Government Support for Ukrainians

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Seema Malhotra]

I am conscious of time; I will try to make some progress before taking an intervention shortly.

Since their launch, the Ukrainian schemes have offered or extended sanctuary to more than 300,000 Ukrainians and their families. This is an outstanding response, and one that underlines the deep sympathy and compassion that people across the UK feel towards those who need sanctuary here.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

rose—

[Seema Malhotra]

I will give way first to the hon. Member for North Herefordshire (Ellie Chowns).

[Seema Malhotra]

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention, and I will comment on that matter directly in this debate. I want to take this opportunity to emphasise that the Government’s support for Ukraine remains utterly steadfast.

Members will also be aware of the UK-Ukraine 100-year partnership, which was signed by the Prime Minister earlier this year. The landmark commitment not only builds on the close relationship we already have with Ukraine, but seeks to formalise closer co-operation in a number of key areas such as trade, security, energy, science and technology, and educational benefits, including a youth compact. It is important that we see that work ongoing, with the partnership bringing economic, cultural and educational benefits to both our countries not just now, but in future.

[Adam Jogee]

Will the Minister join me in doing two things? The first is congratulating the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) on his excellent tie action this evening, which is massively on point. Secondly, and more importantly, will she join me in paying tribute to all those in Newcastle-under-Lyme who have provided sanctuary, safety and security to the Ukrainians who have made their life in our corner of Staffordshire, not least because they stand with the people of Ukraine against Putin and his tyranny?

[Seema Malhotra]

I am indeed very grateful to my hon. Friend’s constituents in Newcastle-under-Lyme for the work they have done and the welcome they have provided. On that subject, I have seen the work that has gone on in my own constituency at Cranford community college, along with One World Strong, led by Alan Fraser and Kevin Prunty, an initiative that builds relationships and partnerships between schools, allowing young people in the UK and Ukraine to share their lives, their challenges and their outlooks.

I will turn to the Home Office’s role within what is clearly a cross-Government effort. The Department works closely with key partners including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which has a close relationship with local authorities, devolved Governments and the European Union.

Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

Every child, no matter where they are born, deserves the very best start in life. The first 1,000 days of a child’s life are absolutely critical, paving the way for the rest of their lives. That time has a direct impact on how they perform in school and in their work life; it affects all their life stages.

My first job after leaving Keele University 20 years ago was working for a local Sure Start centre in Stoke-on-Trent. I loved working there because I saw at first hand how those centres completely transformed the lives of families across Stoke-on-Trent and Kidsgrove. That is why the plans of this Labour Government to roll out family hubs across the country fill me with complete pride.

Twenty years ago, so many parents were given the helping hand that they needed to give their kids a better start in life, and it was so devastating for me personally to watch how Conservative cuts absolutely decimated our local centres. The Conservative-led city council in Stoke-on-Trent gutted our centres by removing our most crucial preventive services. The council claimed that it did not actually close any centres, which was partly true, but it took out all the services that operated from the centres, effectively leaving empty buildings with no offer to the families in my local community.

Long before I was involved in politics, it seemed obvious to me that those cuts would result in more kids living in poverty and more living in care. I went to meetings—not when I was involved in politics, but when I worked for the YMCA—and when I raised concerns, they were laughed off by Conservative and independent councillors who said that they knew best. But the facts on the ground said different. Stoke-on-Trent sadly now has among the highest numbers of children living in care anywhere in the country, and more children are living in poverty. This was completely avoidable; it was a political choice that the Conservatives made.

As the children impacted by the cuts grew older, they were confronted by a new hurdle. They were hit by the massive cuts to youth services in our local community. Conservative austerity led to over 90% of the money being taken away from our local councils, which funded the youth clubs—the youth clubs that I went to when I was young, where I met friends and learned new hobbies. Those clubs were then no longer available for young people in our local communities.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[David Williams]

I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee).

[Adam Jogee]

I am very grateful to my constituency neighbour for giving way to me over my other constituency neighbour. My hon. Friend makes an important point about the vital role that county councils and local authorities can play in providing services to my constituents, his and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham). Will he join me in calling on Staffordshire county council to get its act together and deliver the services that our young people deserve?

[David Williams]

I completely agree with that sentiment. My hon. Friend and I often discuss this issue, so I welcome his comments.

--- Later in debate ---

[Josh Newbury (Cannock Chase) (Lab)]

It is a privilege to contribute to today’s debate on giving children the best possible start in life. As a father, this is an issue that matters deeply to me, not just politically but personally. We all understand that our experiences in our first years shape the adults we go on to become. The memories formed in those formative years, whether of joy and love or challenge and neglect, stay with us for life. They shape our confidence, our relationships and our view of the world.

I am sure all of us in this Chamber have had the privilege of going into schools and speaking to children about what they want to be when they grow up. What a privilege that is, and what a responsibility it gives us to ensure that today’s children can dream just as big as we did, and feel just as supported in reaching those dreams. That is why it is vital that we do everything we can to make sure that every child, no matter their background, gets the same sense of possibility, the same support and the same opportunities to thrive. I know that I want that for my children.

