer science to cater for the economic need for computer programmers and the shortfall in the digital industries. Yet the skills shortages in design, manufacturing and engineering are far vaster, so surely the case is much more pressing.

Without a technology and engineering element to the Ebacc, young people do not have the opportunity to taste those subjects and thus gain a greater insight into those careers. Yes, they can do the core subjects such as maths and science, which can lead them on to a university place or an apprenticeship in such fields, but why would they do that if they had never actually tasted D and T and had no real concept of what it means? In fact, they will not, as the evidence shows us. Between 2010 and 2015, the number of A-level entries for D and T fell by more than 24%, which indicates that the decline in the GCSE is having a further impact that is knocking on through the STEM pipeline.

The Government are committed to 3 million new apprenticeship schemes. Ensuring that D and T is part of the Ebacc will help towards that goal. A taster in a technical course will encourage people to go on to do a technical apprenticeship. I encourage the Minister to utilise the same foresight used with computer science by introducing the newly improved and very scientific D and T course as part of the Ebacc. Doing so would add to the image and value of the subject, and send out a message that D and T and engineering are science subjects that are core to the curriculum. After all, is not one of the key purposes of our education system to create the workforce of tomorrow?

Progress 8, in theory, measures students’ progress across eight subjects: English; maths; three other Ebacc subjects, which can be science, computer science, geography, history or languages; and three further subjects, which can be from a range of the Ebacc subjects or any other highly approved art, academic or vocational qualification. However, many schools—schools are telling me this—are pushing their students towards the academic subjects. Many students are taking more than the expected minimum of five subjects, resulting in D and T being squeezed into a single or double option box to compete with the likes of photography or dance for a single place among the students’ options. It would be tragic for the new, academically rigorous D and T GCSE still to be sidelined after all the work, time and money that has been invested in it.

Some will argue that the Ebacc is only five subjects from a GCSE programme of nine, but that does not really show an understanding of the situation we face. D and T is being marginalised. The brightest students overlook it because they do not perceive it as a scientific subject and because it does not have that Ebacc accreditation.

As a result of the hard work and commitment of the Minister, the James Dyson Foundation and the business community, the content of the new course, which will be launched in September 2017, is highly scientific and a vast improvement on the previous qualification. It encourages the innovation and creativity needed to boost UK productivity, and it is worthy of Ebacc status. The Minister has made some very good points, describing the new GCSE as “gold-standard”, and said:

“This is a rigorous qualification which will require students to have a sound grasp of maths and science, and which will undoubtedly stretch them to further develop the kind of knowledge and skills so sought after by employers and universities.”

Well, I agree. D and T is the only subject in which students put their maths and physics knowledge to a practical test. It is the only subject that gives a window into engineering careers, and it is the obvious pipeline for engineering talent. That view is shared by Sir James Dyson; Dr Rhys Morgan, director of education at the Royal Academy of Engineering; Paul Jackson, the chief executive officer of EngineeringUK; the Design and Technology Association; and hundreds of businesses that have contacted me in the past few weeks. We must listen to the experts and take action. Including the course within the Ebacc would help to challenge perceptions of the subject, and boost recruitment and take-up. There is a 57% recruitment shortfall in trainee D and T teachers, who are concerned over the subject’s future and status.

There are a number of other ways in which we can encourage young people to take engineering and D and T to safeguard the subject and their futures, and I do not deny that I have only really touched on one way today. I am sure that colleagues will go into further depth on other areas. I have focused on including the new D and T course within the Ebacc because I believe that it is crucial and very doable. The simple change is what business and the economy need. It would highlight that the Government understand the need to align the education system much more with the economy and to give our young the best opportunity in life.

