Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Damian Hinds and Luke Pollard(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Luke Pollard
The hon. Gentleman is a role model for what someone can do by serving in the cadet forces. They are a fantastic way of growing in confidence, learning new skills and, for many young people, finding a career in the armed forces. Supporting those people who work with our cadets and help train them is vital. We know that there is a huge opportunity in expanding the cadets and investing more, and that is what the Government intend to do.
Damian Hinds (East Hampshire) (Con)
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Luke Pollard)
The Government are expanding UK-wide employment support for the armed forces community through Op Ascend, a free advice service for veterans and their families launched earlier this year. We also continue to offer tailored employment support via the career transition partnership.
Damian Hinds
National insurance relief for employing veterans comes at really quite a low cost to the Treasury, but it is effective, not just in its financial incentive but because it opens up conversations within employers. In written answers of late, the Government have been slightly equivocal about the future of the programme. Can the Minister confirm that this programme of relief will continue to support veterans’ employment beyond the next year?
Luke Pollard
It is vital that we support our veterans. We have extended the national insurance relief for a further year. I am very happy to arrange a conversation with the right hon. Gentleman and my Treasury colleagues if he would like to make a further case, and I am sure he would join a chorus of voices in doing so.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Damian Hinds and Luke Pollard(6 years, 2 months ago)
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Damian Hinds
As I said to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Ruth Smeeth), there are areas where we need to continue creating new school places. That is why we have already created over 800,000 school places since 2010 and are on course for 1 million new school places over the decade.
On the free schools process, we expect to announce the outcome of wave 13 before too long.
Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Lab/Co-op)
Instead of increasing the number of free schools, will the Secretary of State look at how we could improve the quality of the free schools we already have? Plymouth School of Creative Arts does exceptional work in some respects, but it is failing in others. Will he look at investing more in making sure such failing and troubled schools give our kids the education they deserve?
Damian Hinds
That is at the heart of what we do. That is why we have Ofsted and a school improvement programme, and it is why we encourage schools to learn from one another. One of the main reasons we have multi-academy trusts is so that they are able to work together. I think the hon. Gentleman will be meeting my right hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards, who takes a close interest in Plymouth schools, to make sure the very best can be done.