I am proud that this Labour Government are committed to rolling out Best Start family hubs. These hubs, along with the children’s centres that already exist such as the fantastic West Chadsmoor family centre in my constituency, provide vital wraparound support for families, offering everything from early education to parenting advice and mental health support. The announcement earlier this year of a new school-based nursery at Heath Hayes primary academy is another proud example of how we are supporting children in my towns and villages.

As an adoptive parent and foster carer, I want to take a moment to speak directly to the needs of some of our most vulnerable children—those who grow up in the care system. In Staffordshire alone, the county council supports over 5,000 children, of whom 1,345 are in care. Because of the sadly increasing demand, the council has faced dramatic financial pressures, overspending by nearly £3.8 million, largely as a result of the costs of placing children in care. These figures underline the scale of the demand and the commitment needed to meet it.

I am an evangelical advocate for fostering to adopt, also known as early permanence, and I should declare an interest because that is the path that I have taken in adopting my children. Fostering to adopt allows vulnerable children to move into stable, loving homes as soon as possible, avoiding the uncertainty and disruption that all too often characterise life in care. I would like to put on record my personal thanks to the Minister for Children and Families, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), for also being a strong advocate on this, and for giving her time to me today to discuss early permanence and support for fostered and adopted children.

Evidence shows that early intervention, especially when speech and language support is provided before six months old, leads to lasting gains in expressive vocabulary, social and emotional development, and communication outcomes. Enrolment in support before three months, for example, delivers measurable gains in vocabulary at 18 to 24 months and even helps to close gaps with hearing peers by age five. Children in care are just as full of potential as any other child, but they need us in this place to fight a little harder for them, to make sure that they too, when asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, have the support they need around them to achieve whatever those dreams might be.

Labour is delivering the biggest overhaul of legislation to protect children in a generation, because where others dither and kick political footballs, we on this side of the House will always act decisively to look after the most vulnerable.

[Adam Jogee]

Just before my hon. Friend comes to the end of his important remarks, I am sure the whole House will want to thank him and his family for leading by example, not just by showing care and compassion but by bringing that life experience to this place.

[Josh Newbury]

Thank you. I really appreciate that from my hon. Friend. I think that everybody who puts themselves forward to be an adopter or a foster carer does so with a huge amount of compassion. It is a journey that is often fraught with difficulty, and it certainly presents its challenges, but I think that all parenthood does. Sometimes we need to recognise that parents, no matter how they come to their parenthood, are doing an awful lot to make sure that the next generation thrives—which is, after all, why we are all here today.

This Government are putting in place massive support for kinship carers, with £44 million invested in kinship and foster carers and a new kinship allowance being trialled to provide financial stability to those stepping up to care for children in their wider family. Our national kinship care ambassador is working with local authorities to improve support and permanence pathways, and that is very welcome. Together with the child poverty taskforce, which will report in the autumn, and the expansion of free school meals, these measures underpin our mission to lift 100,000 children out of poverty, because no child should go hungry into their classroom.

By investing in family hubs where families in Cannock Chase and beyond can access wraparound support, by rolling out early intervention programmes that build children’s language and confidence from birth, and by prioritising early permanence and fostering to adopt for children in the care system, we can deliver on the promise of giving every child—not just some—the best possible start in life and the opportunity to make the most of their potential. Every child deserves love, stability and opportunity. Whether they dream of becoming a doctor, a teacher or even a Member of Parliament, it is our duty to ensure that those dreams are possible and to allow every child to make the most of their gifts and potential.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I commend the Government for their mission to give every child the best start in life. It is critical that all children, no matter where they are born, have every opportunity to achieve their potential. I must mention at this point the number of Staffordshire MPs who are here for the debate, which just shows the importance of this topic to the children in our county.

[Adam Jogee]

Inspired by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell), does my hon. Friend agree that team Staffordshire hunt as a pack?

[Dr Gardner]

My hon. Friend is right that we hunt as a pack: when the three Stokie MPs get together with our Staffordshire colleagues, we make a formidable bunch, and I am very proud to be part of the team.

I am incredibly proud to work for a Labour Government who are breaking down the barriers to opportunity, tackling child poverty and improving early years development through our plan for change. This is certainly a nationwide issue, but I wish to stress the critical importance of this mission in Stoke-on-Trent South and Stoke-on-Trent more widely. Our children were neglected time and again by the previous Government, and we now have some of the worst outcomes for childhood development, health and wellbeing in the country. Before I list the statistics, I want to point out that Stoke-on-Trent is also the best place in the country to live and that the people are fantastic. We have been let down and that is by no means the fault of the wonderful people of Stoke-on-Trent.

[Dr Gardner]

I commend my hon. Friend and her neighbour for those wonderful outcomes, although I am sure she still has issues in her constituency that we need to battle against.

As I have said in the Chamber before, child poverty in some parts of my constituency is as high as 76%. In 2022-23, 13 children in every classroom of 30 were living in poverty in Stoke. Stoke-on-Trent has the highest rate of infant mortality in the country, and between 2019 and 2021, babies born in Stoke were nearly twice as likely to die before their first birthday than the national average.

In addition, Stoke-on-Trent has the highest number of children in care per head of population in England, and our children face successive delays in early years development. In 2023, Stoke-on-Trent was in the bottom 10 of all English local authorities for the number of children with the “expected” level of literacy, communication and language, and numeracy skills by early years foundation stage. I know that these figures will shock many, but Stoke-on-Trent must be a priority region for tackling child poverty and our related missions. There are children in my constituency who start school unable to speak, use the toilet or brush their teeth, and there are children in our high schools who are still learning phonics, which should have been taught in primary school, as they are struggling with such severe delays in their development.

