Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Jade Botterill

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

As the hon. Lady will understand, I cannot comment on individual cases, but if she writes to me with the details, I can make sure that Ofsted looks carefully at the matters she has set out and provides her with a full response.

[Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) (Lab)]

My first step into politics was campaigning to keep my local Sure Start centre open after the Tories took the short-sighted and frankly barbaric decision to decimate its funding. I am pleased that, with Kirklees council receiving funding, parents in my constituency can once again get the help they need and children can get the best start in life. Does the Secretary of State agree that this is the difference a Labour Government make? Where the Conservatives choose to close places that support families, we choose to open them.

[Bridget Phillipson]

It is only through my hon. Friend’s election and through a Labour Government that this investment will be coming to her community. The first investment will start to flow this year, allowing her local authority to get the systems and structures in place that will enable them to open up next year. I am delighted that in the first year of a Labour Government my hon. Friend’s constituents are already starting to feel the benefits that come from having sent her to this place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Jade Botterill

Monday 4th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jade Botterill (Ossett and Denby Dale) (Lab)]

The UK’s social mobility commissioner has highlighted the “geography of disadvantage” being experienced by young people in northern post-industrial communities like those in Ossett and Denby Dale. Does the Secretary of State agree with the commissioner that decisive and bold Government action to improve educational attainment and opportunity is required for these children?

[Bridget Phillipson]

I do agree, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the point. I am leading the work across Government on breaking down the barriers to opportunity in order to break the unfair link between background and success. We know that tackling child poverty is a crucial part of that process, and it is essential that we get the recommendations of the child poverty taskforce to ensure that poverty does not hold back our children’s life chances.