Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Neil Carmichael(8 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Harriett Baldwin
I regularly update Parliament on the precise figures. So far, we are at almost £1 billion. Of course, the payments for the annuitants will continue for the rest of their lives.
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
10. What fiscal steps he is taking to encourage small businesses to grow.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Neil Carmichael(9 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Harriett Baldwin
The Government are delighted that the UK recently, once again, topped the poll as the No. 1 location for a global financial centre. We believe that our legal system, language, geographical location and brilliant skilled workforce, and many other factors, contribute to this being an excellent place to locate a global financial services firm.
Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
12. What steps he is taking to tackle the productivity gap.
School Funding (Worcestershire)
Debate between Harriett Baldwin and Neil Carmichael(12 years, 1 month ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend for securing this very important debate. I want simply to strengthen her case by pointing out that Gloucestershire has the same argument as her own county. We, too, are underfunded compared with, say, Bristol. That is obviously unfair, and we need a national approach to the matter.
Harriett Baldwin
I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the examples in Stroud.
If, as the formula seems to do, we move closer to a per pupil amount across the county of Worcestershire without making any correction to the national unfairness, we shall run into a crucial problem. Small, mainly rural primary schools form an integral part of the fabric of county life in a dispersed constituency such as mine. Where distances are large and sparsity is high, we find that the village school is the focus and beating heart of the village. Rural schools are likely to have fewer children on free school meals, for a couple of reasons. There is a lower chance of meals being served and a much higher chance of the possible social stigma being known, and there is therefore lower take-up. Those schools thus miss out on the pupil premium, as can be seen from the fact that Worcestershire has just over 1% of the pupils on roll in England, but less than 0.75% of the pupil premium for 2012-13.