We have a chance to include a new, robust and rigorous D and T course within the Ebacc as a science element, just as was done with computer science, to combat any negative perceptions and recognise the needs of the industry. It is unacceptable, at a time when we have such severe engineering shortages and a growing productivity crisis, that we are prioritising only the S and M, and not the T and E, of STEM. What is the point of all the programmes we have to encourage young people to consider a career in the sector if we are going to say that the new science-based D and T course is actually not really science? That is what this categorisation means—that it is not actually science—and it sends out the message that the subject is not important to the STEM agenda.

In conclusion, if we are to remain at the forefront of global product design, we must take action. Bolstering the D and T GCSE by its inclusion in the Ebacc is an important step to addressing the skills shortage, safeguarding the future of the subject, and supporting skills and businesses. As I said to the Prime Minister last month, the skills shortage is a ticking time bomb, and I urge the Minister to act now.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michelle Donelan]

I thank all colleagues who participated in the debate. Together, we have stressed the importance of promoting the STEM sector and combatting the stereotypical image that has arisen so that we can tackle the skills gap. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochester and Strood (Kelly Tolhurst) summed it up when she said that we need to excite people about the industry. Today’s discussion highlighted the fact that the focus needs to be on the T and E of STEM, not just on the S and M.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Chris Green) talked about the need for practical skills and hands-on ability. I echo the comments made by the hon. Member for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan), who said that education should be led by industry, not by politicians. That sums up the progress that we need to make in the sector. I am impressed that I managed to inspire the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin).

I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for his response. I congratulate him on his work in the sector. It is easy to overlook the fact that he is one of the people who dramatically changed the design and technology course we have been discussing, so he understands its value and its long-term potential for progress. I agree with him about the importance of the academic rigour and core focus of the EBacc and stress that that is exactly why we need design and technology to be part of it. It is very much an academic subject, and we can send out that message to students and teachers throughout the country. I urge the Government to listen to businesses and to teachers and help to give students the best shot at life by looking again at making design and technology part of the EBacc.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered engineering skills and design and technology education.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Monday 7th March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

It is important that we understand the basic principles behind why we are having a consultation on the funding formula—that the same pupils, with the same characteristics, across the country need to attract the same amounts of money. There will obviously be another consultation on the details, but it is important that we know about the weightings behind the factors and that there is certainty and transparency for all schools going forward. We have said there will be a phased transition, and that we will be very mindful of those schools where there is potential for there to be less funding, to make sure they are not destabilised. However, it is absolutely right that it is this Government who have grasped this nettle after many years of previous Governments absolutely flunking that test.

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

T9. Will my hon. Friend please join me in recognising the vastly improved design and technology GCSE, which comes into play next year and which will help to inspire the next generation of technical and engineering professionals?

[Mr Gibb]

Yes, we have made some significant reforms to the D and T GCSE and A-level, working closely with the Design and Technology Association and the James Dyson Foundation to ensure we have high-quality D and T qualifications that lead on to higher education, apprenticeships and high-quality employment in the sector. I hope the qualification itself will lead to more young people taking it.

Childcare Bill [ Lords ] (Second sitting)

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Tuesday 8th December 2015 Public Bill Committees

[Jess Phillips]

I will speak specifically about eligibility and probe a little more how it will work. The two areas that I wish to speak about are women who live in domestic violence refuges and those who have their children in a maintained sector service much like the one my children attended.

If my children enjoyed the full week in childcare for free—it seems like manna from heaven to me—and I lost my job, their places would be removed. I would only be able to send them to the maintained sector service for 15 hours of the week, if I understand how the regulations will work. A place for only half the week would then become available to a child in that maintained setting, and another person using that childcare would need to lose their job to make that up to a whole place, so I would have to take someone down with me whose children also went to school with mine, which seems a bit dramatic. If free entitlement increases from 15 to 30 hours, the number of places in that setting is reduced. If my circumstances changed, there would be half a place free—half a place is as useful as a chocolate teapot. I am not sure how Ministers will get around that particular instance if people’s circumstances change. Will people whose employment is at risk—those who might not keep their job—only be able to get childcare in the private sector, not the maintained sector? Would I, under this system, have to put my child with one child carer for the first half of the week and a different one for the second half? I just cannot see how this will work in the world that I live in.

