Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Monday 11th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We will be publishing that paper later in the year. In the meantime, we have already committed to expanding the single point of contact plan, which is making sure schools have an identified point of contact within the NHS. We can learn and build on that excellent initiative.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

The number of children being schooled at home has almost doubled over the past six years; we have 441 in Warwickshire, including children of my constituents. Is the Secretary of State convinced that each of these children is receiving an education suitable for their age, aptitude and ability?

Education and Social Mobility

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Tuesday 22nd November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

No, I do not. The legacy of 13 years of Labour was disastrous for our youngest people, not just because of grade inflation, which gave millions of young people the sense that they had achieved grades although they were not at the level they needed to be, but—dare I say it—because under the previous Labour Government, youth unemployment went up by nearly 50%. If opportunity is about anything, it surely starts with the dignity of being able to have a job and a career.

Last week I was at Handsworth Grammar School, where around 25% of pupils are eligible for the deprivation element of the pupil premium. Those young people talked to me about how much they value the education they are getting. One student, who is planning to go to Oxford—[Interruption.] I am not sure precisely what that young man would say about the chattering from Opposition Members, but I think he would be extremely dismayed to hear the school that is giving him a transformational opportunity being talked down. His family had arrived in this country just two generations before. His grandparents arrived with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Within two generations of that, he is hoping to be able to go to Oxford. He talked to me about what the chance to go to a grammar school has meant for him, his family and his future prospects. It is levelling up, and that is what we want to do.

I hope that we all agree that the social mobility agenda is about more young people having opportunities and aiming higher, like that gentleman, not fewer. Asking in our consultation how we can make grammars more open to disadvantaged children is exactly what we should be doing.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend is speaking powerfully about the opportunities that grammar schools provide to children from very ordinary backgrounds. Does she agree that it is a real tragedy that we have not invested more in grammar schools? The existing ones in my constituency are under massive pressure from the children of parents living around my constituency, which restricts the number of places available for children in Rugby.

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right. It is simply untenable to say to parents who want more choice, and to children who otherwise would have a place in such schools, that they cannot have it. That is simply wrong. We should at least allow local communities to decide. It is not tenable to take the approach of simply saying to parents, “No, you can’t have them; we know better,” or of saying to a child, “You got the grades to be able to go, but you are not allowed to because we have decided.”

Schools that work for Everyone

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Monday 12th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

As my hon. Friend points out, raising children’s expectations, and also their parents’ expectations, is absolutely critical. We believe we can open up our school system to allow selection to play a role in helping that take place, but I have also set out how I want independent schools and universities to play a stronger role. Doing so will fundamentally set goals high for our children, and if they are set high, children have a chance of reaching them.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

Rugby has three outstanding grammar schools, and parents will be delighted that they are able to expand. The very fact of their excellence means that bright youngsters from towns and cities outside Rugby apply for and are allocated places at them, some of which might otherwise go to Rugby children. Does the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the fact that not only will the development of grammar schools in other areas be right for those areas, but it will mean that a greater proportion of our selective places can be taken up by Rugby pupils?

[Justine Greening]

Indeed, I do. Although it was depressing to hear Labour Members not even willing to engage with the sort of issues that local communities actually face, we are right to open up this debate so that we can take a measured approach to understanding what a 21st-century policy on grammars should be.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Wednesday 18th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

1. What recent progress her Department has made on its policies and programmes to tackle female genital mutilation and early forced marriage.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

Last year’s girl summit achieved unprecedented international commitments to end both practices. We are now tracking to ensure that those commitments and deliverables are delivered, and supporting national efforts in more than 25 countries. The UK is the largest donor on female genital mutilation and we are implementing major new programmes to end child and forced marriage.

[Mark Pawsey]

Violence against women is always unacceptable, but female genital mutilation is child abuse and illegal. In the UK, there is increasing awareness of this repugnant practice as a result of the work of agencies such as the Kaiza project in my constituency. What efforts are the Government making to improve international awareness of efforts to combat FGM and to bring the perpetrators to justice in courts across the world?

