Student Loans

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Georgia Gould]

rose—

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

I’ve got a short one!

[Georgia Gould]

I would be delighted to take the right hon. Member’s incredibly short intervention.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

The Minister’s hon. Friend, the hon. Member for Leeds Central and Headingley (Alex Sobel), asked a perfectly reasonable question about looking at the thing in the round, and her answer was that she would take the conversation forward. I think we need more than that.

[Georgia Gould]

We have acknowledged the issues and the unfairness in the system. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Education have acknowledged that, and we have said that we will look at it.

I will make progress. Under the last Government, the number of young people not in education, employment or training rose by 250,000. Today, nearly 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training. That is the legacy of the Conservatives, but this Government are turning that around. We are renewing the post-16 education landscape and celebrating routes into vocational education not by restricting university, but by opening up new high-quality vocational routes. We are introducing new V-levels and new foundation apprenticeships and supporting students to get excellent university education across the country.

The Opposition talk a lot about higher education and suggest that too many young people go to university. It is interesting that they can never tell us who should no longer go or which courses they should not study.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Josh MacAlister)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his advocacy for a technical excellence college in his constituency. We have launched the applications for 19 of those. They get to the core of what this Labour Government are about, which is creating opportunities in every corner of this country.

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

T4. Instead of the Secretary of State’s cap on the number of branded items of school uniform, will she substitute that for a monetary cap, which would afford much greater flexibility to schools?

[Bridget Phillipson]

We were elected on a manifesto to deliver a limit on the number of branded items to cut the cost of school uniform. Unfortunately, some of what the right hon. Gentleman proposes could have unintended consequences that would not tackle the problem we are facing, which is that children should be smart when they go to school, but it should not cost their parents the earth.

Future Skills Programmes: Universities

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sir Desmond Swayne (in the Chair)]

Sir Ed Davey will move the motion and the Minister will respond. As is the convention for 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.

[Ed Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered Government support for future skills programmes at universities.

It is really a pleasure to speak in your presence, Sir Desmond. I also thank the Minister, who knows that my aim in this debate is to give the Government a present—a present in the form of an idea that would revolutionise higher education, boost skills across our economy and be an engine of real growth. But it is more than that; it is an idea that could enhance the quality of life of millions of people, as it is also about social mobility and social justice—equality of opportunity in action. It is an idea that has already been fully and professionally researched, with thousands of businesses across the UK inputting into the completed research. This well researched idea has also been piloted and tested on real, live students. Moreover, it is an idea in its third year of practical roll-out. This is happening now, and it is being fully evaluated as it is put into action. It is a present that is, shall we say, oven ready.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ed Davey]

I have listened to the Minister’s speech. I was really impressed by all that she and her colleagues are doing, and I am delighted to know that she studied at Kingston University—she would be welcome back. I know that she is going to extend the invitation to her noble Friend, but could she also extend it to the Secretary of State? Part of the reason why Kingston University wants to partner, work and roll these programmes out with other universities is that it knows that there are a number of potential partners in the north and the north-east, which would be particularly pleasing to the Secretary of State.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (in the Chair)]

Order. Interventions should be brief.

[Janet Daby]

I thank the right hon. Member again for his tenacity, perseverance and pushiness—in the most polite way. Indeed, I will bring the invitation to the attention of the Secretary of State as well. Kingston University is doing some incredible and outstanding work, and that cannot be denied.

Question put and agreed to.

Relationships, Sex and Health Education: Statutory Guidance

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 16th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

Absolutely. I hope the hon. Lady will have seen that that is just not my style. I try to see problems and fix them in a reasonable and respectful way. Quality materials are important. The hon. Lady may have had that training, but not every teacher will have. The quality of materials is vital, and it is clear, as we have heard from others, that there have been some poor-quality materials and some materials that were spouting nonsense, let us be honest. That is why we will be producing our own materials, which the Oak National Academy will produce in the autumn.

I would very much welcome a meeting with the Education Minister in Wales, who as the hon. Lady says is new and may not yet have looked at this matter in detail. To remove references to “man” and “woman” in the curriculum sounds ridiculous, and recommending teaching that sex is not just about male or female sounds ridiculous. Some of those materials may have made their way into the curriculum, and I would welcome the opportunity to work with any of the devolved nations to get those materials out of our schools.

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

That the statement has been so necessary today is a measure of the fact that some members of the teaching profession have taken leave of their senses. In that light, will the Secretary of State consider to what extent the remedy is guidance or statutory requirement?

[Gillian Keegan]

It is statutory guidance. It will also be transparent, as the materials will now be available to parents. It is not only statutory guidance, but this area will be under the scrutiny of every parent in the school. It is clear that we need to support our teachers and headteachers to ensure that they get this right. The vast majority will be getting it right, but it is an area that not everybody is specifically trained to teach, so it is important that we provide the materials and the guidance and make sure that Ofsted enforces it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 29th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

We will not follow Labour’s lead, because in 2010 only 68% of schools were rated “good” or “outstanding”; now, thanks to our reforms and hard work, that figure is up to 90%. We have already delivered a number of changes to improve the way Ofsted carries out its inspections, but the answer to these challenges is not to water down standards by abolishing Ofsted, as Labour has twice proposed to do. That accountability is one reason why 90% of our schools are “good” or “outstanding”—up from just 68% under Labour. In the past year alone, over 200,000 more children are attending “good” or “outstanding” schools because of the work that we do to improve standards, and Ofsted is an important part of that.

