Prime Minister

Angela Rayner Excerpts

Monday 10th July 2023 Ministerial Corrections

The following are extracts from Prime Minister’s questions on 7 June 2023.

[Angela Rayner]

I know that for the last couple of years the Deputy Prime Minister has been trying to prep Prime Ministers for PMQs, but these punchlines are dire—he really needs to go back to school himself. Speaking of school, thousands of children are missing from school; absence has nearly doubled since before the pandemic. The Prime Minister says that he has maxed out on his support for school pupils, but why did the Government abandon their plans for a register of missing children?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

On the specifics of the right hon. Lady’s question, that is not the case: we continue to keep the policy under review. I am very proud of this Government’s record on funding and support for schools: £4 billion more this year, £4 billion next year, and the result of all that investment is that we have the highest standards of reading in the entire western world. What a contrast from when the Labour party was in power.

[Official Report, 7 June 2023, Vol. 733, c. 725.]

Letter of correction from the Deputy Prime Minister, the right hon. Member for Hertsmere (Oliver Dowden):

An error has been identified in my response to the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner).

The correct response should have been: