Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Michael Gove

Monday 10th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

16. What plans he has to extend the school day.

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

I would like to see state schools offer a school day that is nine or even 10 hours long, enabling schools to provide character building, extra-curricular activities and homework sessions. I look forward to working with schools to ensure that they have access to the resources necessary to provide these activities.

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. What we need to do is close the unacceptable gap in attainment between those who are fortunate enough to have parents who can pay for them to be educated privately and those in the state sector. The very best state schools recognise that a longer school day with additional extra-curricular activities is just one way of ensuring that all our children can succeed.

[Mr Raab]

These plans would strengthen children’s education, ensure time for music, sport and other extra-curricular activities, ease the time pressure on teachers and help out working parents. I urge the Secretary of State not to allow the narrow vested interests of the unions to block the delivery of these plans.

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. These plans will ensure that a broader range of culturally enriching activities are available to young people. I am sure that the teaching unions will recognise that this is in their interests, and I hope they will embrace and support these changes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Michael Gove

Monday 11th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

11. What steps he is taking to allow head teachers greater autonomy in their schools.

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

The welcome growth in the number of academies has provided more freedom for more head teachers to raise standards for more students, especially the poorest.

[Mr Raab]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. Although a formal teaching qualification may be a bonus, with Ofsted’s rigorous new inspection regime and performance-related pay, does he agree that it would be dogmatic in the extreme to force heads to fire 15,000 teachers, regardless of their impact in the classroom, just because they do not hold a piece of paper?

[Michael Gove]

That is a characteristically acute point from my hon. Friend. The most important thing we need to do is ensure that the quality of teaching in our schools is improving. Ofsted tells us that it is, and I am delighted to report that to the House. That is a result of our reforms.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Michael Gove

Monday 3rd December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

As an admirer of Danny Boyle’s film-making, and indeed of the amazing work that he did at the opening ceremony for the Olympics, I hesitate ever to disagree with him in any respect. That is why I was so pleased this morning to be able to talk to representatives of the culture sector, including those responsible for dance education, drama and visual arts, and to agree on what we can do together to ensure that every child has access to the best that has been thought and written.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

T9. Our schools in Elmbridge face serious financial pressures as a result of a spike in the birth rate, the large number of young families who are moving into the area, and small pockets of relatively acute deprivation. Those factors were consistently overlooked by the last Government. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that they are properly taken into account in the forthcoming funding formula review?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Michael Gove

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am surprised that the hon. Lady is so opposed to northern comedians, given that her party has been such a fantastic platform for so many of them. It was not one of the Chuckle Brothers whom we invited to open a free school in Rotherham, but the vice-principal of a very successful school in the north-east. In the end, that lady decided to withdraw her application, but the fact that someone who is strong in the variety world wanted to back it is, to my mind, proof that increasingly, when people from whatever background look at the Government, there is a smile on their face as they contemplate our achievements.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

T9. I welcome the Secretary of State’s plans to give up Whitehall control over the A-level syllabus and empower our top universities to restore the gold standard. Does he agree that grade inflation under the last Government fooled no one, and served to devalue the currency of our children’s education?

[Michael Gove]

That is a very good point. The reforms that we hope to make to A-levels, in tandem with the work being done by higher education institutions, will, I hope, once more restore confidence in these valuable qualifications.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Michael Gove

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point. As she knows, education standards in Stoke-on-Trent have not been good enough for too long, and we particularly need to tackle underperformance at primary level. We need to find the right sponsors to help those primary schools turn round, but we can do so far better if we collaborate with the local authority and co-operate with local Members like herself and the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt), who are passionate about change. I will make sure that a Minister makes time to talk to her and her parliamentary colleagues.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

18. What steps he is taking to improve the teaching of numeracy and literacy in primary schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Dominic Raab and Michael Gove

Monday 23rd May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

7. What recent progress he has made in establishing free schools.

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

The first free schools are due to open in September, less than 15 months since we first invited applications from groups interested in setting up new schools. That in itself is testament to the incredible energy and commitment of the first pioneering projects. Four groups have now entered into a funding agreement, a further 22 have had their business cases approved and six more are under consideration.

[Mr Raab]

I wholeheartedly welcome that progress. Research by the Adam Smith Institute has found that 42% of profit-making independent schools operate on fees equal to or less than the average pupil funding in state schools. If entrepreneurs can drive up teaching standards and keep costs down, should we not look critically at some of the more dogmatic objections to their potential role in developing free schools?

[Michael Gove]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s radicalism and idealism. I want to see how the first free schools do when they open in September. Given some of the inspirational figures who plan to lead them, I am convinced that we will see standards rise and that, as we see them rise, the innovations that those figures bring to the state sector will be spread more widely.