Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 29th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

T5. Are powers available to the Secretary of State where schools refuse to implement her guidance on social transitioning?

[The Minister for Schools (Damian Hinds)]

We expect that schools will follow the guidance, because it is guidance to help them carry out their existing statutory duties, including safeguarding. If they did not take those guidelines into account when delivering those duties, they would be at risk of breach.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 28th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I echo the hon. Gentleman’s good wishes for the victim. He is absolutely right about the importance of the safety and security for our prison officers. Things such as the rolling out of body-worn video cameras are an important part of that, along with the sensible use of PAVA spray, which I know the POA wants.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Will the Minister end the nonsense of community punishments discharged by working from home?

[Damian Hinds]

I am not sure that I can respond in quite the same style as my right hon. Friend. During the pandemic, being able to do certain tasks remotely or from home was a way of carrying on with unpaid work. But in general, we expect people to turn up and do that work, usually, in a group setting.

Post-18 Education and Funding

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 4th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

The hon. Gentleman was right about more than one thing—let us say several. He spoke of the local importance of universities not only to the cultural life of our towns and cities but to, for instance, local economies, business development, innovation, and research and development. He was absolutely right about that, but he was also right to speak of the importance of securing a degree of consensus about these matters. The last two major reports, the Browne and Dearing reports, straddled a change of Government. I hope that that will not happen on this occasion, but I think it right for us to have an opportunity, between now and the conclusion of the spending review, to engage in a good discussion with, among others, representatives of the sector and politicians on both sides of the House and elsewhere, because I think that such discussions help policy making to evolve.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Reduced fees mean reduced university income—that is why the University of St Andrews caps its Scottish students’ fees at 20%, isn’t it?

[Damian Hinds]

I think the economists say “ceteris paribus”. Universities have a number of income streams, of which fee income is one. As I said earlier, a teaching grant already exists for two in five courses, and the report recommends a rebalancing between fees and teaching grants.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 29th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

Funding has been allocated on a per-pupil basis for a large number of years now, including through the period 1997 to 2010, so a decrease in pupil numbers has an effect on funding, but through the national funding formula over two years we are allocating at least a 1% increase in respect of every child in the country, and for historically underfunded areas, up to 6%.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Amounts per pupil are being top-sliced to meet a deficit in the high-needs block, so the amount actually going into the school accounts per pupil is not nearly as impressive, is it?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 11th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

Of course we recognise the additional cost in high-cost areas, in particular in London. It is true that there are 200 more teachers in the Ealing local authority area than there were in 2010. However, it remains a very competitive recruitment market, particularly for graduate recruitment, partly because of the historically very low unemployment we have, and that makes our recruitment and retention strategy all the more important.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

rose—

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

We are spending more per pupil than any other G7 nation, but headteachers are complaining that they are cleaning the loos themselves. Something is going wrong. What is it?

[Damian Hinds]

On the first point, we are spending more than any other G7 nation bar the United States in per capita funding for state primary and secondary education, but there are particular cost pressures in the system. We were discussing high needs earlier, and we do need to address that particular set of pressures. There are others as well, such as the way we go about purchasing and so on, and some of the costs that are particularly rising. I want to reassure my right hon. Friend that we are looking at all of those factors.

Schools That Work For Everyone

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 14th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the author of the standard textbook on brevity, Sir Desmond Swayne.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

What argument persuaded the Secretary of State to drop the manifesto commitment on the cap for free schools?

[Damian Hinds]

What persuaded me was that we have to balance a number of different things. That is just a reality, as I think most right hon. and hon. Members would accept. We have just published our integration strategy, and it is right that in that context we retain the 50% faith cap on new free schools. However, there has always been a model of school—always, it never went away; it has been there since the Education Act 1944—to enable faith groups and others to do the admissions for a school if they contribute part of its capital funding. The amount used to be higher, but it is now about 10%. To be clear, never in the history of our country has there been a general route by which to open a school that is 100% state funded but for which a church group has 100% control over admissions.

Post-18 Education

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Tuesday 20th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

How few students actually pay 6%?

[Damian Hinds]

The interest rate, to which I think my right hon. Friend is referring, is currently 6.1%, but it varies with inflation. Critically, it means that those who earn more in their 20s and 30s will pay more—[Interruption.] It applies throughout the study period, as the hon. Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane) should know. Thereafter, the rate varies depending on earnings. It does serve an important purpose, but it cannot be considered in isolation from all the other aspects of the system.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 18th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

We absolutely accept that of course young people with learning difficulties need additional assistance and additional understanding of conditions and so on, which is why we have very much focused on providing that in jobcentres to make sure that they get the support they deserve.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

8. Whether his Department has set a target for the time taken for a personal independence payment claim to be processed from application to decision.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 13th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

Our record on the timeliness of universal credit payments has improved markedly and, as the hon. Lady knows, advances are also available. I should also say that in the run-up to Christmas, when many temporary work opportunities are available, universal credit works much better for people, because they are able to access those opportunities, particularly on the verge of the festive season.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

15. How much longer can a claimant spend looking for a job on universal credit?

[Mr Speaker]

Very well: we have heard the right hon. Gentleman on Question 14, although he did not seek agreement to that proposition. He simply blurted it out, but we will accept that on this occasion.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 20th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Have Ministers identified the critical difference that makes a recipient of universal credit so much more likely to get into work than someone on jobseeker’s allowance?

[Damian Hinds]

There are multiple features of universal credit that make that so much more likely. The critical thing is to remove the barriers that create differences between being out of work and being in work. Having the rent paid directly to the individual is one thing; there is also the additional support that people get from the work coach in the jobcentre; then there is the fact that people know how much they will retain for every extra hour worked and extra pound earned.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Damian Hinds and Desmond Swayne

Monday 21st November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

I join the hon. Lady in recognising the necessity of looking at these issues. National living wage enforcement is very important. That is why we have raised the budget for it, as well raising the maximum penalty. As for the exact definition of self-employment, she will know that there are variations in definition for tax purposes and employment law purposes. The Matthew Taylor review is looking at precisely these issues to make sure that the appropriate protections are in place while enabling more and more people to avail themselves of the opportunities in the new economy.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

What is the Minister doing to help disabled people into self-employment?

[Damian Hinds]

My right hon. Friend makes a very good point. We know that many more disabled people want to get into work, and one route is through self-employment. I am pleased to be able to say that more than a fifth of the participants in the new enterprise allowance scheme are people with a declared disability, but there is a great deal more we can do.