Infant mortality, a topic that is very close to my heart, is explicitly linked to socioeconomic inequalities and persistent inequalities in health. As has been mentioned, the first thousand days of a child’s life are the most important. What happens during those days can, in many cases, predict a child’s entire life course. It is devastating that for so many children in our city their first few years are marked by deprivation, poor quality housing and incredibly low living standards.

Labour Stoke-on-Trent city council is doing excellent work to support our children. It has made major improvements to children’s social care services, focusing on early help and new front-door arrangements, and the family matters programme is a multi-agency programme delivering prevention and support services to give our children the very best start in life. Local organisations, like Thrive at Five and Stoke Speaks Out, have also run incredible programmes to facilitate a thriving early years network in Stoke-on-Trent to improve children’s early development.

However, our city council and our local services have had to work incredibly hard against a backdrop of successive cuts over the past 14 to 15 years that have decimated so many services and forced many to close altogether. Many of our holistic early intervention programmes, where families could get advice, health visitors supported families from pregnancy onwards, and staff could identify families in need and offer early support, have now closed their doors.

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my constituency neighbour for her brilliant speech. Is not much of this issue about the history of our communities? These are industrial heartlands that were let down, left behind and forgotten for many, many years. We need not just joined-up thinking as we address these results, from the early years right through the journey to higher education and beyond, but joined-up results. That is how we will be able to deliver for communities in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent and right across Staffordshire.

[Dr Gardner]

My hon. Friend quite rightly points out the complexities and histories of the issues that we face, which we need to solve with a holistic approach.

In the absence of amazing services such as Sure Start, mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), the predominant policy route has been to fund reactive services that reach families only at crisis point. Not only is that incredibly costly, but it results in so many children with developmental delays or safeguarding concerns going unnoticed until it is far too late. Early years services provide a lifeline to so many families; in their absence, inequalities have risen and our children have suffered. Stoke’s children deserve better. I am deeply grateful to the Minister, who is in her place and who has agreed to have a meeting with me to discuss the difficult problems that we wish to solve. The Government are absolutely working hard to address those.

As I said, I am incredibly pleased that this Government are expanding the early years offer through the Best Start family hubs model. I am so grateful that the Government have committed to further support the family hub in Normacot, which the community has fought so hard to save, but families in Meir also deserve a Best Start family hub. Residents in Meir are proud of where they live, but they are aware of the challenges in their community, and they too deserve support. Children in Meir would benefit hugely from a centre in their neighbourhood.

We know what works. We know that high-quality early years education and support networks for families can completely transform a child’s life chances. We know that early intervention is far more effective and affordable than trying to fix problems later down the line. We need policies that improve neonatal and post-natal health, provide parents with the knowledge and support to give their children the very best start and provide children with support to achieve their early learning and development goals. I am therefore so grateful for the expansion of early years support through the Best Start family hubs and our targets for early years development under the plan for change. This Government will bring about much-needed change for children across the country, and it is critical that that investment is received in Stoke-on-Trent South.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gareth Snell]

How could I not agree? Those facilities in communities are what turn them from housing estates into homes, and turn the communities into something special.

At this point, I should declare my interests. I am a governor of a special educational needs school in Stoke-on-Trent, and I chair the all-party parliamentary group on children’s literacy, which, with the Minister’s support, is running the national year of reading. I will get on to that later.

When I visit primary schools and talk to the young people in reception and year 1 classes, and see those bright young faces, full of vim and vigour and expectations about what kind of life may lie ahead of them, I think about the statistics, which, as was ably explained by my hon. Friend and neighbour the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), are quite stark. Stoke-on-Trent ranks—or did rank—142nd out of 151 for key stage 2 attainment. Although I accept some of the points made by the shadow Minister about the national increase in achievement across certain parts of the education sector, the last Government failed to reduce the attainment gap across the country, and there are still parts of the country, like Stoke-on-Trent, where that gap has not closed.

Cities that are economically and socially challenged—I will not say “deprived”, because I do not like that word—have not seen the improvements that have been seen in other parts of the country. As a result, there are generations of young people whose futures have been essentially stunted because the opportunities available to them are hampered by the absence of the early education and investment that they should have received, which means that their later life attainment is also hampered.

Every time I speak to primary school teachers or headteachers, and even some in secondary schools, the first thing they say to me is “It’s tough.” They say that because, as was mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South, there are young people arriving at those schools who are unable to hold a pen or a fork, or are unable to articulate what they are thinking and feeling because their oracy simply is not good enough. That makes communication in early years education almost impossible to achieve. Children are arriving who are not appropriately potty-trained, which means that teaching staff are engaging in a basic level of parenting.

[Adam Jogee]

I thank my other constituency neighbour for giving way. Last week I held a headteachers’ forum at a school in my constituency that my hon. Friend knows well for various reasons. What was clear to me from that conversation—and I am grateful to all those who attended the forum—was that teachers are now undertaking a journey from educating to social work. One shared the story of a nine-year-old child who was not potty-trained, which meant that the teacher was required to help with changing and making the child clean and safe. The morale challenges that teachers face, coupled with the challenges that my hon. Friend has mentioned, illustrate the crisis that we face. That is why it is so important for the Minister’s work to extend not only to Stoke-on-Trent, but to Newcastle-under-Lyme as well.

