Child Food Poverty

Jerome Mayhew Excerpts

Monday 24th May 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

There is no political divide in the desire to grapple with the perennial issues of childhood poverty and child hunger. We can describe child poverty as a perennial since the definition of it is a relative term—a child growing up in a household whose income is less than 60% of the national median. It is as much a commentary on the spread of household earnings as an indicator of want. But childhood hunger is an absolute—either a child is hungry or not. And no child in this country should be hungry.

The reasons for childhood hunger are complex and it will hamper our ability to address those causes properly if we choose, for political campaigning reasons, to over-simplify them. They include unemployment, a sudden change of family income, chaotic finances, drug dependency, poor access to good-quality food shops, poor food education, the breakdown of relationships and low pay in employment. I do not have time today to go into the raft of Government measures that have supported children and families through covid and beyond. I will focus on overall income, because if these things that I have mentioned are the causes of child hunger, then the solution to the majority of them is to focus on the overall income of low-income families.

I say that because providing for one’s children is at the heart of what it is to be a parent. If the state takes responsibility away, it also takes away dignity and self-reliance— it diminishes parenthood. As a parent myself, one of the key life lessons I try to give my own children is that of personal responsibility, so we should be wary of intervening in such a way as to undermine the ability of parents to do the same—storing up, as it will, trouble for the next generation of parents.

The Government must ensure that employment truly is the answer to food insecurity, and for that to be the case employment simply needs to pay enough. I am glad that it was a Conservative Government that introduced a national living wage and it is right that the Government should build on the early foundations to increase the national living wage over a timeframe that allows businesses to adapt their models to accommodate it. This year, the national living wage has increased above inflation yet again to £8.91 per hour and it will continue to grow until it reaches £10.50 by 2024—two thirds of median earnings, which is enough to lift families above child poverty, as it is defined.

I echo the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds) when he says that local authorities are best placed to help the most vulnerable families. However, universal credit, as a stepping-stone to readily available employment at a wage that is enough to get on with the basics of life, is the policy that will help to lift most families out of food insecurity.

I look forward to the publication of part 2 of the national food security paper and I welcome the Government’s undertaking to produce a White Paper within six weeks of its delivery. However, when seeking to provide long-term solutions to child hunger, I hope that the review will bear in mind the value and responsibility of parenthood, and make sure that its recommendations support parents in their role as the most important teachers of the next generation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Jerome Mayhew Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Danny Kruger (Devizes) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of remote education for children during the covid-19 lockdown.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of remote education for children during the covid-19 lockdown.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to ensure the adequacy of remote education for children during the covid-19 lockdown.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Williamson]

Absolutely. We have always been clear—and I stated this to the House just a couple of weeks ago—that we encourage parents, in the first instance, to speak with a teacher or headteacher, and only as a last resort to go to Ofsted. We want to see and encourage as much live teaching as possible, which is shown to be the best way of delivering teaching, but a whole spectrum of resources can be offered. It is really important to work with schools, with parents supporting those schools, to ensure that we get the best solutions for all our children.

[Jerome Mayhew [V]]

I know from my experience with my own children that having live lessons taught online is much more effective than simply placing learning resources online. With more than 750,000 laptops already delivered and 2.9 million laptops already available in schools for the use of children, the digital divide has been substantially overcome. With that in mind, can my right hon. Friend give an indication of the percentage of schools providing live teaching online? Does he have plans to increase that further?

[Gavin Williamson]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the great strides that have been made in supporting schools, and in schools supporting parents, on the provision of remote education. We obviously encourage schools to put on as much live provision as possible, which is very beneficial, and we are working with the whole school and further education sector to support them with that request. We are seeing substantial gains, and we are monitoring the situation closely, as is Ofsted.

Covid-19: Educational Settings

Jerome Mayhew Excerpts

Wednesday 6th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

We of course always work closely with the devolved Governments. The benefits of the Union are demonstrated in the fact that we are able to work together and at considerable scale to deliver benefits to all parents and children. Any additional spend on anything has Barnett consequentials, which means that, again, Scotland benefits from being in the United Kingdom and the financial support that the whole UK gains from being together.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con) [V]]

I know from my own children that a live lesson taught online is much more effective than learning resources being placed online. While teachers always need to be able to use their discretion to take account of specific circumstances, can my right hon. Friend assure me that the default expectation during this lockdown is for live online teaching?

[Gavin Williamson]

We have already set out really detailed guidance for all schools, setting the expectation levels for all schools and what they provide to pupils. We recognise that there will be a blend in the range of different teaching, but we have set clear expectations and if schools fall below them, parents can take recourse either with the school directly or ultimately through Ofsted.

Students’ Return to Universities

Jerome Mayhew Excerpts

Tuesday 29th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

As I mentioned, we continue to work with the Department of Health and Social Care and with Test and Trace to expand the footprint of testing facilities, which are going to be increased to 500. We are making sure that all universities are within walking distance of a testing centre. Many universities will be making some of their facilities available so that testing centres can be placed there. We have also had assurances from the Department of Health and Social Care in terms of mobile testing facilities that will be made available if there are any local outbreaks and that is required.

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland) (Con)]

Surely the right approach is that, despite the virus, we all have to get on with our lives as best we can, and that includes students. Does my right hon. Friend agree that starting the academic year on time was exactly the right decision, and that social distancing and isolation rules that apply to the rest of us need to apply to adult students, no more, no less?

[Gavin Williamson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There should be the same set of rules across the board. There is a real cost to not opening up our universities, as there is a cost to not opening up our schools. The cost is not in money: it is in the missed opportunities for those youngsters who want to study to be a doctor, a dentist, a nurse or a teacher, or to train to become an engineer. Denying them the opportunity to be able to return, to learn and to have the opportunities that so many in this House have had would do them an injustice. That is why it has been right to make sure that young people are able to go back to university and benefit from what so many Members in this House have also benefited from.