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady please clarify something for me? Is she actually saying that if somebody like her lost their job, they should still be eligible for this benefit? It was my understanding that this policy is about helping people into work and helping those who are in work.

[Jess Phillips]

I am saying exactly that. Who knows how long someone might be out of employment? Their child would lose their place for the second half of the week. People need time to go and find a job. When me and my children were in that situation, I was working three voluntary jobs to gain experience so that after my second son was born, I was able to get a full-time job. So yes, I am saying that it is probably not the best thing to say to somebody who has just lost their job, “Your child’s situation will now have to completely change. You won’t be able to go and seek a job, as you’ll now be tied to childcare.”

[Michelle Donelan]

It is my understanding that the Bill gives a grace period to accommodate that.

Childcare Bill [Lords]

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

The Bill is going to enter Committee and I am sure that there will be debates on this, but the evidence-based review we are publishing today does not support the figure the hon. Lady mentions. She might be talking about the additional rate that some providers will charge, but we are talking about the free entitlement and about the hundreds of millions of pounds of hard-earned taxpayers’ money that this Government are going to spend to ensure that working families get the support for childcare that they need.

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

The subject of councils siphoning off a bit of the money has been mentioned. That happens in Wiltshire, and I welcome my right hon. Friend’s intention to try to stop it. What measures will be put in place to achieve that, so that people in Wiltshire will get just as much as everyone else?

[Nicky Morgan]

Part of the reason for having the funding formula review, which is part of the wider review of school funding, is to ensure that we talk to the local authorities, and the other bodies that receive the money, to find the best ways of doing this. In my opinion, that should involve maximum transparency so that people know how much money is being given by the Government, how much the local authority is receiving and how much is being passed on. That would enable the childcare-providing businesses and the families who were potentially going to be paying additional costs to know exactly how much money was not making it through to the frontline. We need to have that review and ensure that we get contributions from across the country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Corri Wilson (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

The Under-Secretary of State for Education, Lord Nash, stated in the other place that this Government are committed to supporting working families and that their focus is

“unashamedly on children and their parents.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 14 October 2015; Vol. 765, c. 238.]

I have some issues with that statement. Unlike this Government, the SNP is committed to improving and increasing high-quality, flexible early learning and childcare which is accessible and affordable for all children and families, not just those lucky enough to be in work. The Scottish Government-funded study “Growing Up in Scotland” tracks the lives of thousands of children and their families from the early years, through childhood and beyond. The main aim of the study is to provide new information to support policy making in Scotland. The most recent report has shown that, at age five, children in the highest income group are around 13 months ahead in vocabulary and 10 months ahead in problem solving ability.

It is clear that the attainment gap in education faced by children from poorer families is already established before they even get to school. That is why the SNP Government have put in place an ambitious plan backed by £100 million of funding to close that attainment gap. Early intervention has been shown to have a positive impact. However, this Bill, while providing welcome support for children of working families, can serve only to widen the attainment gap for children from families where one or more parents are unemployed.

Nursery education is not just about helping parents back into work; it is about giving children the best start in life. Providing access to high-quality early-years education for children from deprived backgrounds is the most effective way to reduce that gap in attainment. That is why, in Scotland, we have already announced plans to double childcare provision to 30 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds and vulnerable two-year-olds.

[Michelle Donelan]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Corri Wilson]

I want to make some progress, if the hon. Lady does not mind.

To truly focus unashamedly on children, the Government should be using this Bill to improve outcomes for all children, especially those who are more vulnerable or disadvantaged, and to support parents to work, train or study, especially those who need routes into sustainable employment and out of poverty. Instead, the Bill excludes the children of families where a parent is out of work or using volunteering as a route back into employment, and it could negatively impact on those whose parents are on zero-hours contracts and are unable to work the number of hours per week required to qualify.

