Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Timpson]

With a third of children leaving primary school with a problem with their weight, that is a concern for us all, and as I have said, the final national curriculum, which is due to be published shortly, will make PE compulsory at all four key stages. The status of cooking and healthy eating will reflect the recent school food plan, so it is right that we do that, but ultimately it should be up to individual schools to plan their own curriculum to ensure that ample time is available to cover all subjects.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that taking part in competitive swimming should be available to school pupils? Will he discuss with his colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government the unfair funding for my home town of Hull, because our swimming pools are being closed, including Ennerdale, which is the only competition-sized pool in the city?

[Mr Timpson]

I am happy to look at the particular situation that the hon. Lady has articulated, but it is up to local councils to make those decisions. Many councils are opening swimming pools around the country, and swimming will be a compulsory activity in the new curriculum, as we have seen the benefits that it can bring to a healthy lifestyle for many children across the country.

National Curriculum

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 8th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support. What we sought to do is similar to what was argued for in the Liberal Democrat manifesto at the last general election: a core entitlement in foundation subjects and a far greater degree of freedom elsewhere. I am grateful to Liberal Democrat colleagues across the Government for the positive way they have engaged and the helpful suggestions they have made at every turn. It is right that my hon. Friend underlines the importance of ensuring we move speedily to get the right level of professional support. In particular, teaching schools—outstanding schools across the country—are generating networks of support and could not be more important. I want to do more to help them in the year ahead.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

The vast majority of parents and young people want a curriculum that is fit for life, including building life skills around self-esteem and confidence that will protect them from predators such as Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall. I would be interested to know why the Secretary of State turns his face against introducing that to the national curriculum.

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Lady is a passionate campaigner on ways we can better protect our children, and there are a number of things we can do. As she may know, I had the opportunity to talk to a group of outstanding young people last week at the Stonewall conference on fighting prejudice in education and empowering young people. They made some important points about the best of personal, social, health and economic education, and we must learn from the best schools and ensure that others follow their lead.

GCSEs

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. We cannot guarantee that a future Government, of whatever political colour, will not be tempted to try to flatter itself by bringing in a little grade inflation. We have in Ofqual and in its current regulator a strong leader determined to ensure that that will not happen. It is a pity that we do not have the same robust system of regulation in Wales, for example.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

The CBI has said that we need to produce “rounded and grounded” young people, but I understand that these plans will not assess those important competences, which business require. Why is the Secretary of State not listening to business organisations?

[Michael Gove]

I very much enjoy listening to business organisations, even those such as the CBI that have historically perhaps been wrong on big issues—for example, the euro. Nevertheless, there is a lot that the CBI has said about education that I do commend, and I think that the introduction of a greater degree of rigour in English language writing skills and a higher level of demand in mathematics meet exactly the request from all sorts of businesses to ensure that there is higher attainment among the students they wish to recruit.

Children and Families Bill

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Bruce]

I am vice-chair of the all-party group on financial education for young people and I hugely welcome that proposal. I think it is an essential ingredient of enabling our young people to mature and face society when they leave school.

At present we do not have a centralised curriculum, and I cannot support proposals for the centralisation of the curriculum as suggested by the champions of the new clause. Research demonstrates that children and young people want to receive their initial sex and relationships education from their parents and families, with school and other adults building on that later. I am not naive and I fully appreciate that many parents do not fulfil their parental duties in that respect. That is why it is essential that we have sex education in senior schools, and I do not deny the importance of that for one minute, for many of the reasons mentioned by the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) when she introduced the new clause.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

What does the hon. Lady make of the recent Ofsted report on the teaching of PSHE, which mentions its variability around the country, particularly in sex and relationships education?

[Fiona Bruce]

I am glad the hon. Lady raised that point, because if some of the suggestions that I will come to in my speech were implemented, we would have much better sex education throughout the country than we do at present. She is right. Much still needs to be done, and I said in my introductory remarks that I am concerned about the standard of sex education in our schools, although I do not believe a centralised curriculum will improve that.

Child-care Ratios

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 9th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

Absolutely; I could not have put it better myself. Salaries in Sweden for child-care workers are £22,000. I would be very interested to understand how the shadow Secretary of State thinks he is going to get that money and where it will come from.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

With the Deputy Prime Minister rubbishing the proposals, is not the policy dead in the water and another example of the shambles of this Government?