[Gareth Snell]

When we have local government reorganisation, we will be one big happy family in north Staffordshire. Whether it is Stoke-on-Trent or Newcastle-under-Lyme, we will get there.

[Adam Jogee]

rose—

[Gareth Snell]

No, I will not give way a second time.

My hon. Friend is correct, in that the teachers I speak to say that it is hard. They talk about the societal impacts that are affecting children, through no fault of those young people themselves—there is nothing they can do about it—and impeding their ability. It is the teachers, and also the teaching assistants and support staff, who are having to do the social work. They are helping parents to sort out access to benefit claims, and in some cases they are helping to arrange childcare for parents who are doing shift work. They are stepping into a void that, in some parts of the world, is filled by extended families. In other parts of the world, such tasks are carried out by statutory services. But as a result of cuts to support services, and of social workers having huge caseloads, they are simply unable to do that, so it all falls on people whose primary motivation in life is the education of our young people.

Music Education

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 3rd July 2025 Westminster Hall

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

Let me start by saying that I completely echo the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green (Bambos Charalambous) about recruitment. It is important that we get that right. I enjoyed him reminding me of my previous life, as he took us through many parts of his constituency; I know much of his new constituency well.

My hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) was typically modest. I believe he is one of very few Members of the House, if not the only one, who has a track on Spotify. So forget “Kumbaya, my Lord”—

[John Slinger]

It is on SoundCloud, actually.

--- Later in debate ---

[Adam Jogee]

SoundCloud—there you are. The point is made: he is cooler than I am.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green for securing this important debate, and I refer hon. Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. This is an important subject, and how lucky we are that my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby did not sing in his speech.

Music is very important to us in Newcastle-under-Lyme, from music venues such as the Rigger, in town, to the Brown Jug on Bridge Street, where my late uncle Colin and his Climax Blues Band used to perform on a Friday night in many years gone by, not to mention the karaoke sessions in a number of pubs right across the constituency. Recently, I had the good fortune to attend the 50th anniversary concert of the Keele Bach Choir, which was brilliant. I pay tribute to all those involved, including people who joined the choir when it started 50 years ago and are still singing today. I give a particular shout-out to Glynis Brewer, the constituent who extended the invitation to me.

I was raised on my parents’ Motown collection, and who does not enjoy an Irish traditional music session on a Sunday night? Music is a tonic and a skill; it can be a refuge, and it brings people together. That is why music education is so important. One of the best decisions of the Labour Government that was in power when I was growing up was the introduction of free music lessons in schools. The only thing I regret is my choice of instrument. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby, I chose the violin but I wish I had gone with the saxophone, which would have been much cooler. I used to watch “The Simpsons” every day after school, and the saxophone from Lisa just rubbed that in. I have been advised that there is nothing stopping me picking it up now, but since coming to this House there has been a bit more on the agenda. I remember Mary Jones, my music teacher at primary school, very well. If she is watching the debate today, I remain grateful for the tolerance that she showed me week in, week out.

Since my election to this place, I have seen the power that music has in our schools. On a recent visit to St Mary’s primary school in Newcastle-under-Lyme, I met Caroline Walton, who has been teaching music there for almost two decades. I pay tribute to Caroline and her colleagues for the work they do to ensure that young people in our community are able to benefit from the power that music brings. I also pay tribute to the Newcastle-under-Lyme Community Orchestra, led by Tom Barlow-Coxon. It is a community project based in our patch that aims to create a friendly atmosphere for local musicians to make music. We want people to join that orchestra, so we need music education in our schools for them to be able to do so.

I want to speak briefly about a couple of specific points. First, the scope of the independent curriculum review is very narrow, focusing just on the content of the national curriculum and methods of assessment for qualifications. The important issues—time spent on arts subjects, accountability measures such as the EBacc, teacher numbers, teacher training, funding and resourcing —are outside the scope of the review, and that is a matter of some regret. The review will report later this year and it will then be in the hands of politicians in this place. What will the Government do to ensure that all the structural issues undermining arts education in our schools, not just the ones within the scope of the review, are properly and adequately addressed? I hope that the Minister will be able to address that specifically. If not, perhaps she can find time to meet me to talk about it on a separate occasion.

Like Members across the House, I welcome the news of the national centre and the fact that hubs will be part of it. We have heard colleagues mention hubs, which I think speaks to this point. I hope that the Minister can confirm the funding that will be available for the national centre, and that it will not be the same amount previously provided to hubs but now with the expectation that all arts subjects will be covered from the same pot. I am conscious that the Minister’s response will be that it is not for her to write Budgets—our hon. Friend is not the Chancellor—but I would be grateful if she could get as close as she can to confirming that an inflation-based funding increase will be provided to hubs, separate from the new settlement that will be needed to cover other arts subjects.

Will the Government follow other nations in the United Kingdom and commission a review into the pay and conditions for visiting music teachers? Those teachers, who come to the classroom from different professional backgrounds to provide different teaching, are vital to the Government’s plans for music education. Yet many of those teachers are on low pay and precarious contracts, and there is no oversight or policy governing how they are paid. A review is at the very least a first step, so I hope the Minister will consider that.