The SNP is determined that every child in every community should have every chance to succeed at school and in life. Delivering the best start in children’s lives starts well before they reach school, which is why tackling inequalities sits at the heart of our agenda. Our vision is to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up, by improving outcomes and reducing inequalities for all. However, our efforts are being hampered by the callousness of the UK Government’s measures, which are designed to hurt the incomes—and, consequently, the standard of living—of children in low-income families.

The Scottish Government are continuing to protect Scotland’s children from Westminster’s austerity measures by ensuring that once a child becomes eligible for early learning and childcare, they will stay eligible, even if their parents’ employment status or rights to benefits change. We will protect this essential support for many vulnerable children in Scotland, which is welcome in my constituency, which has areas of high unemployment and poverty.

This Government might think that their focus is on children, but their Bill clearly shows that they care only about meeting the needs of some children, and not necessarily those who need our support the most. It will do nothing to provide the universality, flexibility or quality that the SNP is focused on delivering in Scotland, and it will almost certainly see children from more disadvantaged households slip further behind in attainment levels by the time they start school at five. We are committed to getting it right for every child. Will the Government confirm that they are?

Further Education

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Wednesday 18th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

I want to make two points in response to the motion. First, it is not quite as simple as just funding. Secondly, we need to have a plan to afford an increase in funding.

Wiltshire college recently invested £21 million in a new Chippenham campus, which will bring long-term local economic benefits. It is a fantastic space for students to learn in. It has an excellent reputation and I am sure it will go from strength to strength, but it needs more pupil funding. Sixth-form colleges in my constituency are also suffering, in particular Abbeyfield school, which I share with my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray). Like countless others, it suffers from the burden of private finance initiative funding of its sixth-form building.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

May I make a brief intervention to say that my own further and higher education college, Bromley college, is in dire need of funding?

[Michelle Donelan]

I thank my hon. Friend for echoing my comments.

The school is also running a growing deficit, which is putting a real strain on its finances.

Spending on 16 and 17-year-olds is 22% lower than spending on 11 to 16-year-olds, and spending on 18-year-olds is a further 17.5% lower. I urge the Chancellor to address that in the spending review, and to ensure that funding for 16 to 18-year-olds is brought into line with the Department’s ring-fencing. It is a shame that the debate was not delayed until after the spending review, when we could have had a more productive and informed discussion.

We must bear it in mind, however—and I do not think this point has been stressed enough by Opposition Members—that a good FE offering is not just about funding We need to consider far broader issues in our education system, and think about its links with our national productivity. I therefore welcome the Government’s productivity plan. Increasing funds will not fix everything. Today’s debate only serves to highlight the fact that Labour seriously believes that simply throwing money at a problem will be a cure-all when it really will not. The truth is that we have a crisis in our career education system. We still have no tangible link between the education system and the workforce, because our school funding system is still a postcode lottery. The Government are trying to resolve deep-rooted, complex issues, and the topic of the debate is therefore far too simplistic.

Having spoken to local businesses throughout my constituency, I am well aware of the recruitment challenges that they face, given the lack of appropriate skills. According to a recent survey by the Institution of Engineering and Technology, six out of 10 companies said that skills shortage was a threat to their business in the United Kingdom. Simply pumping money into FE will not resolve the problem. It is true that courses have been removed because of a lack of funding, but because students may opt for other courses, they are not always financially viable. So what is the answer? Do we pump money into them to prop them up, or do we encourage our students to opt for the courses that will lead to jobs?

[Melanie Onn]

Might not guidance at an earlier stage, in the form of appropriate careers advice, help young people to make the right FE choices? I should remind the House that that service has been slashed, and now barely exists in any part of the country.

[Michelle Donelan]

I entirely agree. I think that career education is one of the key issues that we need to address, and that is one of the reasons why I became a member of the Education Committee.

