Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Gareth Thomas Excerpts
Monday 29th January 2018

(6 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nick Gibb Portrait Nick Gibb
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We have made it clear that attendance at school is vital. We changed the definition of “persistent absence” from 15% to 10%, and we have increased the fines that would be applied to parents who do not send their children to school regularly.

Gareth Thomas Portrait Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)
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The Minister will have seen independent research by the Education Policy Institute showing that Harrow is the best place to send children to school, so perhaps he will come to my borough to see what is working in terms of literacy and numeracy. If he does, he will meet headteachers who are very concerned about cuts to their budgets as a result of a lack of sufficient funding from the Government. What is he going to do about that?