One of the most important parts of education is the ability to share, discover and unpick. With that in mind, there remains a glaring omission from our reset with our friends and neighbours on the European continent, and that is action on visas. A visa waiver for touring artists could lower costs for UK artists and increase the amount of time that they are able to work in the European Union, allowing for more last-minute bookings and European collaboration opportunities. A visa waiver agreement for touring artists would enhance the competitiveness of the creative industries in our country and strengthen our ties with the EU as a whole. I hope that the Minister will take that point back to the Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office so that we get the issue firmly on the agenda.

This is an important debate. I accept that I have given the Minister several quite detailed questions, but I am happy for her to follow up in writing or to meet me in person. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Southgate and Wood Green for bringing the debate to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Catherine McKinnell]

That sounds like a very sensible suggestion, and my hon. Friend now has it on the record. We will make sure that it is raised in the appropriate way.

We continue to support the crucial music hubs programme, for which grant funding of £76 million has recently been secured for the full academic year 2025-26, up until the end of August 2026, following the outcome of the spending review. We will confirm longer-term funding as part of the spending review process, which is ongoing. To widen access to musical instruments, which my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby rightly raised, from the current academic year the Government are investing £25 million in capital funding for musical instruments, equipment and technology. Those instruments and technology must be put to good use, so we will take his concern on board.

For some pupils, in particular those facing disadvantage and with additional needs, the barriers to accessing music education can be particularly high. That is why we are also investing in a new programme to pilot targeted support for children from disadvantaged backgrounds or with special educational needs and disabilities. The Government’s music opportunities pilot offers pupils across primary and secondary schools the opportunity to learn to play an instrument of their choice or to sing to a high standard by providing free lessons and supporting young people to progress, including by taking music exams. The Government are investing £2 million to support the pilot over a four-year period up to 2027-28. It is backed by a further £3.85 million from the Arts Council and Youth Music. The pilot is delivered by Young Sounds UK in 12 areas of the country as an expansion of its successful Young Sounds Connect programme.

I saw for myself the impact of the pilot on a visit to Mountfield primary school in Washington, where I had a lovely time chatting to the children about the difference that accessing music education had made to them. Indeed, for some of them it was why they came to school. The impact was evident. We will use the pilot’s findings to inform future policy on widening music opportunities, but it is a really rich start.

[Adam Jogee]

Will the Minister accept my invitation, from one Newcastle MP to another, to follow up on her visit to the school in Washington and come and see the formative impact that music has at St Mary’s school in Newcastle-under-Lyme? I am sure she would be very welcome.

[Catherine McKinnell]

As my hon. Friend will know, I am a big fan of Newcastles. It would be nice to come and see the other one, as I have never been; I would love to accept his invitation if there is an opportunity.

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes. That is why, as part of the Government’s plan for change, we are committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools and our colleges, where they are needed the most, over this Parliament. To support that, we are offering a teacher training incentives package for the 2025-26 recruitment cycle worth £233 million—a £37 million increase on the last cycle. It includes a £10,000 tax-free bursary for music.

We are seeing positive signs. The 2024-25 initial teacher training census reported that 331 trainees had begun courses in music, up from 216 in 2023-24. We have also agreed a 5.5% pay award for teachers for 2024-25, and a 4% pay award in 2025-26, meaning that teachers and leaders will see an increase in pay of almost 10% over two years. We have expanded our school teacher recruitment campaign and we are allowing planning, preparation and assessment time to be undertaken at home to give more flexibility to the profession.

We are also working hard to address teacher workload and wellbeing, and to support schools to introduce flexible working practices. We have the “Improve workload and wellbeing for school staff” service, developed alongside school leaders, with a workload reduction toolkit to support schools to identify opportunities to cut excessive workload.

I spoke on teacher recruitment at the Schools and Academies Show just over a year ago, prior to the general election, when I was the shadow Minister. After I finished speaking about our vision of unlocking opportunity for children to access art, music, sport and enrichment at school, I said hello to a gentleman who had been patiently waiting to speak to me. He introduced himself; I asked him what he did, and he said, “I’m a music teacher. To be honest, I had taken the decision to give up and do something else, but after listening to you today, I think I’m going to hang on.” I thought he should definitely hang on—we need more people like him—and that we had injected a sense of hope that this Government would care about music and enrichment. Now that we are in government, I hope that he is still teaching, along with many others, and that he knows that we are determined to deliver our vision to unlock access to music for all children. I hope our brilliant teachers feel supported to have a rewarding and fruitful career inspiring the next generation of musicians.

We know that enrichment opportunities like music and the arts help young people to gain skills and strengthen their sense of school belonging, supporting them to thrive. That is why we are supporting schools to plan a high-quality enrichment offer, with a new enrichment framework developed in collaboration with a working group of experts, including from school, youth, sports and arts organisations. The Department is working closely with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and we are committed to publishing the framework by the end of 2025. It will identify what a high-quality enrichment offer will look like, reflecting the great practice that already exists in schools and providing advice on how to plan a high-quality enrichment offer more strategically and intentionally, including how to make use of specific programmes to increase access to sport and the arts.