Yes, we should ring-fence further education funding, but we also need to recognise the true utility of vocational courses. We need to stop pushing students towards the traditional academic routes, we need to start treating children as individuals rather than mass statistics, and we need to work to shift the stereotypes that are attached to jobs and courses. Otherwise, the true value of any money that is spent will never really be utilised.

I believe that the best way to reform further education is to bring together local businesses, further education colleges and universities, and enable them to shape curriculums to the needs of local economies. University technical colleges make that leap, and we need more of them, but we also need to apply the same approach to schools and further education colleges. If we are to do more to support businesses and build a workforce for tomorrow, we must reform education today, and I welcome the Department’s recognition of the need for such reform. I welcome the introduction of area reviews, and the move towards institutes of technology and specialisation in colleges.

No one would oppose more investment in our further education system, but the question the Opposition have yet to answer is, “Where will we get the money from?” Will we get it from the NHS, secondary or primary education, or the police? We cannot “magic” money, and we need to stop using the education system as a political football. I urge the Minister to do even more, and to explore creative opportunities that would enrich our educational offering by working with businesses and community consortiums to fund courses and resources, and, in particular, helping local economies with specific needs. Wiltshire, for instance, is crying out for more support for science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and design and technology. That would enable us to help with the supply and demand of our local labour markets and our education system.

Simply pumping money into a system is a very simplistic answer to a complex question. If we are to improve and better fund our education system, it is vital for us to improve the link with business and the stake that business has in the system, and we need to look for new ways to boost funding from that link. After all, business and the economy have the most to gain from a productive, highly educated and skilled workforce.

School Funding

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Westminster Hall

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) and the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) for securing this important debate. I certainly need not express how important the topic is. It is important because it is about ensuring that children have the best shot at life and the opportunities that they deserve.

Like my colleagues, I understand how difficult it is to rectify the hugely complicated school funding formula, but it is imperative that we make the changes. No wonder it is a key local issue in Wiltshire, as well as everywhere else, it appears. The country’s average received grant this year was £6,500 per pupil, whereas in Wiltshire it was £4,300 per pupil. Just think how much that £2,000 per pupil could do and the benefits that it would bring to their education. Every secondary school in my constituency would receive between £2 million and £3.7 million each school year. In total, Wiltshire schools lose out by more than £35 million compared with the best funded schools in the UK. That is a colossal amount, and it is a colossal injustice to hard-working children.

We cannot sit back and let it continue. We need a new national per-pupil funding formula, rather than the arbitrary and complicated system that we currently have. Yesterday, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Neil Carmichael) mentioned, the Select Committee on Education, of which I am a member, published a letter from the Secretary of State expressing her strong commitment to fairer funding and saying that she wanted to push it within the spending review. Along with many of my colleagues, I have repeatedly urged the Chancellor and Prime Minister to make education funding an issue for the spending review and a priority.

I will not beat about the bush: I think that the current spending formula is utterly ludicrous and absolutely unfair. Why should children born in my constituency have less money spent on their education than those living down the road in Bristol, for instance? They are all funded by the taxpayer, but it is a postcode lottery that takes no account of children’s needs or their numbers. The quest for fairer funding in our education system is backed by parents and teachers up and down the country, especially in Wiltshire, where more than 8,000 people signed my petition, showing how important it is as a local issue.

Of course, money is not everything in education. My sister is in the profession, and I know full well how important teachers are. An inspirational teacher can transform somebody’s life. However, money aids the recruitment and retention of teachers, as well as funding the resources that they can use to support teaching, giving children the start that they deserve. I ask the Minister: do not all children deserve a great and equal start, regardless of where they live?

