Petitions

Baroness Keeley Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

I am pleased to present a petition on behalf of residents of Salford who are concerned about changes to Government funding that bring into financial peril the existence of five outstanding Salford nurseries. I praise the campaigners who worked on the petition.

The petition states:

The petition of residents of Salford,

Declares that public sector nurseries consistently provide above-average quality of provision, provide superior levels of school-ready pupils, Special Educational Need provision and services to areas of high deprivation; further that in comparison to the private sector, public sector nurseries provide more accurate tracking information to schools, more affordable services and a better standard of early education; further that new conditions imposed by the Department for Education have thrown many nurseries and Early Years services across the country into financial peril, both in the public and private sector; further that local authorities are now unable to use the vast majority of the Dedicated Schools Grant for their own Early Years provisions; and further notes that the £55 million fund set aside to support Maintained Nursery Schools is not available for Local Authority nurseries which are not headed up by a head-teacher and which lack trained teaching staff.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to do all in its power to value and to support the continuation of public sector nursery provision, including reversing the changes to the Dedicated Schools Grant and changing the way that the £55 million supplementary funding for Maintained Nursery Schools is used to make available to all Local Authority nurseries.

And the petitioners remain, etc.

[P002218]

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

I am pleased to present two further petitions on behalf of the constituents in Worsley and Eccles South on the issue of home education, and in similar terms to the petition presented by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) on home education draft guidance and consultation.

The petition states:

The petition of residents of Worsley and Eccles South constituency,

Declare that the “Home Education - Call for Evidence and revised DfE guidance” has been written following significant consultation with local authorities and no consultation whatsoever with the home education community; further that the consultation is consequently for little more than show as an intention to implement the content has already been stated: further that it seeks to encourage local authorities to breach the ECHR Article 8 and the GDPR; and further that the report provides no accessible means for a parent to address ultra vires behaviour by their local authority, where many of those authorities already act routinely in an ultra vires manner.

The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to withdraw the draft guidance and the consultation, until it has put in place an accessible and workable complaints procedure and further has consulted with home educating parents, as it has with Local Authorities, what the contents should include.

And the petitioners remain, etc.

[P002217]

The petition of residents of Worsley and Eccles South constituency. [P002224]