Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Lucy Powell

Wednesday 14th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I recognise the interest that my right hon. Friend takes in this issue. She will know that it has been debated on a number of occasions in the House. The general assumption is that someone should not be named before the point of charge, but there is an allowance for the police to be able to raise someone’s name if it is a case where they believe that doing so will perhaps help other victims to come forward. This is of particular concern in matters of sexual violence—rape, for example—or where the police believe that the naming of an individual will help in the detection of the crime. This is a delicate issue, and I recognise my right hon. Friend’s concern. The College of Policing is looking at it very carefully, and is due to provide new guidance to the police in the new year in relation to the media.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q6. The heart-breaking humanitarian crisis and genocide in Syria continue to take place as the world watches impotently, yet there is no end in sight. Does the Prime Minister agree with the right hon. Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) that what is happening in Syria is a failure of western leadership, and does she agree with me that what is urgently required is what our dear friend, Jo Cox, called for nearly a year ago: a UK-led strategy to protect civilians, whether they are fleeing persecution, whether they are surrendering, or whether they are still besieged?

[The Prime Minister]

We must all take responsibility for decisions that we have taken, whether we take them sitting around the National Security Council table or, indeed, whether we take them in the House, with the decision it took in 2013. The hon. Lady raised the question of UK-led action in relation to the protection of civilians. The UK has been pressing for action in the United Nations Security Council, working with the French. The two most recent emergency UN Security Council meetings were called for by us, and the most recent took place yesterday. As she will know, there have been six UN Security Council resolutions which have been vetoed by Russia. The most recent was also vetoed by China. We continue to work with the United Nations, but if we are to get a solution that works on the ground other countries have to buy into it, and it has to be a solution that Russia buys into, as well as the regime.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Lucy Powell

Wednesday 16th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is a very interesting point. Perhaps my hon. Friend would like to come up and see me some time.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q5. In its state of the nation report, the Government’s Social Mobility Commission today issued a damning verdict on progress: things are getting worse. The commission concluded that the key drivers of social mobility—quality in early education, narrowing the educational attainment gap, and access to work and housing—are all going backwards on the Prime Minister’s watch. When will she come forward with a real strategy for opportunity for all, instead of fixating on creating an even more elite education for those who are already elite?

[The Prime Minister]

I note that the Social Mobility Commission has recorded today that more working- class youngsters are benefiting from higher education than at any point in our history. The Government have invested record amounts in childcare and the early years, and the attainment gap, as the report acknowledges, has actually narrowed. The hon. Lady refers to the education system and the reintroduction of grammar schools, so I refer her to the report commissioned by a Labour council in Knowsley to look at how it could improve educational achievement there. That report said:

“Re-introducing grammar schools is potentially a transformative idea for working class areas”.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Lucy Powell

Wednesday 19th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises a matter that was one of the first issues that my right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice raised with me: violence and safety in prisons. That is why my right hon. Friend is looking across the board at the action that needs to be taken. She has already announced extra money for more staff in prisons and recognises the importance of this particular issue.

[Lucy Powell (Manchester Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Q13. Just one in every 1,000 pupils is a child on free school meals in a grammar school. Does the Prime Minister agree that that tiny number is a flimsy evidence base on which to create a new national schools policy? Would it not be better for her to look at the real evidence base and at how to reduce inequality in education?

[The Prime Minister]

I want to see every child getting the education that is right for them. I want every child to be able to get on as far as their talents and hard work will take them. That is why we need to increase the number of good schools in this country. If we look at the gap in attainment in grammar schools between those who are from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who are not, we see that it is virtually zero—that is the not the same in other schools. I just say to the hon. Lady that it is wrong that we have a system in this country where a law prevents the opening or expansion of good schools. That is what we are going to get rid of.