Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford

Monday 29th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

Yes; I am sorry to hear about the situation of the teacher in my hon. Friend’s constituency. Of course, good behaviour is the bedrock of schools and school standards. We are investing more in behaviour hubs, which are helping schools that need help with the behaviour of children. We are also investing more in alternative provision schools. We are building 77 new ones; 51 are already open and the rest will be opening in the coming years.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

In Essex, it has been taking far too long for children to get their education health and care plans, so I was pleased to hear that the county council had just recruited 46 additional members of staff. It is also building new special schools, including two more in Chelmsford, but what can make a difference is specialist hubs within mainstream schools, helping children from that school and from neighbouring schools. Given that we have large numbers of schools being rebuilt in Essex due to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete—RAAC—does the Secretary of State agree that this could provide an opportunity, and that we should look at all the schools that are due to be rebuilt and consider putting specialist hubs into those rebuilding programmes?

[Gillian Keegan]

My right hon. Friend mentions the considerable investment that is going into special educational needs and high needs budgets. There is also provision for capital to build new free schools and school places. As we look to rebuild some of the schools affected by RAAC, which has now all been identified—every school has its budget details—we urge local authorities to consider what will best meet the needs of young people in their area. There is flexibility on free school places as well: those schools look at what to come forward with as regards provision that is needed to address local need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford

Monday 29th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

Every moment matters in school, and we have improved and increased our school standards. The most important thing is that children are now there. Thanks to our data, we can now see patterns and those who are taking a week off outside term time, or those who perhaps have a pattern of behaviour of taking particular days off. We can go into the data—we are about the only country in the world that can do that, so we are uniquely positioned to tackle the problem. We can go down into the data and work at school level and local authority level, to ensure that we put into action everything we can to improve attendance.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

Attendance matters, and we know that some schools and local authorities have higher attendance rates than others. That is why the Education Committee, the Children’s Commissioners and others all say that their top priority is to ensure that all schools and local authorities follow best practice guidelines. My private Member’s Bill, the School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill, will make that mandatory. I know that the Government support it, so will the Secretary of State take the opportunity to ensure that all colleagues across the House back the Bill, and no one objects to it on Second Reading this Friday, so that we can make best practice mandatory and get our kids back to school?

[Gillian Keegan]

I thank my right hon. Friend for all her work in this area. She is right; the first thing to do is ensure that we understand best practice, and that it is rolled out everywhere. A lot of work is being done in that area. I very much appreciate the initiatives that she has introduced, and I urge colleagues across the House to support her endeavours.

Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in Education Settings

Debate between Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford

Monday 4th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

There are two ways of going about this. The first is to go through the responsible bodies. To be fair, that was what we were doing until 2019, but then we did not think that we were being quick enough. We did not have a good enough picture of where RAAC was and what state it was in. That was why we started the direct questionnaire and surveying programme that has enabled us to have the data to take quick action when we got new evidence over the summer. We will continue to share that new evidence with the devolved Administrations. I believe that sometimes it is right to take a direct approach. That is not typical for a Government Department in Whitehall, but sometimes it is the correct thing to do. That is what we have done, and I think that will put us in good stead for being decisive about keeping pupils safe.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

The three schools known to have RAAC in my constituency have all opened safely to all students this week. I particularly thank the headteacher and team at Springfield primary school. They had to close their year 5 and 6 classrooms last term, but immediately, within a week, the students were found accommodation in other schools. All the building work has been completed over the summer and the prefabs that had been ordered just in case are now being released to other schools.

It is right that children’s safety comes first, but it is also right that we are mindful of the language that we use towards children and do not make them more frightened than they need to be. I would encourage colleagues not to exaggerate or generalise the risks, but to work with each affected school calmly to get the issue resolved for children.

[Gillian Keegan]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We are working proactively. We have the information, the skills and the people who are going to support us. What is most important is that we minimise the disruption to children. As my right hon. Friend points out about her own constituency, in most cases there is minimal impact, but we have to work together to ensure children are back in school as soon as possible.

Higher Education Reform

Debate between Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford

Monday 17th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

I am a huge supporter of our creative and arts industries, which are among our largest, and we are very successful in them. I work with them a lot to ensure that we can deliver even broader apprenticeship routes, because they are difficult industries to get into. I have asked the Office for Students to consider how to do this reform to ensure that we consider things like the creative arts and other routes, which sometimes take longer to get into but offer a different aspect of learning. That is why we have not just introduced a blunt tool. I will continue to work with our fantastic creative sector.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend and the Department on their focus on excellence. This morning, I attended the graduation ceremony of students from Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford. It was so moving, because, for the first time in history, students graduated as medical doctors in Essex. Our investment five years ago in five new medical schools across the country is a shining example of a Conservative Government investing for future needs. Will she work with me to try to double the number of medical students and encourage a degree apprenticeship for doctors, and will she congratulate our new doctors?

[Gillian Keegan]

I know that my right hon. Friend is a huge champion of Anglia Ruskin University. I am delighted about the number of medical doctors and the new medical schools, which, as she said, were introduced under this Government. When I was the Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, one of the last things I did, and which I am most proud about, was to get a medical doctors apprenticeship standard built, and I am delighted that that is being rolled out from September. I look forward to Anglia Ruskin offering that as well.

Education

Debate between Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford

Monday 16th March 2020 Ministerial Corrections

[Gillian Keegan]

Apprenticeships are at the heart of our vision for a world-class technical education system, and we have specifically focused on quality in the past year or so. High-quality starts on standards have increased to 63% from 44% in the previous year. Quality is the most important thing, and we are pleased to say that the proportion of starts on standards is increasing this year.

Children in the Care System: Sibling Contact

The following is an extract from the Adjournment debate on 4 March 2020.

[Vicky Ford]

… The legal framework is clear on allowing contact between siblings and placing them together where it in their best interests. Historically, there have been concerns that some contact arrangements were not made on the assumption that contact should always take place.

[Official Report, 4 March 2020, Vol. 672, c. 956.]

Letter of correction from the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford):

An error has been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for South Shields (Mrs Lewell-Buck).

The correct response should have been:

Disability Assessment Services

Debate between Gillian Keegan and Vicky Ford

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Westminster Hall

[Gillian Keegan]

Yes, that is absolutely vital. One of the learnings from the system is that it needs to make sure that those assessments are available in time. I will go on to talk about that.

In a bid to tackle this problem, the Department stopped requiring people with the most severe and lifelong conditions to undertake assessments from September 2017. However, some of my constituents told me that that is not their experience, and that they are still being asked to go for assessments. The Minister kindly clarified that for those receiving ESA and universal credit before 29 September 2017, the severe conditions criteria will take effect at their next work capability assessment, so it could be that my constituents had one after that date, but will not have another.

I welcome the move, which is being encouraged, to enable decisions to be made without face-to-face assessments, through health questionnaires and evidence collected from GPs and specialist health professionals. On a similar note, I am pleased that people receiving the highest level of PIP will receive an ongoing award, with only a light-touch review after 10 years. That is another progressive step to ensure that those who most need support receive it hassle-free.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

Some of my constituents have found the PIP assessment process and the work capability assessment deeply traumatic and very flustering, and they often get confused. Does my hon. Friend agree that allowing assessments to be recorded—especially video-recorded—will give people confidence that they are getting a fair assessment, and that the assessors are being monitored and must come up to a high standard?

[Gillian Keegan]

Yes, I do. Technology in general is enabling us to put better processes in place. Recording will not be appropriate for some people, but it is important to use technology in the right circumstances.