In addition, under the first ever dormant assets scheme strategy, which was announced last month, £132.5 million will be allocated to projects to increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities, including in music, to boost wellbeing and employability. The fund will be delivered by the National Lottery Community Fund, with which the Government are working to design the specific programmes that will be delivered.

We recognise the importance of specialist training in supporting young people to pursue the most advanced levels of music education. That is why we continue to provide generous support to help students to access specialist music and dance education and training: we are committing £36 million for the academic year 2025-26. As several hon. Members have mentioned, this important scheme provides means-tested bursaries and grants to enable high-achieving children and young people in music and dance to benefit from truly world-class specialist training, regardless of their personal and financial circumstances. The scheme supports students to attend eight independent schools and 20 centres for advanced training that provide places at weekends and evenings and in the school holidays. The bursaries support more than 2,000 pupils per year, with about 900 pupils attending one of the schools.

The Government continue to provide such generous support because we recognise how important it is. All families earning below the average relevant income of £45,000 a year and making parental contributions to fees will continue to benefit from the additional financial support in the next financial year, so they will not be affected by any VAT changes introduced in January 2025. Any future funding will be determined as part of the post-spending review process.

Free School Meals

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 5th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question—I think I have finally heard from someone who is actually delighted by today’s announcement. On transitional protections, it is worth saying that the Department will expand free school meal eligibility from September 2026 so that all children in households in receipt of universal credit can benefit from a free nutritious lunch. As a temporary measure, we will extend transitional protections, meaning that households that are on universal credit and meet the current earned income threshold of £7,400 will keep their free school meals, regardless of any change in circumstances. Following an expansion of eligibility from September next year, our intention is to end all protections.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

Tackling poverty and inequality is in our DNA, and it is why many Members on the Government Benches are in this place. I welcome this announcement, as I know the more than 3,000 children and their families who will benefit in Newcastle-under-Lyme will welcome it, too. It is good for health, good for educational attainment and, importantly, good for the futures of our young people. I very much agree with the point on auto-enrolment made by the Chair of the Select Committee, my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes). With that in mind, I ask the Minister to speak to his officials and find some time to come and see the benefits of our commitment to tackling child poverty in Newcastle-under-Lyme for himself when this announcement is rolled out next year.

[Stephen Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I am keen to ensure that we learn from the best in local government, as we have been on auto-enrolment activity especially. As I mentioned earlier, today’s announcement will make the whole process of applying for free school meals much simpler and easier for parents, but we will certainly take on board my hon. Friend’s comments. I would be very happy to meet him to discuss these issues further.

Government’s Childcare Expansion

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Morgan]

I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend, and I wish his son good luck as he starts nursery today.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I have sore calves after this morning, Madam Deputy Speaker. A child-centred Government are exactly what people in Newcastle-under-Lyme want, but the disgraceful state of special educational needs and disability provision in our schools means that we have more to do. How does this announcement, which I welcome, sit alongside our commitment to overhauling the SEND system?

[Stephen Morgan]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. We are reviewing the early years SEND funding arrangements to ensure that they are suitable for supporting the needs of children with SEND. For children with more complex needs and an education, health and care plan, funding is available via the high needs block of the dedicated schools grant. Local authorities should have SEND inclusion funding for children with low and emerging needs. Disability access funding is also designed to support disabled children’s access to entitlements.

Higher Education: Staffordshire

Adam Jogee Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

It is a real pleasure to lead my first Adjournment debate as the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme. I would like to wish my neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) a very happy—if I may say—40th birthday, and I am pleased that she is spending it in the Chamber with us this evening. There is no better way to spend a birthday than talking about the wonderful county that we represent in this House.

Newcastle-under-Lyme is home to many excellent places of learning, and with higher education in mind, none more so than Keele University. I consider it a real privilege to be Keele’s Member of Parliament, and that is why I applied for this debate tonight. Higher education in Staffordshire is primarily delivered through two universities: Keele University in my constituency, and the University of Staffordshire based in Stoke-on-Trent. I will broadly focus my remarks on Keele, where I look forward to welcoming most of my Staffordshire colleagues tomorrow.

This has been an important year for almost everyone in this House, and for people across our United Kingdom. We have had a change of Government—I welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Janet Daby), to her place—and we have begun the work of getting our country back on track. However, 2024 is also important because Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme marks the 75th anniversary of its foundation as the first new university of the 20th century.

Keele University was born from a pioneering vision of a different kind of university. It was established in 1949 by Lord Lindsay, the former vice-chancellor of Oxford University, in a country still recovering from the second world war. The university’s founding aim was to produce graduates who not only had the technical and specialist knowledge to move society forward, but who understood the social and political landscape that drove this need.

Fast-forward 75 years, and this original ethos remains at the core of the university’s mission. A global network of over 100,000 alumni in 120 countries is creating a positive impact across the world in a range of diverse careers, including serving in this House. I am personally pleased that one of my cousins is studying medicine at Keele. He has just started his second year, which means he was able to vote for me in July—at least he told me he did! Keele currently ranks in the golden quadrangle of the top 15 universities in England that excel in both teaching and research. All have a gold award in the teaching excellence framework and high research intensity in the most recent research excellence framework.

