All 3 Debates between Alec Shelbrooke and Michael Gove

Future Relationship with the EU: Negotiations

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and Michael Gove
Tuesday 19th May 2020

(4 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman, the distinguished former Cabinet Secretary for Justice in the Scottish Government. We want to co-operate with all our neighbours on law enforcement, but we cannot submit to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

Alec Shelbrooke Portrait Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con) [V]
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is imperative that we leave on 31 December? On 1 January, new financial arrangements are coming into the EU. A massive net contribution would already come from the UK, but with the rejection of corona bonds and bigger EU budgets, our net contribution would be much bigger, and that would hamper our efforts to get our own economy back on track.

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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I am very grateful for the question from my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right, and that is one of the very important reasons why we need to extricate ourselves from any further payments. I also congratulate him on looking so well. I thought for a second that he had become the Member of Parliament for High Barnet.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and Michael Gove
Monday 3rd September 2012

(12 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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What is right is to allow the independent regulator and exam boards to decide how these exams should be graded—not, as the Labour party seems to be suggesting, to have Ministers marking papers.

Alec Shelbrooke Portrait Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell) (Con)
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May I ask my right hon. Friend to take heed of the message I have received from businesses in my constituency? When it comes to looking at changing the GCSE’s structure, what young people need, and what is fair to them, is a sound GCSE system that allows employers to know that the people who they hire are able to do the job, and that therefore does not put undue pressure on people who would not be able to do the job.

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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My hon. Friend makes an absolutely critical point. We need to make sure that standards are comparable over time. The process by which Ofqual ensures that standards are comparable over time was introduced under the last Labour Government. It is a process that Labour Members now disavow for opportunistic reasons, and in so doing they make it more difficult to ensure that our examination system can be reformed on a sound basis. It is a pity that a party that once led on education reform is now clambering on to any bandwagon that passes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alec Shelbrooke and Michael Gove
Monday 16th January 2012

(12 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)
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Most local authorities are forecasting an increase in primary pupil numbers over the next five years. Based on data published by the Office for National Statistics, the school-age population is expected to rise during the rest of the decade. My Department will continue to provide capital funding to meet that need.

Alec Shelbrooke Portrait Alec Shelbrooke
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Will my right hon. Friend outline to my constituents in Elmet and Rothwell the proposals that are in place for the excellent primary schools in the area, should they need to expand to meet the predicted increase in school numbers?

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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My hon. Friend is fortunate to have many outstanding primary and secondary schools serving his constituents, and those will be able to expand under the changes that we have made to the admissions code. We have also increased the amount of money available to meet what is called basic need—the growth in primary school places—and we have done so by making efficiencies from the old Building Schools for the Future programme, which, while nobly conceived, was often poorly executed.