Schools that work for Everyone

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Justine Greening

Monday 12th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The reality is that we will work with the Charity Commission to set a more stretching, tougher bar for independent schools to demonstrate that they are, indeed, eligible for charitable status. If they are unable or unwilling to meet those tougher standards, they simply will not be able to get charitable status, and that will then, of course, impact on their tax status too.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

What does it say when the new Prime Minister’s first major initiative is so regressive that the former Tory Prime Minister would rather resign from Parliament than be faced with voting for it? The Secretary of State must know what the real problems are. They are, most of all, the shortage of teachers, the workload that we then put on the rest of the teachers, insufficient pupil funding in some areas and, in most places, an absence of the very best, most outstanding leadership. Please, Secretary of State, take this issue away and come back with something serious about standards, not structures.

[Justine Greening]

We are working on all of those things, but that does not mean that we should not ask ourselves additionally how we can make sure that there are more good school places for more children, especially in parts of the country where there are currently insufficient good school places. It is not an either/or question. These proposals today—this Green Paper that we are opening up—are about how we ensure that the overall reforms we are bringing forward are going to be successful.

Rail Investment

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Justine Greening

Monday 16th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

That is really a local matter for my hon. Friend’s regional passenger transport executive. As he will know, we are electrifying the Manchester to Blackpool railway line, which will provide real benefits. I am keen, as colleagues across the House know, to understand what people want next. If I know what they want next, I can set about seeing whether we can provide it.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am pleased that the northern hub is proceeding. It could give us six trains an hour between Manchester and Leeds, running through my constituency. Does the Secretary of State agree that it would be wrong to sacrifice local services, such as those connecting Mossley and Ashton, to make way for extra inter-city services, and that the train operating companies should use any extra capacity and infrastructure to improve services for everybody?

[Justine Greening]

We are careful to ensure that we understand the impacts of the northern hub. For example, today’s announcement includes increased capacity at Huddersfield station to maximise the benefits of the northern hub investment. We will continue to look at how we can do that across the whole of the network. I believe that this project will be hugely influential in unlocking economic growth across the Pennines—linking up the areas as they have always wanted.

High-speed Rail

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Justine Greening

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right to urge me to push on with that, which is precisely what I will do. I do not think that I can add anything to my earlier comments on my desire to provide a concrete assurance that the Y will happen, but I reiterated on many occasions in my statement my intention to see the full Y network built.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

I commend the Secretary of State for her decision. Many of the arguments for High Speed 2 cited reduced journey times, which are obviously important, but I have always thought that the arguments about capacity are equally compelling, particularly as investing in classic rail services would provide only two thirds of the capacity that we will get with high-speed rail. How great a factor was that in her decision?

[Justine Greening]

One of the most important parts of the decision was looking at the alternatives to see whether they could answer the critical capacity question that, as the hon. Gentleman points out, we face. High Speed 2 is the best answer to that question. I urge other Members who have asked themselves that question, but who have perhaps not done quite as much research as he has, to look at the Network Rail report published over the weekend, because it gives a compelling and robust assessment of some of the alternatives and sets out precisely why they would not have delivered the capacity that we so badly need.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Justine Greening

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

First, I should say that the Civil Aviation Authority has received no reports of pilots falling asleep under the mandatory occurrence reporting scheme, but obviously we will always be guided by its views on safety, for which it has an outstanding reputation around the world. The Government have expressed our concerns about the proposed changes and continue to make them known. We will work with other countries to ensure that the final rules reflect those concerns.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

2. What plans she has for funding of local railway stations up to 2015.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Reynolds and Justine Greening

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I do not accept the premise of the hon. Gentleman’s question at all. As ever, what we have heard from the Opposition is a cheap political point-scoring jibe. They might be better advised to come up with an alternative plan for tackling the fiscal deficit. The hon. Gentleman had nothing to say to my response to him, which implied that it is the most well-off households in the country that are bearing the brunt of the fiscal consolidation.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

A year ago, when the Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis found that the Budget was a regressive one, the Treasury objected to that analysis on the basis that the IFS had not properly considered the incentives to economic growth that the Budget contained, but given that growth is now flatlining and seems to be frequently downgraded, is the Treasury willing to accept that the IFS analysis last year was entirely correct?

[Justine Greening]

The IFS analysis was very clear-cut that it was indeed the most well-off people in our country who were bearing the brunt of the fiscal consolidation measures. I draw the House’s attention to the need to look at the overall impact of not just the Budget 2010, but the spending review and the Budget this year. They show that the most well-off people in our country are bearing the brunt of the fiscal consolidation, whether that is measured in terms of their income or of their expenditure.