Curriculum and Exam Reform

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. Of course it is important that children and young people leave school with qualifications, but it is also important that we incentivise schools to ensure that those students who are very low attainers are the focus of particular attention. The progress measure that we are planning to introduce will be a powerful driver to help those students, and the teachers who are their best hope for success.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

A lot of us think that it is the certainty, leading to arrogance, of the Secretary of State that led him to read out 10 pages of waffle. All he needed to do was say, “Sorry, got it wrong; will do better.”

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to hon. Gentleman, as ever, for lessons on humility and how to avoid arrogance, and how to acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past. As in so many areas of life, he is my model in all things.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Thursday 7th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts)]

Postgraduate education is very important. We have maintained funding for it through the Higher Education Funding Council for England, but I am following with great interest the imaginative ideas being brought forward and we are open-minded if people have proposals for increasing access to borrowing and finance for postgraduates.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

In an earlier question, on the privatisation of Royal Mail, the Minister deliberately referred to the fact that shares would be sold off to the people in Royal Mail. It almost harks back to the “share-owning democracy” of Mrs Thatcher, when she privatised all the public utilities and almost without exception those public utilities—E.ON, EDF and all the rest—are now owned by Germany, France, Spain and even further afield. That is what happens to share-owning democracies. Instead of gazing into crystal balls, read the history!

[Michael Fallon]

I not only read the history, I remember the history because I was here, when the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues—

[Mr Skinner]

You voted for it!

[Michael Fallon]

I voted for it, and he and his colleagues advised the workers in BT—[Interruption]—not to buy the shares and more than 90% of them did buy them. In this instance, Parliament has quite rightly provided that up to 10% of the shares should be reserved for employees. I think that the more than 130,000 people who work for Royal Mail should have the chance to share in the success of their company.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Monday 18th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hayes]

There are those, including many Opposition Members, who think that I have gone too far on quality. They want to return to the days when we did not have statutory standards, when we did not insist on a minimum length for apprenticeships and when we were not as demanding in terms of rigour. No, I say—we must focus on quality just as much as quantity, so I have done all those things. The previous Government could have done them and should have done them, but they did not.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Month after month, I ask the Secretary of State for Education about the need for a new school at Tibshelf, and month after month, he gives the impression that “It is a good case, but…” Whatever has happened to the plans for Tibshelf school? He has not left them in a pub somewhere, has he?

[Michael Gove]

First, may I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on the interview he gave in The Guardian today? In it, he pointed out that the quality of education that he received was a tribute to the grammar schools of the past. What a pity it is that a past Labour Government did such damage to the education system that allowed him to become such an effective advocate for the people of Bolsover. It is thanks to the election of a Conservative county council in Derbyshire that Tibshelf school will be rebuilt. Something that the Labour councillors of Derbyshire were never able to achieve, the Tories of Derbyshire are at last achieving. I hope that as the hon. Gentleman mellows with age, he will realise, like me, that true blue Derbyshire is achieving far more than it ever did when it was as red as Ed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Monday 16th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for asking that question. I hope to speak to the lead member for children’s services in Essex county council later this afternoon and I shall raise the issue with him. If I do not get satisfaction, I will pursue it. Let me take this opportunity to congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his well-deserved knighthood.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Now that the Secretary of State for Education has accepted Bolsover Labour party’s campaign for a new school at Tibshelf—a most unlikely Minister, I agree—will he tell us who will bear the cost, how much central Government will pay and how much the council taxpayer will have to pay?

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman has been a fantastic campaigner on behalf of Tibshelf school and, as he has often pointed out in this House, the school has had to be kept aloft by pit props and is not fit for purpose. We want to ensure that the priority school building programme, to which I think he refers, will provide the resources from the Department for Education’s budget, but we will work with the local authority to ensure that we refurbish the school appropriately. I should stress, however, that final decisions on each school in the programme will not be made until at least next month.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Thursday 8th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

I thank my right hon. Friend for the excellent work that he has done on this important subject. I can report to the House that 90% of schools and colleges have been visited by graduates explaining the facts of the system. In addition, they are reaching out to parents evenings. Every hon. Member has received a copy of the DVD that has gone to every school with the information that shows that no student has to pay up front to go to university.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

T4. When the Secretary of State was talking about the running down of British industry, he failed to mention that, in the 1980s, the Thatcher Government employed MacGregor to come over here and close large parts of the steel industry, and he almost destroyed the whole mining industry. Does the Secretary of State not realise that, surrounded by all those Tories, he is a mini-MacGregor of his day, carrying out the dirty work of the Tories and overseeing the demise of the rest of British industry? He does it not for the money that MacGregor got but for a ministerial car and a red box.

