Primary School Breakfast Clubs

Dave Robertson Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dhesi]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. There needs to be a universal roll-out. All pupils should benefit, but the positive impact on those who currently rely on free school meals cannot be overstated.

Positive effects have been passed on to pupils who do not attend breakfast clubs. Their results have improved because of calmer, more focused classroom environments. The improvements to children’s attainment and morale that have been seen in Wales cannot be ignored.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. He may not know that I was a teacher for almost seven years in north Birmingham. I used to regularly see 11 and 12-year-old kids coming into school having had no breakfast, and with their lunch for the day being a bag of Haribo sweets and a one litre bottle of energy drink. Unsurprisingly, those kids had a disproportionate number of detentions and behavioural incidents, particularly in the afternoons, when they had a sugar crash. Does my hon. Friend agree that far too often the provision of healthy and nutritious food by breakfast clubs can be overlooked?

[Mr Dhesi]

My hon. Friend speaks with a great deal of experience. I am sure the Minister and his team will take the contributions made by hon. Members on board because they are setting out how we will make a positive impact on the lives of those in our communities. That is what we were elected to do, drawing on our various diverse experiences, backgrounds and perspectives.

Breakfast clubs provide further potential benefits. As my hon. Friends have highlighted, a proper sit-down breakfast, among peers, not only allows children to access healthy food, but encourages the building of interpersonal relationships and the progression of social skills—key aspects of a child’s development that are often overlooked in an educational setting. Will the Minister assure me that universal breakfast clubs will not only provide a healthy meal for young children, but also facilitate and encourage development of vital social skills?

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Dave Robertson Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Catherine McKinnell]

I wish my hon. Friend well in her meeting tomorrow. We know the challenges in the system, and they are laid bare in the National Audit Office report. There is no shortage of will right across the House to get this right and to put the system right. As we draw to the end of these questions, I must reiterate that it will take patience, because there is no quick fix to the situation we have inherited. However, we are determined to fix it, and we will do so on an ongoing basis and as quickly as possible.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

Saxon Hill academy in my constituency does amazing work to support young people between the ages of two and 19 with physical disabilities and complex needs, but for many of the students, it is much more than a school. It is literally a home away from home, due to its sleepover club, which allows pupils to stay at the school overnight one night a week. The funding for that provision was extended for two years in December last year. Can the Minister assure me that as part of the Government’s SEND review, we will look at sustainable funding for such additional provision?

[Catherine McKinnell]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We need to move to a more sustainable footing in the longer term and make sure that councils can plan ahead. That is something we are looking at.

Higher Education: Staffordshire

Dave Robertson Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Adam Jogee]

My hon. Friend and near neighbour has made an excellent submission ahead of the Budget, and I am sure the Minister will relay that point to Treasury colleagues. He makes an important point about connectivity, accessibility and the importance of a transport network that allows people both to benefit from our higher education institutions and to contribute to our local economies.

Keele’s legacy and commitment to the wider community is why it was named among the UK’s best universities at contributing to local growth and regeneration in the recent iteration of the knowledge exchange framework run by Research England. Keele, working with the Bar Council, has advanced the “Keele in Town” programme, which will see the transformation of an empty 19th-century building in the heart of Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre into a mixed-use facility for the community. It will be kitted out with modern working and meeting spaces, offering digital connectivity to the community and helping to drive productivity.

[Dave Robertson (Lichfield) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Adam Jogee]

I will happily give way to another good man from Staffordshire.

[Dave Robertson]

It is wonderful to contribute to this debate. I had to intervene when my hon. Friend spoke about university campuses, and about university buildings in city centres. My Lichfield constituency does not have a large university campus, but we do have a small satellite campus of the University of Staffordshire that supports our local economy and ensures that much of Staffordshire’s learning is reinvested through its business village.

Does my hon. Friend agree about the importance of making sure that the wealth of these institutions is shared across the entire county, so that everybody can benefit from their investments?

[Adam Jogee]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson)—it is an honour and a privilege to say those words; I do not think many on the Labour Benches thought we would be able to say them. What an excellent decision the people of Lichfield made on 4 July. He raises an important point, because ensuring that people from all backgrounds and communities can access and benefit from education is something that I know this Government will advance. I thank him for making such a powerful point.