I am pleased that Keele, and therefore Staffordshire, is a sector leader in sustainability, tackling the world’s biggest problems through its research and educating tomorrow’s leaders to help shape a brighter future. Keele’s research expertise and passion for sustainability are renowned around the world, which is why the university was named global sustainability institution of the year in 2021.

Keele’s economic impact is created not only by directly employing about 2,000 people, but by spending with local suppliers and contractors, with neighbouring businesses and residents being the primary beneficiaries. Keele is one of the largest employers in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and it is a local employer, too. Thirty-nine per cent of its workforce live in the ancient borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, with a further 31% living in Stoke-on-Trent. Keele has a real commitment to being a good neighbour, and it has provided more than 2,000 support interactions with local organisations since 2016.

[Jacob Collier (Burton and Uttoxeter) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. As he says, our area is blessed with many exemplary higher education institutions, many of which are connected by the A50/A500. Does he agree that upgrades to this road are essential to allow our constituents easier access to universities, and to enable greater collaboration across our local universities?

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend and near neighbour has made an excellent submission ahead of the Budget, and I am sure the Minister will relay that point to Treasury colleagues. He makes an important point about connectivity, accessibility and the importance of a transport network that allows people both to benefit from our higher education institutions and to contribute to our local economies.

Keele’s legacy and commitment to the wider community is why it was named among the UK’s best universities at contributing to local growth and regeneration in the recent iteration of the knowledge exchange framework run by Research England. Keele, working with the Bar Council, has advanced the “Keele in Town” programme, which will see the transformation of an empty 19th-century building in the heart of Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre into a mixed-use facility for the community. It will be kitted out with modern working and meeting spaces, offering digital connectivity to the community and helping to drive productivity.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Adam Jogee]

I will happily give way to another good man from Staffordshire.

[Dave Robertson]

It is wonderful to contribute to this debate. I had to intervene when my hon. Friend spoke about university campuses, and about university buildings in city centres. My Lichfield constituency does not have a large university campus, but we do have a small satellite campus of the University of Staffordshire that supports our local economy and ensures that much of Staffordshire’s learning is reinvested through its business village.

Does my hon. Friend agree about the importance of making sure that the wealth of these institutions is shared across the entire county, so that everybody can benefit from their investments?

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson)—it is an honour and a privilege to say those words; I do not think many on the Labour Benches thought we would be able to say them. What an excellent decision the people of Lichfield made on 4 July. He raises an important point, because ensuring that people from all backgrounds and communities can access and benefit from education is something that I know this Government will advance. I thank him for making such a powerful point.

[David Williams (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

On that point, will my hon. Friend give way?

[Adam Jogee]

I will happily give way to my constituency neighbour.

[David Williams]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Will he join me in recognising the excellent work done by organisations across our area to help young people access higher education? For example, my former employer, the YMCA, received the Queen’s award for promoting opportunity for the work it does with the University of Staffordshire’s “Step up to higher education” programme. The YMCA now gets around 10 young people off to university every year and, under the leadership of Danny Flynn and his committed team, it shares our values of promoting opportunity for all.

[Adam Jogee]

Another example of the great decisions the people of Staffordshire made is that my hon. Friend is now sitting on the Government Benches as the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North, which we are all grateful for. He raises an important point for two reasons: first, Danny Flynn is a constituent of mine, in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and has spent many years doing amazing work with his team at the North Staffordshire YMCA, based in—

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

Based in my constituency.

[Adam Jogee]

I was just about to say that it is based in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell). Secondly, the organisation has an undiluted and clear commitment to ensuring that people from many different backgrounds are able to access the opportunities they need and deserve in order to meet their full potential.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for his presentation. I have watched him during his time in the new Parliament and have been greatly impressed, not just because of what he does but because of our friendship long before he came to the House. He married a girl from Northern Ireland so that makes him part Northern Irish. It is great to hear about what is going on in education in his area, but I have concerns about the pressures on our young people in higher education. Does he agree that those pressures are greater than ever, including financial pressures and societal expectations? We need greater mental health support for our higher education students, as well as financial help for a generation of students whose student loan debt is higher than at any time in the past.

[Adam Jogee]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention—it would not be an Adjournment debate without it. He raises an important point that I will come to later in my remarks. It is not just the financial pressures that young people face that have an impact on their mental health. Other pressures include the inability to secure affordable, accessible and safe places to live, as well as trying to keep down a job and study at the same time, which is pushed and caused by some of the financial pressures that he referred to. I thank him for his kind comments—I am not sure whether that is better for his street cred or for mine, but I take the compliment.

The “Keele in Town” programme will see an empty 19th century building, in the heart of Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre, made into a mixed-use facility for the community. I have already touched on this, but it is important. It will have meeting spaces offering digital connectivity to the community, helping to drive productivity and boost skill levels. The programme includes working with our brilliant local FE institutions.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing the debate and promoting my ex-employer, Keele University, which is an interest I declare. I recently had the great honour of visiting the Burslem campus of the prestigious Stoke-on-Trent College, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (David Williams), to meet with apprentices, including inspirational young people such as Robbie and superb employers such as Carson Powell Construction. Does my hon. Friend agree that apprenticeships, including degree-level apprenticeships, provide an excellent alternative route for young people and career changers to access higher education, in our FE colleges and universities, and that such apprenticeships provide a real benefit to our local employers and economies, by developing the workplace skills of the future?

