Oral Answers to Questions

Julie Marson Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

1. What steps his Department is taking to increase funding for education in low-performing areas.

[Julie Marson (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)]

9. What steps his Department is taking to invest in education in low-performing areas

[Paul Holmes (Eastleigh) (Con)]

13. What steps his Department is taking to invest in education in low-performing areas.

--- Later in debate ---

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his excellent question. I am working to ensure that every school has access to high-speed broadband connectivity by 2025. Priority schools in education improvement areas will be able to access our £150 million programme to upgrade their internal network infrastructure. During the pandemic, as my hon. Friend highlighted from his teachers’ point of view, many children did not have access to technology for learning at home, so we provided devices, wi-fi and data to disadvantaged students to support digital inclusion at home.

[Julie Marson]

I am supporting my Bishop’s Stortford constituents’ “Turn on the Subtitles” campaign to improve children’s literacy across the board, but particularly in low-performing areas. Raj Chande, the director of Nesta’s “A Fairer Start” mission, said that the campaign’s evidence is compelling, and it has Nesta’s seal of approval—an important endorsement. Therefore, what plans does my right hon. Friend have to invest in the campaign by reviewing its mass of evidence, and will he encourage parents and children to turn on the subtitles?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I have set out in the White Paper that we share the commitment to raising literacy standards, as I am sure the whole House does, and we want to ensure that all children can read fluently and with that understanding. I thank Henry Warren and Oli Barrett MBE for their commitment to improving literacy levels, and they have championed that campaign. It is a choice for parents and guardians whether their child watches television and whether they do so with the subtitles on, but it certainly makes a difference in the Zahawi household.