[Vince Cable]

After the hon. Gentleman’s previous contribution, I set up a visit to his constituency, which will take place, I think, in the first quarter of next year. I can discuss these matters in depth with him then, which I think is rather more than my Labour predecessor did. The hon. Gentleman has been a Member for a long time, but he has overlooked the fact that in the 13 years of Labour Government there was a decline in manufacturing output averaging 0.5% a year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I had the great pleasure of meeting the parents behind that free school application. They were a fantastic model of citizen action. The Department will do everything possible to ensure that their bravery, courage and energy in ensuring that their children get the best possible education are supported to the full.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

A few minutes ago, the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning talked about the increase in the number of apprentices in various parts of Britain. In Bolsover, that started three years ago when the working neighbourhoods fund was used to increase the number of apprentices in our area. Now, with the 28% cut for the local authority and the working neighbourhoods fund due to finish next spring, there will be a loss of apprenticeships in that part of Britain. Will he have a word with his colleagues to sort that out?

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, this Government have produced the largest number of apprenticeships in modern history. I am very happy to look at his constituency, but I have to tell him that according the latest statistics—not my statistics, but the official figures—apprenticeship numbers in Bolsover are up by 65%.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Vince Cable]

Skills are obviously critical, and no doubt my hon. Friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning will say more about the big increase in the number of apprenticeships shortly. I am sure that the school in my hon. Friend’s constituency will contribute to this at an early stage of development. Apprentices are a real success story and we are certainly going to build on it.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

One way to increase manufacturing growth would undoubtedly be for the Business Secretary to turn his attention to Markham Vale. I cadged about £32 million off the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government to flatten the pit tips and build a vast industrial estate straight off junction 29A on the M1, and what has happened? There have been grey, miserable clouds hanging over Markham Vale ever since this tin-pot Government came to power. Why don’t you pull your finger out? We were spending money while the sun was shining; there is none being spent now.

[Vince Cable]

I would certainly be happy to visit Markham Vale at some point and talk those things through with the hon. Gentleman. His area has a local enterprise partnership and has had an opportunity to put in a bid for an enterprise zone or the regional growth fund. I do not know what it has done, but I am certainly happy to talk to him.

I know that the hon. Gentleman is a long-standing Member and I am sure that he has followed the changes in attitudes towards manufacturing in this House under different Governments. He will be interested in the leader of the Labour party’s new distinction between “predators” and “producers”. What is troubling a lot of us on the Government Benches is why a party of dinosaurs is so opposed to predators. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman can explain.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Monday 11th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am hugely grateful to my hon. Friend for pointing out the enormous interest in our free school programme. Everyone from former advisers in Tony Blair’s No. 10 through to figures from grass-roots faith organisations has embraced that reform. I fear that the only people who are still standing against that wave of the future are the isolated and neolithic figures of the Labour Front Bench.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State knows that one of the neediest schools that he has to deal with—and it was described as a compelling case by one of his junior Ministers—is Tibshelf, which was built before the first world war. Pit props are holding up part of the roof, and teachers have to tramp between one school and another to keep the show on the road. When is the Secretary of State going to give the Tibshelf people a chance to have their new school built?

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman is a consistent and effective campaigner on behalf of the parents, children and teachers of Tibshelf school, and I congratulate them on having such an impassioned defender. However, that school is in such poor repair because, under 13 years of Labour rule, money was wasted. It did not go to the front line, and the hon. Gentleman’s constituents, like many poorer students around the country, were failed by an arrogant, unaccountable and out-of-touch Labour Government.

School Closures (Thursday)

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question. I am sure that the ATL will want to investigate any irregularity in the ballot. As has been pointed out, it was not the case that a majority of those who were members of the union voted in favour, but a majority of those who did cast their ballot clearly voted in favour of the strike, so we have to respect that democratic vote, even though I strongly believe, like the right hon. Member for Leigh, that the unions are mistaken to go on strike.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that it takes two sides to create any conflict and this smug, arrogant Government have revelled in the part they have played in this dispute? In the real world, trade unionists have to fight for every penny and every pension, but the bankers just wait for the Government to give in and to line their pockets. That is the real contrast.

[Michael Gove]

I respect the passion of the hon. Gentleman, and I know that he has a distinguished record as a trade unionist. Members of trade unions have an absolute right to take industrial action in defence of their interests if people believe it is right, but trade union leaders should decide whether it is wise to strike at any given moment. I do not believe that it is wise to strike at this point.

On the specific question of bankers, I have to say that they are paying more in tax under this coalition Government than they ever did under a Labour Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend has lent his considerable weight to that campaign and it is important, whether we are thinking about swimming and physical education or more broadly, that we do everything we can to ensure that life-saving and first aid skills are part of what happens in our schools.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Twelve months ago, the Secretary of State said that there was a compelling case to rebuild Tibshelf school. Meanwhile, the teachers are travelling 6 miles every day, tramping between two schools—Tibshelf and Deincourt in North Wingfield—yet we have heard nothing more from the Secretary of State. It sounds to me as though, like many of us, he is very good at talking the talk, but in government, you are supposed to walk the walk. When is this going to happen?

[Michael Gove]

It is good to see the hon. Gentleman walking the walk without any mechanical or medical aid of any kind whatever; we are all reassured to see him in fine form. I have to say that the hon. Gentleman, as a former grammar school boy himself, should accept one thing: the difficult economic situation that we inherited and the difficult position that Derbyshire county council put us into after years of Labour rule mean that it is very difficult for us to do the work necessary to repair the school which needs our support so desperately.