Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Lavery and Bridget Phillipson

Monday 4th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) (Lab)]

3. What steps she plans to take to improve the pay, terms and conditions of teaching assistants and support staff.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson)]

School support staff are crucial to ensuring that we give children the best possible life chances. That is why we are reinstating the school support staff negotiating body, the new national voice for some of those who do the most important work in our schools. In 2010, the Tories scrapped the body. Within our first 100 days, Labour started the legislative process to bring it back. That is because we value the vital role that support staff play in our education system.

[Ian Lavery]

Low pay and limited career progression are driving many teaching support staff out of our classrooms. Three quarters of the profession are either considering leaving or are actively looking to leave, with one in five teaching assistant posts currently vacant. Will my right hon. Friend recommit to addressing this recruitment and retention crisis and ensure that these hugely valued employees receive the wages and terms and conditions that they have longed for, for so long?

[Bridget Phillipson]

My hon. Friend can be assured that the school support staff negotiating body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training, career progression routes and fair pay rates for support staff to make sure that we can recruit and retain the brilliant people, including teaching assistants and catering staff, who are essential to the functioning of our schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Lavery and Bridget Phillipson

Monday 9th September 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

The right hon. Gentleman, as a former Minister in the Department, knows all too well that he and others were cautioned about how they should be using data. When we look at the raw numbers, we see that under the last Conservative Government, reading standards were going down, as were standards in maths and science. One in four children did not reach the required standard at the end of primary school, and one in five young people was persistently absent from our schools. We will drive high and rising standards right across academic subjects, but we will also ensure that all our children and young people have a range of opportunities in music, sport, art and drama, not just those with parents who can afford it.

[Ian Lavery (Blyth and Ashington) (Lab)]

T2. As the new school year begins, far too many students in my constituency have not yet been able to secure a school place of their choice. Does my hon. Friend agree that the schools allocation policy needs a desperate overhaul? Many people believe that it is not fit for purpose. Could she tell the House what steps the Government are taking to address this extremely important issue?