The Prime Minister spoke time and again about equality at the Conservative party conference this year. I hope that that equality will be extended to the most important area of all—education, the building block of the opportunities and the aspiration nation that we all want to achieve. We need action as soon as possible. Every year that we wait, a child in Wiltshire receives less funding and is disadvantaged by the state education system. We must right that wrong as soon as possible to ensure that all children in Wiltshire and in the country as a whole can enjoy equal opportunities from the off. The Government must honour their commitment to equality and stop penalising children for being born in areas such as Wiltshire.

Term-time Leave

Michelle Donelan Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2015 Westminster Hall

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

I echo the gratitude expressed to my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) for introducing a debate that carries the British public with it. There is considerable support for his opinion among my constituents —the issue cropped up regularly on doorsteps during the election and has reached me subsequently in correspondence and in surgeries.

The existing situation is simply not fair. The changes in September allow headteachers to have discretion over emergency circumstances, but the term is subjective, so different schools judge those circumstances differently. One family in my constituency who had been through a traumatic time requested two weeks away together to get over their personal loss. They were not given that. In fact, they were fined, despite the fact that they promised, and did, keep up with their children’s primary school education while away. In other areas, I hear of cases where children were granted permission in similar circumstances. That seems unjust; it seems that in effect we have created a postcode lottery situation.

I have two primary concerns. First, why is so much money and administration being used to fine those parents who are not really neglecting their children’s education or enabling truancy? Should we not be targeting those resources on those actually abusing the system and damaging their children’s education and chances?

Secondly, the policy punishes servicemen such as those who work at MOD Corsham. They often work inflexibly and can be deployed during school holiday time; their leave periods may not align with the school holidays. It also punishes the hard-working families whom we were elected to represent, especially those on low incomes who simply cannot afford to go away during the holidays.

The Department stated that it is not denying any family a holiday, but the reality is different, because poorer families are denied that chance. For what? To stop them from travelling? We must not underestimate the value of travel. Different places, cultures, customs, activities and people all enrich and enhance a child’s education. They also enable children to be more tolerant and help produce well rounded individuals. We must ask ourselves whether that is also an educational objective. The issue is not just about grades.

I question the key argument the Department gave in its formal response to the petition, which was that taking children out of school during term time lowers attainment levels. That is true, but the figures used in the response were based on children who were absent for 15% to 20% of the time, or primary schoolchildren absent for 31 days. The petition does not suggest 15% to 20% absence; it discusses a period of just two weeks.

The figures indicate that less than two weeks’ absence can affect GCSE students, so surely it would be best to introduce changes just for primary schoolchildren. That would ensure that no time was taken during exam periods and when work is harder to catch up on. Primary school work can be done easily while away—it is easier to keep up. I do not suggest that children should be allowed to take two weeks off without parents ensuring that they keep up to date with their work, but I would like to see a much more flexible system.

To make our education system less rigid and more understanding would enhance the relationship with parents. Education relies on parents and guardians—in fact, they are vital. The current law creates a “them and us” mentality, which is the polar opposite of the ethos of “from school to home”, a partnership between parents and teachers. There needs to be much more trust and flexibility. We can introduce a change that is logical and fair, which could be just for primary school level. However, what we must not do is continue with a system that punishes hard-working families and alienates parents.

We must not also forget that this concept can easily be blown out of proportion. We are talking about two weeks to offer children, especially those from poorer backgrounds, an opportunity to have time with their families and be enriched.

[John Pugh]

The hon. Lady made a good point about 15% to 20% absence. Is she familiar with the DFE report that said:

“The proportions of pupils achieving the expected level stay relatively similar for increasing levels of absence due to authorised family holidays, religious observance and study leave”?

In other words, leave makes precious little difference when we are not talking about 15% to 20% absence.

[Michelle Donelan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that. We need further studies on the value of travel and family time. We need to look at the reason for absence.

We must not blow the petition out of proportion. It is only about two weeks’ absence. That is two weeks to offer children, especially from poorer backgrounds, the opportunity to have time with their family and be enriched. As a member of the party that stands for hard-working families and opportunities, I see that proposal as not only the best thing to do, but the right thing to do.