Education and Opportunity

Catherine McKinnell Excerpts

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Catherine McKinnell)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I warmly welcome you to your place in the Chair, and I warmly welcome the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire (Mr Mohindra) to his place. I also welcome the shadow Secretary of State, whom I previously shadowed.

I thank hon. Members who have made contributions to this afternoon’s debate, and pay tribute to those who have made their maiden speeches today. They do themselves and their communities proud. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan), the first Member of Filipino heritage to stand in this Chamber; my hon. Friend the Member for North West Cambridgeshire (Sam Carling), the youngest Member of the House, who spoke about his education, which was fairly recent; my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak (Al Carns), who has rightly been recognised in this place for his experience; and my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger), who is forgiven for all his rugby analogies after making an excellent speech.

In this House, we come together with a common goal: to give every child the best start in life and equip them with an education that sets them up for their lives. We are the Department for opportunity at the Department for Education. We are bringing education back to the centre of national life again, and we will work tirelessly to spread opportunity across our country, so that every child can thrive in a school with high and rising standards, and with a broad and rich curriculum that they can enjoy. Like every parent, I want that for my children, and I am so pleased that we have a Labour Government who are ready to deliver it.

I know what a brilliant school and education can mean. Unlike my hon. Friend the Member for Southampton Itchen (Darren Paffey), who made an excellent maiden speech today, I am not one of three Darrens, but I am a Sacred Heart girl, and I am not the only one in this Parliament. The parliamentary Labour party boasts three alumni of my old school, Sacred Heart Catholic high school in Newcastle; my hon. Friends the Members for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend (Mary Glindon) and for Cramlington and Killingworth (Emma Foody) went there, too. My hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson), who made an outstanding maiden speech today, also attended a Sacred Heart school. It means that there are now as many state-educated Sacred Heart girls in the House of Commons as there are old Etonian boys—a tangible demonstration of the radical redistribution of opportunities that this Labour Government represent.

My hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Johanna Baxter) gave an account of her school trip to Parliament, which reminded me of my own trip at the age of 17, when I got in trouble for sitting down on these Benches. Clearly, such trips work to break down barriers to opportunity.

The journey starts in a child’s early years, when their development and education begin. Under successive Conservative Governments, however, the attainment gap has widened. It is now some years since I served on the Treasury Committee, but I still recall our inquiry into childcare as a part of national infrastructure. It was ground-breaking at the time and acknowledged that childcare is a fundamental service to our economy; it is not a “nice to have”. It is fundamental to allowing parents to work longer hours to provide for their families, and it is fundamental to people’s life chances. That is why this Government will deliver 3,000 more primary school-based nurseries, making them widely accessible to parents and unlocking opportunity for our youngest. In answer to the shadow Secretary of State’s question earlier, that will be delivered in partnership with the sector to ensure that it meets the needs of children and parents.

We know that childcare needs do not end when school starts. When a child moves up to primary school, in England, they will benefit from the roll-out of free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England. This will drive up attainment, improve behaviour and attendance, and enable parents to start work on time and support their families. It will set children up for the day and set them up to achieve, because it is as much about the club as it is about the breakfast. Being in the classroom at the start of the day matters.

Schools have a unique power to open up enormous opportunities for their pupils, with teachers and support staff who make a mark on every child’s life. That includes supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities to flourish, but across that system we have to acknowledge the many challenges that we face. Our buildings are substandard, our children are too often unhappy in school and our support staff feel underappreciated. We have to do better.

So many Members today have touched on the crisis in support for those with special educational needs and disabilities, including my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), who I know has worked tirelessly on this issue for many years, and my hon. Friend the Member for Dartford (Jim Dickson), who also spoke passionately today. This Government will help schools to take a community-wide approach to SEND, improving their capability to accommodate pupils in mainstream settings and supporting them to flourish.

Last week, I visited the brilliant Croftway academy in Northumberland. It demonstrates how children of different abilities and needs can have the highest standard of education in a mainstream setting, but we also need to ensure that special schools can cater for those with the most complex needs. For those struggling with the pressures of school life, this Labour Government will fund mental health support in every secondary school and in every community so that they can access support before problems escalate. I know that mental health is a priority for many in this place, as was powerfully described by my hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) in her speech.

As shadow Schools Minister, I heard many stories of decisions being taken about our schools that just did not factor in the needs of communities. There was delay that turned to disappointment and frustration. I have seen this in my own constituency with a lack of proper planning causing chaos to school admissions in Gosforth this year, and countless stories of failure are replicated across the country. So under Labour, schools will need to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, on SEND inclusion and on place planning. No more of the chaos that we have seen over the last few years.

We want children to leave school with the skills and knowledge to set them up for life. That means a broad and balanced curriculum that encourages them to try new things, ask questions, express themselves and be creative while also gaining an excellent foundation in reading, writing and maths. So we are establishing an expert-led review on the curriculum and will collaborate with the sector to allow schools, teachers, parents and students to contribute and to plan ahead.

On the question of removing exemptions for private schools, which has been raised, this change will enable vital investment in more teachers and improved nursery provision. I commend the contribution from my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince), a former maths teacher. While we are delighted that he is in his place, we need to ensure that we have more maths teachers in our state schools. My hon. Friend the Member for Monmouthshire (Catherine Fookes) spoke about being a school governor, and we need more of those too. My hon. Friend the Member for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr (Steve Witherden) gave a powerful testimony to his dear late mother. We share his grief and we share her pride.

Ultimately, education is about preparing children and young people for life and giving them the skills they need to get on, but these opportunities do not end at the school gates. For too long, post-16 education has been poorly matched to the ambitions of young people and the needs of businesses and employers, allowing talent to go untapped and the economy to flag. That is why, earlier this week, we announced Skills England, a transformative new body to match post-16 education to the needs of the economy. By deploying skills investment strategically, we will bring employment opportunities to the parts of the country where young people need a break and businesses need their skilled labour.

My hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) spoke powerfully about his apprenticeship and his passion for ensuring those opportunities for others. My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes Central (Emily Darlington) spoke about the need to not have to leave the place you love to get on in life. My hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan) wants to see a curriculum for life. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Selly Oak has rightly been recognised, as I mentioned earlier.

All of this work will require a partnership approach. None of the challenges we face can be addressed by one person or one body alone. That is why we are resetting the relationship between Government and the sector. We are listening to professionals. We are learning from best practice. We are working to improve standards across the board. It is also why I want to take this opportunity today to pay tribute to all those who work in our schools, to thank them and to wish them a restful and restorative summer break.

Under this Labour Government, neither a person’s place of birth nor the income of their parents will determine what they can achieve, how they find fulfilment, how they discover their skills and talents, or how they grow in confidence, because breaking down the barriers to opportunity is Labour’s guiding focus. It is the job of this Government, and it is one that we are committed to delivering.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered education and opportunity.