Higher Technical Education Reform

Debate between Diana Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi

Monday 8th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I thank my hon. Friend and neighbour for her excellent question, and I congratulate MGTS on its contract. She rightly raises the ever faster moving nature of the economy and its changing shape, including some technological disruption. That is precisely why we want employers to co-create these technical qualifications. I do not think that the Government are able, on their own, to move to where the markets are. Businesses understand that better than anyone else, which is why we want them to be at the heart of this.

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

Following on from the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey) about how we encourage more people to participate in technical education and obtain the qualifications, what specifically does the Minister think we need to do about the fact that we still do not have enough girls and women taking up technical subjects? We are missing a huge pool of very good people who could make a career in technical subjects.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi

Monday 4th February 2019 Commons Chamber

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

5. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the universal infant free school meals policy since 2014.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi)]

Take-up is a key measure of success for universal infant free school meals, and it has been strong since the introduction of the policy. According to the latest figures, 1.5 million infant pupils—excluding those eligible for benefit-based free school meals—took a lunch on census day. That represents a take-up rate of 86.2%.

[Diana Johnson]

Some 15 years ago, Hull led the way by pioneering the policy of free healthy school meals to fight poverty and childhood obesity and to improve attainment in the classroom. When the Liberal Democrats came to power in Hull, they scrapped that scheme in 2007, but this was followed by the Labour Government’s pilots and the announcement from the coalition on free school meals for the earliest years. However, given the continuing link between poor nutrition and childhood obesity, is it not disappointing that just-managing families in Hull are seeing a doubling of prices for school meals, all because the austerity funding squeeze on school budgets and councils has not ended in deprived areas?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful for that question. Giving free school meals to infants encourages children to start on the right path to nutritious meals. Those who are eligible will go on to claim free school meals, and it is worth noting that the new eligibility criteria and the protections introduced last April mean that we expect more pupils to be entitled to free school meals by 2022, by contrast to the scaremongering that took place in this place and outside when the policy was introduced.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

When does the Minister intend to announce the date for issuing the criteria for the pilots to address holiday hunger that were announced just a few weeks ago? Hull is champing at the bit to make its application.

[Nadhim Zahawi]

We have done some excellent work on this, and an announcement is imminent.

School Holidays (Meals and Activities) Bill

Debate between Diana Johnson and Nadhim Zahawi

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 19th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I will make some more headway first. Then I will take a few more interventions.

To reach an informed decision, we will work across Government. We will begin immediately to carry out rapid research, along with further stakeholder engagement. That will enable us to learn from those who are already active in the field about how to achieve the most positive outcomes. I am keen to work in partnership with the right hon. Member for Birkenhead to drive that forward, and I will be most grateful for his continued support and expertise. We will, in particular, look to colleagues in Wales, who are already offering “food and fun” holiday schemes, and to the teams who have evaluated them. We will learn lessons from similar schemes elsewhere. There are, for example, the opportunity areas, six more of which we have launched today. We will also consider how to build on breakfast club provision. Drawing on the learning from the research and engagement, we will set out our plans for the research, including the pilot programme, later in 2018.

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

Will the pilots take place this year? In Hull we are already trying to plan for a scheme to be in place in the summer, and it would be nice to know whether we could apply for funds to conduct one of the pilots.

[Nadhim Zahawi]

We will begin the research immediately. The difficulty with beginning the pilots in the holidays this year is the procurement process, but I want to begin them as soon as possible.