Oral Answers to Questions

Angela Smith Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hayes]

My ambition—I do not say “targets”, because “targets” is not a word that this Government use—is to ensure that no one is prohibited from achieving their potential because they do not have adequate means to do so. That spirit underpins all we do.

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

Barnsley college is an outstanding college, as judged by Ofsted, and it would like to support young people from low-income families by giving them free school meals, free transport and help with books and equipment. Will the Government guarantee that they will give Barnsley the funding to deliver that to its young people, to enable them to fulfil their potential?

[Mr Hayes]

I will tell the hon. Lady what I will guarantee. I will guarantee that colleges can make those kind of discretionary decisions. She is right: different colleges in different areas, serving different cohorts, need funds to support different kinds of activities to deal with different challenges. That is exactly the kind of flexibility that we intend to help her college and her learners.