Oral Answers to Questions

Anneliese Midgley Excerpts

Monday 20th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Georgia Gould]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her leadership of the incredibly detailed Education Committee report, which I read with interest. I know how much expertise went into that, and how many conversations there were with parents; there is so much rich information in it. I agree that the partnership with health is essential, and that is something I am focused on. To give children and young people the best opportunities, we must work across Government to support young people with special educational needs.

[Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)]

6. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that it meets its target of two thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning.

[Mr Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

14. What steps her Department is taking to ensure that it meets its target of two thirds of young people participating in higher-level learning.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson)]

Later today I will make a statement on our post-16 education and skills White Paper, which sets out measures to support this learning ambition. For too long, skills have not been taken seriously, and that stops with Labour. Our long-term plan for national renewal will unlock opportunity for our young people, and drive growth for our country with clearer pathways, stronger alignment, and a renewed partnership between Government and business.

[Anneliese Midgley]

I thank the Secretary of State for her response. In Knowsley, while we are making progress with work from the council and organisations such as the Brilliant Club, we still fall below average for young people going into higher learning. Barriers remain to continuing education, and to developing skills for good jobs and good lives. Will she meet me to discuss how we can improve that?

[Bridget Phillipson]

I know how passionate my hon. Friend is about securing better life chances and more opportunities for children across her constituency, and I would be more than happy to meet her to discuss that, whether it is through the expanded work that we are delivering in our schools to raise standards, opportunities for young people to get into vocational or technical education, or further measures in the White Paper that I will be setting out later this afternoon.

School Accountability and Intervention

Anneliese Midgley Excerpts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend has very much diagnosed the challenge. We have a persistently and stubbornly high disadvantage gap, where we know that children are leaving primary school without the fundamentals of reading, writing and maths. That goes on to impact their outcomes in secondary school, but we know that starts at the very earliest stage. That is why we are investing in the early years, speech and language therapy, and nursery provision. We are absolutely determined to improve the early learning development goal outcomes for children and give every child the best start in life.

[Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister’s statement, but in my constituency GCSE results are among the lowest in the country and a quarter of pupils are classed as persistently absent. What message does the Minister have for children, parents and teachers about plans to drive high and rising standards to provide more and better opportunities in my constituency?

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend is a powerful advocate for the children in her area, and she is absolutely right to champion better outcomes. We know that the journey towards not achieving the grades that children should achieve starts at the earliest stage, which is why, as I have said, we are investing in the early years. The Ofsted report cards will shine a light on the issue of attendance—we know that children cannot get a great education if they are not at school to get it, and attendance must be a priority for schools—but we recognise the challenges, so we want to support schools to be able to achieve better attendance figures, and we will do so by diagnosing those challenges and putting in place the self-supporting schools system that can drive those better outcomes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Anneliese Midgley Excerpts

Monday 9th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Janet Daby]

Obviously many things needed attention because of the last Government, and many things were not accomplished, but I am sure that my noble Friend Baroness Smith of Malvern will be willing to meet the hon. Member to discuss his concerns.

[Anneliese Midgley (Knowsley) (Lab)]

In my constituency there is no A-level provision. Some students have told me that they have to travel for hours just to study, and others consider this a barrier to continuing at school at all. Will my hon. Friend work with me to bring A-levels back to Knowsley?

[Janet Daby]

I thank my hon. Friend for her thoughtful question. The Government are committed to ensuring that young people have access to appropriate education and career opportunities, but the focus must be on delivering provision that offers them the best learning experience and opportunities possible. In Knowsley, A-level provision has not been deemed viable owing to a lack of demand, but students there have access to high quality post-16 academic provision in surrounding boroughs.