Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Jason McCartney

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

The entire academies programme is built on the autonomy of the teaching profession; that is the essence of the programme. We want a well-rewarded teaching profession in order to attract and retain the best people, and we are determined to achieve that. Of course, because of the legacy left behind by the last Government, which the hon. Lady supported, we are having to take some very tough decisions right across the public sector. Despite all the problems left by the previous Government, however, in education we have maintained spending on schools at flat cash per pupil, and in addition to that we have the pupil premium, which amounts to a significant sum of money.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

21. Will my hon. Friend give us a quick update on what the Government are doing to attract talented individuals from the armed forces into teaching?

[Mr Gibb]

We have already allocated a number of places in the graduate teaching programme for service leavers, and we are working with the Ministry of Defence on schemes to encourage more service leavers into teaching through graduate and undergraduate processes. The skills and experience members of the armed forces have are crucial to raising standards in our schools, and we are determined to tap into those skills.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Jason McCartney

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

No student should be entered for a subject that is not in their best interests. The E-bac is small enough to allow schools to offer a range of options, including a vocational or other subject that is motivational for that student while still taking the E-bac subjects if they are suitable for that pupil.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

11. What his objectives are for the principal revisions to the school admissions code.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

The White Paper, “The Importance of Teaching”, announced that we would consult on a simplified and easier-to-understand schools admissions code to overhaul a system that is too often complex, confusing and unfair for parents. The revised schools admissions code is another contribution to our continued drive to reduce the bureaucracy facing our schools and local authorities while retaining the key safeguards that will ensure a simpler, fairer and more accessible admissions system for all parents.

[Jason McCartney]

Much of the local opposition to the Lindley Moor development in my constituency was based on the pressure on already oversubscribed local schools. Will my hon. Friend join me in insisting that section 106 money allocations to local schools as part of those plans really do go towards easing the pressure on local school places?

[Mr Gibb]

Local authorities have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places for all children of school age in their area and the Government are supporting local authorities in the fulfilment of that duty. Kirklees council received £17.2 million of capital for 2011-12 and a further £0.5 million as a result of the additional £0.5 billion basic need funding that was announced recently. On section 106 funding, the Government are consulting on changes to the community infrastructure levy to make it more responsive to local needs, including the need to ensure that there are enough school places.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Debate between Nick Gibb and Jason McCartney

Tuesday 2nd November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr Gibb]

I will not give way to the hon. Lady, because I am running out of time and I want to get to this point: child benefit for families without a higher rate taxpayer will be maintained and will be paid for children up to the age of 19 if they are in full-time education. The Government will use some of the savings from child benefit to help fund significant, above-indexation increases in child tax credit, which will be worth something like £30 in 2011-12 and £50 in 2012-13. That is in addition to the increases announced in the Budget: £150 in a year for 2011-12 and £60 in 2012-13.

I can also assure the hon. Member for Glasgow North West that none of us wants any young person to drop out of education because of financial difficulty. However, we cannot justify continuing to fund a programme that is so expensive, unresponsive and poorly targeted. Instead, we will introduce an enhanced discretionary learner support fund.

Currently, £25 million a year is given to schools, colleges and training providers through a discretionary learner support fund, to enable small payments to young people to help them meet the cost of their education. Colleges value the fund, because they are able to provide support to the young people whom they consider to be in most need. They can also respond to any changes that there might be in a student’s household income during the year. After the EMA is abolished, the fund will be significantly increased over the spending review period. The detail of the future arrangements is still being considered, but we envisage that the enhanced learner support fund will build on the principles of the current scheme to provide exceptional targeted support to students aged 16 to 18 who are experiencing financial difficulties.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

I thank the Minister for saying that. Students in my patch who go to Greenhead and Kirklees colleges will welcome those announcements that the help will be more targeted. Some of the scaremongering around the EMA can now hopefully be put to one side, and I am pleased to hear that it is all about targeting the help on the students who really need it. I thank the Minister for clarifying that.

[Mr Gibb]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention, because he encapsulated in one intervention everything that I have been saying for the past 10 minutes.

In conclusion, I ask the hon. Member for Glasgow North West to bear in mind the economic background to our decision to remove the EMA. In today’s economic climate, with a budget deficit of £155 billion, the highest of any G20 country, we have a particular duty to ensure that we continue to spend where spending is needed and to get the best possible value for taxpayers’ money. We cannot justify spending more than £556 million a year on an allowance 96% of the recipients of which would have stayed on in education even if they had not received it.

We will, of course, continue to support the most vulnerable and to provide help to those who need it. That is why all schools with children from poorer backgrounds will benefit from the pupil premium. That is why we plan to increase and enhance the discretionary learner support fund once the EMA is abolished.

The Government believe that we should trust the professionals working with young people to make the right decisions. Student support officers in schools and colleges are better able to identify those students who need support.