Oral Answers to Questions Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Cabinet Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Zeichner Excerpts
Wednesday 9th September 2015

(9 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

First, we should be very clear about who is responsible for the refugee crisis in Syria. I would lay it firmly at the door of Bashar al-Assad, who assaulted his own people, and ISIL, who, even today, are throwing gay people off buildings, raping women, terrorising communities and driving people to take to the road and leave their country. They are the ones responsible. But my hon. Friend makes an important point: when we do not involve ourselves in these issues and take difficult decisions, that is a decision in itself, and it has consequences. That is what I hope we can debate and discuss in the coming months. He talked about White Papers and so on. There are many different ways of presenting this information. I think we need to look at all the arguments for what he and I would call a comprehensive approach to these issues.

Daniel Zeichner Portrait Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)
- Hansard - -

Q15. Our sixth-form colleges do a great job, but they are not protected by the education ring fence. That means a sixth-former in my constituency has lost almost 20% of their funding over the last five years—in some places, almost 30%. What has the Prime Minister got against sixth-form colleges?

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I am fully in favour of sixth-form colleges. That is why actually, unlike previous Governments, we have gone quite a long way to equalise the funding between sixth forms in secondary schools and sixth forms in colleges. We have made a lot of progress.