[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.

Funded Childcare

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 22nd January 2024 Commons Chamber

[David Johnston]

We have seen a 4% increase in the number of staff in 2023, compared with 2022. None the less, part of the reason why this is a phased implementation and expansion of childcare is to ensure that we have the number of staff we need, and in a couple of weeks we will be launching a big recruitment campaign to get more people into the sector.

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

Will the Minister name and shame those authorities that are being dilatory in publishing their rates?

[David Johnston]

I reserve the right to do that, but we hope that if we ring them up first and ask them to publish—with the threat of doing that if they do not—they will do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 12th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

If the hon. Member looks at the tables attached to the school workforce census, he will see that we have returned to pre-pandemic levels of recruitment. If he looks over a period of years, he will see that the number of teachers coming into state-funded schools and the number leaving are broadly similar.

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

The abandonment of respectful address, such as “sir”, will not help, will it? Apparently it is because the female equivalent, “Miss”, is considered demeaning. Might I suggest the substitution of “ma’am”? It was good enough for Her late Majesty.

[Nick Gibb]

My right hon. Friend should not believe everything he reads in the newspapers. Behaviour in our schools is improving. We have set up behaviour hubs around the country to ensure that best practice is spread throughout the school system.

Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Consideration of Lords amendments
Tuesday 7th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western]

We are talking about the Lords amendments, and what is otiose is the debate that was had in the Lords specifically about the tort I am about to speak to.

Every time I visit a university campus, I not only talk to vice-chancellors and senior leadership teams or tour a new teaching block, but insist on meeting students. I meet them, often on my own, to hear their concerns—the unvarnished truth of what is happening on our campuses—and, above all, to listen to their priorities. I can categorically say that not once has a student ever told me that the risk to freedom of speech on campus is their most pressing concern. Why would it be when three out of every four students are currently worried about managing financially, one in four has less than £50 a month to live on after rent and bills, and 10% of students are using food banks to get by. These insights and statistics are all gleaned from a recent survey by the National Union of Students.

It is now a sobering 637 days since the Bill was introduced in this House—incidentally, the longest that any Bill sponsored by the Department for Education has taken to progress through the House since 2010—and during that period we have had three Prime Ministers and five Education Secretaries. The higher education brief has been bounced around the portfolios of five different Ministers like a political pinball but without the wizard—so much so that I find myself in the somewhat absurd position of debating a Bill about freedom of speech on campuses and academic freedom with a Minister for children, families and wellbeing.

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

I know that students have all sorts of quite proper concerns about their budgets, but does the hon. Member not acknowledge that there is a tremendous problem with a form of totalitarianism that, instead of encountering opposite views and challenging them, simply tries to silence them? Is he not appalled by the fact that Balliol College—Wesley’s own college—banned the Christian Union, with all the dangers that Christianity might pose to those poor delicate students?

[Matt Western]

I thank the right hon. Member for his comments, and for the style and energy that he brings to such interventions. The cases the right hon. Gentleman has been talking about are exceptions. Indeed, Office for Students statistics show how few cases there have been. I was making a point about the amount of parliamentary time that has been devoted to this over two years when there are much larger issues at play on our campuses.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

I am afraid that I have not yet seen the report, but I will ask my team to dig it out and give it a look over. If the hon. Lady has specific issues that she wants to raise, I will be more than happy to meet her. Alongside the significant funding that we are putting into the student premium to deal with hardship in the student body, many students who are not living in halls of residence or other tied accommodation will benefit from the wider cost of living package that the Government have put together.

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

They will no doubt be relieved on the grounds of the rate of interest they are required to pay on their student loans, won’t they?

[Kit Malthouse]

I know that the rate of interest on student loans is a matter of great interest to my right hon. Friend and his constituents. The switch from maintenance grants to loans that are effectively contingent upon income has been a success, in that we have seen during this period a significant increase in the likelihood of 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds going into higher education, but of course we constantly keep these things under review.

Schools White Paper

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am slightly puzzled by the hon. Lady’s question. As I described, standards have consistently gone up because we have introduced things such as the phonics screening check. We are investing £7 billion in education, with £4 billion frontloaded for this year and next year, to make sure that schools have the funding they need. Andreas Schleicher of the OECD was in my office telling me that, actually, the United Kingdom is in the top quartile for investment in our school system. That is what this Government are doing, and this White Paper takes the evidence for what works and scales it for every child in this country. I want to see every child have the opportunity I had to achieve to the best of their talent.

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

Teacher training has often been part of the problem. By what mechanism will my right hon. Friend prevent any return to the half-baked theories that proved to be a disaster in the classroom?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

We will be evidence-led. We are also launching the Institute of Teaching to deliver the high standards on which my right hon. Friend rightly focuses.