Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Rosie Duffield

Wednesday 15th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her comments about the increasing number of children in Somerset in good and outstanding schools. It is indeed, as she says, our management of the strong economy that enables us to put more money into our public services, such as education. That is why we are putting a record level of funding into schools this year, giving every local authority more money for every pupil in every school. We have introduced the new funding formula to make distribution fairer across schools across the country. We want to keep on improving education for every child so that, as I said in response to an earlier question from my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Worcestershire (Nigel Huddleston), we have the opportunity to ensure that every child can go on and achieve their full potential.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Lab)]

Q5. As this is Mental Health Awareness Week, does the Prime Minister agree with the Labour party that it is time to scrap tests for pre-teenage children, such as SATS and, in Kent, the 11-plus, which we know cause them to experience stress, anxiety and a sense of failure?

[The Prime Minister]

What is important as children go through their education is that we make sure they are receiving the right education for them and we make sure that schools are providing the right quality of education. Simple tests that enable judgments to be made about where children are in relation to their learning through their school career are, I believe, right. It is right that they were introduced and it is right that they continue.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Rosie Duffield

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I fully appreciate the concern that my hon. Friend, our hon. Friend the Member for Romford and others across the House have shown on this issue. The most recent statistics show that 82% of offenders received a custodial sentence for repeat possession offences. Obviously, as I have said, sentencing decisions are a matter for the courts, but the Government regularly look at ensuring that the powers are there to allow tough sentences to be imposed on those involved in knife crime.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Lab)]

Q2. On Friday, some of the excellent headteachers in my constituency sent their pupils home with letters detailing to parents how their budgets have been slashed by 8% and how they are struggling to make ends meet. On three separate occasions since September 2018 they have asked for a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss school funding shortages in Kent, but they have been refused. Will the Prime Minister please ask the Secretary of State to meet Ms Spinks, Ms Hines, Mr Wright, Mr Cooper, Ms Butcher, Ms Knoupe, Mr Pywell and others as a matter of urgency?

[The Prime Minister]

I will ensure that Ministers in the Department for Education have heard the hon. Lady’s request, but let me just remind her and Members of the House that the schools budget this year is £42 billion, which is the highest it has ever been—[Interruption.]

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness May of Maidenhead and Rosie Duffield

Wednesday 20th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I agree with my hon. Friend. As she says, Anne Meadows, a long-serving Labour councillor on Brighton and Hove City Council, has today chosen to leave Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party and join the Conservatives, due to the bullying and antisemitism that she has received from Momentum and the hard left. That is the harsh reality that decent, moderate Labour councillors are having to face every day, due to Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to stand up to bullying and racism in his party. We welcome Councillor Meadows into the Conservative party with open arms, and I am sure that she will be an excellent Conservative councillor.

[Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Lab)]

Q9. I have a constituent who was left doubly incontinent following a serious and violent sexual assault. She previously had a lifetime award for disability living allowance. However, recent personal independence payment assessments have concluded that she is not entitled to DLA or the mobility components of PIP, despite her extremely difficult condition, which dominates every aspect of her daily life. Will the Prime Minister please ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to look urgently at the Department’s failure to recognise the impact of this serious condition?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Lady will recognise that I am not able to respond to the individual details of the case at the Dispatch Box, but I will ensure that the Department for Work and Pensions and the relevant Minister look at the case and respond to her.