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. In previous years she has worked and lived in Newcastle-under-Lyme, so she understands the power and importance that the issue has for a wider north Staffordshire family.

I was talking about the excellent Newcastle college, which is further education rather than higher education, but it is important because it is from there that our wonderful institutions at Staffordshire and Keele get their young people. I was there last Friday, presenting the student of the month awards and meeting young people who look forward to staying in Staffordshire for university.

Let us focus on students for a minute. In 2022-23, 34,535 students enrolled for a degree at a higher education provider in Staffordshire. These are young people to whom we will be looking for leadership and inspiration in the years ahead. Following our departure from the European Union, the proportion of EU students in Staffordshire has decreased, while the proportion of overseas students has more than tripled, from 2.3% to 7.8%. That speaks to the challenges facing the sector not just in Staffordshire but right across Great Britain.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

As my hon. Friend has made clear, the higher education sector is incredibly important to the skills and education landscape of Staffordshire. Sadly, Stafford itself lost its university campus a few years ago, although there is one just across the border. The thing that higher education also does is provide opportunities for research, development and sector-leading expertise. However, there are considerable issues in this space, to which my hon. Friend has just alluded. Only this week I have been on the phone to a constituent, a Unison member, who works at the University of Staffordshire. They told me that they are currently experiencing their third restructure in three years. Does he agree that working in such an insecure environment provides little benefit to staff or students?

[Adam Jogee]

I thank my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour for such an important point. Stability, certainty and structure are what we all want in our lives. I expect that is why our party received such a mandate from the people. But on a serious note, making sure that our higher education institutions have that stability and focus will benefit all of us.

In Staffordshire, students of black African ethnicity have, at 81%, the highest progression rate to higher education. Progression rates for students eligible for free school meals have increased in Staffordshire over the past 10 years, from 13.3% in 2011-12 to 19.3% in 2021-22.

In 2021-22, students with special educational needs in Staffordshire were also much less likely to progress to higher education than those with no identified special educational needs. Both those figures were lower than the national average and, in my view, speak to the need to get a grip of SEND provision in Staffordshire and across England. The system is broken and it is leaving our young people and their families behind.

During the election, I met many of the young people who studied at Keele. I mention Molly, Martha, Olly and Bayley, who were just a few of the young people who had the wisdom both to study at Keele and to help on my campaign. From all my visits and meetings with the students, it was clear just how much they had made a home in north Staffordshire, and that is something we all want to hold on to.

[Gareth Snell]

I find myself somewhat conflicted, as a graduate of the wonderful Keele University but also representing its rival in the local varsity in the University of Staffordshire. My hon. Friend’s point about young people going to university and making their home in the area is absolutely right. I am a testament to that. But does he agree that one thing we now have to do collectively, as a group of MPs representing that part of the world, is ensure that those high-value, good-quality jobs are then brought to the area, so that the graduates we have can stay in north Staffordshire after they graduate and make a life and a family there?

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. It is something that we have discussed and that we will keep working on together. Keele, which is a subject for another debate, is home to many brilliant local businesses, and we want to facilitate more such businesses. I hope those on the Treasury Bench will look favourably on us as they look for places in which to invest in the coming months and years.

At Keele, the number of higher education staff stands at about 2,000. Like all our public services, we rely on brilliant public sector workers, and I want to pay tribute to all the wonderful people who educate, inspire and support the leaders, the vets and the doctors of tomorrow. I would like to acknowledge my constituents. It is always dangerous to start naming people, but I just want to say a couple of things. Madam Deputy Speaker, your eyes are on me, so I shall be brief. My constituents are: Rosi Monkman; Professor Peter Lawrence; Ant Sutcliffe, who is also chair of governors at St Luke’s primary school in Silverdale; and Dr Robert Jackson, who, after almost 40 years working at Keele, has just retired—a good stint that certainly demonstrates more career stability than most of us will have in this House. Our thanks also go to all those who work at Keele and at Staffordshire University. Through Professor Trevor McMillan, the vice-chancellor at Keele, and Professor Martin Jones, the vice-chancellor at Staffordshire, I want to extend our real and meaningful gratitude to all of them for the work they do.

The future of our country is in many ways dependent on the future of our universities. Although I do not expect the Minister to second-guess the Chancellor ahead of the Budget, I do want to say on the Floor of the House that we must give serious consideration and thought to our universities as final decisions are made on the Budget. As we have heard from my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham), the current situation sees universities launching voluntary redundancy schemes and carrying out constant restructurings as they seek to balance the books. As the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) noted, the issue is also about our young people: the household income level at which a student qualifies for the maximum level of support has remained unchanged in cash terms since 2008. That means a real-terms fall of about 39%, making students from lower household income levels less likely to be eligible for a full loan and more likely to be pushed to the brink.

When those of us in this place were students, some longer ago than others, most people were able to scrape by, but now our young people are being forced to rely on food banks or worse—go hungry if the bank of mum and dad is not an option. That should never be an option, in my view; our country should work properly, fairly and decently.

I congratulate Keele University on its 75 years of groundbreaking research, thought, ideas and change. It is an important milestone that I did not want to pass the House by. Thanks to the staff, the communities and most importantly our young people, higher education in Staffordshire is in good shape, but it can and should be made much better, and that is where this new Labour Government must come in. They will have my full support.