[Elizabeth Truss]

As I said, we announced our policy in “More great childcare” in January. We are consulting on the level of qualifications required to fulfil the ratios.

Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.

One inference of the hon. Lady’s question is that head teachers or principals in academies will be neglectful of the welfare of children, particularly with respect to sex and relationships education. As I have said, this is a uniquely serious matter. Given changes in technology and family formation, it requires the attention of all us if we are to get it right. One thing my Department has done is conduct a survey of best practice. Sometimes, best practice occurs in faith schools and academies and not in maintained schools. Simply prescribing something in the national curriculum does not mean that best practice will result. I am afraid that the debate deserves more than the catcalls and superficial sloganising we get from some people.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

May I therefore ask the Secretary of State directly why he will introduce financial education as part of the compulsory national curriculum and yet denies that drug education, alcohol education and relationship education should have the same status?

[Michael Gove]

As the hon. Lady acknowledges, the changes to the citizenship curriculum have been widely supported. She draws a distinction between what happens in one national curriculum area and others—as the hon. Member for Solihull (Lorely Burt) has pointed out, academies are not subject to the national curriculum. If we look at the national curriculum overall, we see that there is an absolute requirement in science to teach sex education, and sex and relationships education is part of the national curriculum expectation for all schools.

Apprenticeships

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

The whole report is about doing just that.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Small businesses in Hull tell me that the flat rate that they are paid to take on an apprentice does not take into account the particular needs of small businesses, and that it is the same rate as that paid to larger businesses. Will the Minister support the introduction of a differential rate for small businesses taking on apprentices?

[Matthew Hancock]

We have introduced a grant of £1,500 for small businesses taking on their first apprentices, precisely to help them with the bureaucracy that the hon. Lady mentioned, and I would encourage her to tell the small businesses that she talks to that it is available. The take-up has been good, but we need to ensure that everyone who could benefit from it knows about it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the tenacity and skill with which he has fought his campaign. It is important that all of us recognise that we need to equip children with both the mathematical skills and the strength of character to be able to navigate choppy financial waters.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s decision to include financial education, but what about relationship and sex education? Should they not be part of personal, social, health and economic education, as a statutory part of the curriculum, especially in light of the allegations around Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith, to ensure that young people know how to deal with sexual predators?

[Michael Gove]

Sex education is a statutory part of the national curriculum. The broader point about the nature of sexual exploitation is most effectively dealt with by ensuring that we can prosecute those people who are responsible for despicable crimes.

A-level Reform

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Norfolk Friend is absolutely right to say that we need to restore the link between universities and schools, which I think has been lost. It has meant that our school exams have not necessarily caught up with the latest research in the universities. It is so important to keep up with the cutting edge because we are competing against countries that are rising in the world. We need to make sure that we are linking to our leading educational institutions such as Cambridge university, which is not too far from us. I would be delighted to join my hon. Friend in a programme of visits; I am starting with Downham Market high school on Friday.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

Evidence-based policy making is something we can all support, so will the Minister provide us with the hard evidence that these plans will widen participation, particularly in constituencies such as my own in Hull?

[Elizabeth Truss]

At the moment, the evidence suggests that the reforms undertaken by the previous Government did not have a big impact on participation. What that meant was that students were studying fewer of the rigorous subjects such as maths, physics and modern languages.

Oral Answers to Questions

Diana Johnson Excerpts

Monday 21st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

Of course I will be extremely interested to see what the Select Committee report says on the subject. We do need good careers guidance, but we also need a system where students have an incentive to take subjects that will prove of value to them later in life. That is the whole point of the English baccalaureate.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

More than 5,000 schools across the country are closed today as a result of adverse weather conditions. Thanks to changes that this Government have made, no school that ensures that it is open will be penalised if individual students cannot make it to school on that day. I hope that as a result more and more schools will recognise that while the decision on whether to remain open or closed is a matter for the head teacher, everything can and should be done to ensure that all children get access to a good education.

[Diana Johnson]

After the revelations about Jimmy Savile, Cyril Smith and other appalling cases, is it not time for the Secretary of State to stop dragging his feet over personal, social, health and economic education, causing its teaching over the past two years to decline, and instead to help equip our young people to better resist the efforts of predatory paedophiles?

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right that given their scale the recent revelations about the extent of child abuse and child grooming are uniquely worrying. In a speech that I gave to the Institute for Public Policy Research just before Christmas, I outlined a series of steps that my Department has taken, and will take, in order to deal with this.