"My Lords, does the Minister agree that the recruitment of qualified teachers is clearly essential, and that the Government have made great strides in that the picture of recruitment looks much better this year than it has done in the past 10 years? Does she also agree that the retention …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"To ask His Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to support the improvement of the data produced by the Office for National Statistics...." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"My Lords, I very much welcome this new curriculum and its emphasis on widening the scope to engage more pupils. Does the Minister agree with me that when the Opposition talk about dumbing down and powerful knowledge, the fact is that the current curriculum fails to engage far too many …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"Does my noble friend the Minister share my concern that the response rate to the Labour Force Survey dropped to just over 14.5% in 2023, down from nearly 48% a decade earlier, and that the gender pay gap has been underreported for the past 20 years? Does she agree that …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"Does the Minister agree that a major factor in the persistence of youth unemployment is that 32% of 16 year-olds failed to achieve a grade 4 in English and Maths at GCSE in 2024? Does she also agree that the ongoing curriculum and assessment review, led by Professor Becky Francis, …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"I am sorry, but I have to interject here to say that the narrowing of the curriculum and the teacher supply crisis was a direct result of austerity, teacher pay falling by 12% in real terms and chronic underfunding of schools, all of which were initiated during the coalition and …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"Will my noble friend the Minister note that since the election interest rates have been cut five times? Will he also agree that this Government are not going to be lectured by an Opposition who, when in government, presided over the longest period of wage stagnation since the Napoleonic Wars, …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech
"My Lords, I oppose Amendment 452, which has just been put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Agnew, which would limit local authorities’ interventions in admissions to situations where the admissions authority had failed to meet its admissions obligations or had behaved improperly.
"My Lords, I do not want to prolong the debate, but I have to answer the charge that it is simply the academies that are improving standards in education, and maintained schools are not. Research in the area does not show that to be the case. Since 2017, I think, …..." Baroness Bousted - View Speech