Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Lord Hanson of Flint

Monday 24th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

T8.     When representatives of the National Education Union met Welsh MPs last week, they told us that £59 million of education spending had been lost to the Welsh Assembly Government since 2015 owing to central Government cuts. The Prime Minister recognises that there is a shortfall. What hope can the Secretary of State give of funds to alleviate its consequences?

[Damian Hinds]

Education is, of course, a devolved matter, but it is also true that funding per pupil is slightly higher in England than it is in Wales.

Schools That Work For Everyone

Debate between Damian Hinds and Lord Hanson of Flint

Monday 14th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

The free schools programme has added enormously to diversity and innovation in our school system, which is why it is important that we continue to expand their number, through our plans for another 110 or so over the next few years.

[David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

This has been described as new money. In areas such as mine in Wales, where we have no grammar schools—proudly—and no selection, will the Government’s announcement bring a consequential that we can spend on all our children?

[Damian Hinds]

This is all part of existing capital funding. I mentioned earlier the much larger figure of which this is one part.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Lord Hanson of Flint

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

T7. Has any of the team seen today’s news about the one-hour-a-month contract offered by Santander bank? Will the Minister guarantee that under no circumstances will any job like that ever be advertised in a jobcentre in this country?

[Damian Hinds]

I cannot comment on an individual case, but I can say that, in general, we know that less than 3% of people report that they rely on a zero-hours contract. We know that, on average, those people get 25 hours a week and actually have above-average levels of job satisfaction. Zero-hours contracts are certainly not for everybody, but they do work for some people.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Lord Hanson of Flint

Tuesday 7th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hanson]

The head of the World Trade Organisation said yesterday that the process of negotiating deals outside Europe would take decades. Is that not one of the reasons why confidence would be hit, currency would fall and jobs would be lost, including the 24,000 in Wales that the Minister has mentioned, and why companies such as Hitachi have mentioned today that they would pull out of the United Kingdom? Do we not agree on this one, Minister?

[Damian Hinds]

I think we do agree on the turmoil that uncertainty can bring, and the uncertainty about future trade deals that the right hon. Gentleman raises is part of that. There is much more uncertainty as well, of course, for businesses that currently trade with other European countries and people who are employed in those countries or might be thinking of going to them. All these things generate uncertainty, which creates economic turmoil in the short run. There is a real danger of missing out on a very large number of third-party trades in the long run, when all the EU trade deals currently under negotiation are finished, which will account for some 80% of our trade.