[Justine Greening]

I commend the work of the Kaiza project in my hon. Friend’s constituency. It does absolutely vital work locally. Internationally, we are working closely with national Governments in the affected countries to support the development and implementation of legislation and policy to end FGM. When a case reaches prosecution, it means that there has been a failure to prevent a girl from being cut, so our programme is focusing particularly on prevention.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for International Development (Justine Greening)]

It has been a busy first few weeks in the Department. I have attended the United Nations General Assembly, where I was able to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria. I have travelled to a World Bank meeting in Tokyo, where I met the Indian Finance Minister, as I have just said. I have taken the opportunity to meet my counterparts at the European Council of Ministers in Luxembourg. [Interruption.] I have introduced new financial controls and instigated a review of consultancy in the Department. I have also managed to visit country programmes in Kenya and Somalia. [Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Secretary of State should also manage to be heard, and she would be helped in that if we could have a bit of order for Mark Pawsey.

[Mark Pawsey]

In the crisis that is developing in the eastern Congo, there is evidence that women and children are being affected most. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that support gets to those most in need?

[Justine Greening]

We are the third largest humanitarian donor to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and we focus on working with organisations that specialise in meeting the needs of women and children, such as UNICEF, and with organisations that have a specific mandate to protect the most vulnerable, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Thursday 23rd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I think that the roads Minister will be meeting the hon. Gentleman in the next few weeks. We are committed to seeing how we can make better use of brown signs not only to guide motorists to their destinations but to make sure that we in the Department of Transport play our role in helping the tourist industry to do well in this country.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

5. What discussions she has had with the European Commission on the height of trailers.

High-speed Rail

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

In terms of costs, there is safety in two things. High Speed 1 was delivered on time and on budget by the last Conservative Government. I aim to have a much better performance than we saw from the Labour Government on the west coast main line, where a £2 billion planned upgrade mushroomed to £9 billion. Finally, I can assure the hon. Gentleman that his constituents will see the benefit of phase 1 from day one. In many cases, the HS2 trains will be through-running trains that, having saved that time on the high-speed network, will continue their journey further north on conventional lines. I think that will benefit far more cities than just London and Birmingham.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

May I advise the Secretary of State that today’s announcement will be heard with concern in Rugby? We currently have an excellent service to London on the recently upgraded west coast main line, but we will be completely bypassed by High Speed 2. What steps will be taken to ensure that cities and towns on the legacy line will retain the speed and frequency of their existing rail links?

[Justine Greening]

High Speed 2 is critical for places such as Rugby, which have been so constrained by capacity on the conventional line. One of the benefits of HS2 is that it will free up capacity for better connectivity to places on existing lines, just like Rugby.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Thursday 10th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

In her review of the interval between MOT inspections, will the Secretary of State consider the mileage covered by vehicles? For the average car, which covers about 10,000 miles a year, there is a strong case for extending the interval, but many trade vehicles and company cars cover in excess of 30,000 miles, which means that they have reached 100,000 miles come the three-year first MOT test.

[Justine Greening]

As my hon. Friend rightly points out, there are far more issues to do with the MOT test than just its frequency. We aim to look at all those issues as part of this review, and I shall be making an announcement shortly.

M5 Motorway Accident

Debate between Justine Greening and Mark Pawsey

Monday 7th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

We all need to be conscious of our responsibility to approach road safety in a balanced, informed and sensitive way, given the tragic collision on the M5 on Friday, and I hope that the House will show leadership in doing just that.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

I was travelling southbound on the M5 in Somerset on Friday evening and was diverted from the motorway, which meant that thankfully, unlike the hon. Member for Wells (Tessa Munt), I did not have to see the incident that led to loss of life. However, I did see a multiple collision in queuing traffic, which added to the demands on the emergency services that night. As part of a review, will the Secretary of State consider what steps could be taken to improve warnings and information for other road users, so that they can be better prepared for what is up ahead?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend is right to raise the subject of information. It is not just when there are accidents that it is good to give motorists additional information so that they can make their own decisions about how to avoid a congested area. I would also like to look into how we can get better information to motorists on a daily basis, because it can help whatever the driving circumstances.