Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Monday 6th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The story was based, I think, on misleading facts. For example, some of the classes were of choirs or restructured PE classes, which would be expected to have more children. The bottom line is that the average primary class size is just 0.7 of a pupil higher than in 2010, despite there being 506,000 more primary school pupils. In fact, the average secondary school class size in 2018 will be some 0.3 of a pupil higher than in 2010. In other words, the figures are broadly stable. In spite of the fact that we have many, many more pupils in the system, we are making places available.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

12. What progress she has made on identifying the departmental efficiency savings of £1.3 billion announced in July 2017.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Justine Greening)]

My Department has been working to identify the efficiency savings that will ultimately result in a cash boost for schools and put £1.3 billion directly into the hands of headteachers. That means that, across the country, funding will be maintained in real terms per pupil over the next two years.

[Steve McCabe]

I cannot say that that was a terribly revealing answer, but the Minister for School Standards did better in a recent letter, in which he said that, over three years, the Department will cut about £1 billion from the free schools programme, which he was lauding a second ago, and 37% from the healthy living project. Is that how the Secretary of State is trying to compensate for the cuts she has made to the core schools budget?

[Justine Greening]

Most parents would be staggered that the hon. Gentleman is so against my looking across my Department to make sure that I challenge it and its officials to work as efficiently as we are now challenging schools to be. That is quite right, and I am now able to put the fruits of that initiative into the hands of headteachers, providing them with more money on the frontline. We will be making effective savings, which is actually the way to get more out of our education budget.

Schools Update

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Monday 17th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

Indeed it will be, and I hope that the unions will choose to update their websites with accurate data. As the questions today have demonstrated, it is not easy to introduce fairer funding. There are millions of reasons why it is a difficult step for any Government to take, but we have done it because we cannot expect social mobility or strong education outcomes everywhere when our children are funded in such different ways, purely depending on where they happen to grow up. Nobody can accept that if we want to tackle inequality of opportunity, and that is why we are taking these steps. It is complex, but we are doing it because it is the right thing to do.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I welcome any additional funding. There is a lot of concern about the safety of schools following the Grenfell Tower disaster, so will the Secretary of State update me on how many schools in my constituency will be inspected, how that work will be co-ordinated and how any remedial action will be funded?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Monday 19th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

10. Whether her Department has closed any state secondary schools within three years of their conversion to a single trust academy.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Justine Greening)]

We have not permanently closed any converter academies within three years of their conversion to a single trust academy. However, we have rebrokered or merged converter academies.

[Steve McCabe]

If no school has been closed within three years of such a conversion and no academy closed solely as a result of a bad Ofsted report, and if there is no reliable estimate of the costs of closure or of the availability of alternative places, future demand, real travel patterns and journey times to alternative schools, how do the Government justify reneging on their promise to pupils and parents to rescue Baverstock Academy in my constituency, rather than close their school?

[Justine Greening]

No decision has been taken yet by Ministers on the future of Baverstock Academy, which has twice now been put into special measures by Ofsted. Ministers are going to consider all options, and of course the view of parents and the community, before reaching a final decision. The key factor will be ensuring that children get good access to a good education.

Ebola

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Thursday 12th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

This case shows that the work of the MOD is intrinsically linked to the work on development. We need to see the UK foreign affairs strategy in the round and to be prepared to look at it in that light.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

The right hon. Lady says that she will hold her nerve, stay the course and support the recovery of health services, but House of Commons Library figures show that she cut health care support to Sierra Leone and Liberia by more than £10 million during this Parliament, only for the Prime Minister to have to top it up by £80 million to deal with the crisis. Does she not need to admit that that is evidence of poor judgment on her part, rather than evidence of her holding her nerve and staying the course?

[Justine Greening]

Since 2010 the UK has spent a total of £64 million in the health sector in Sierra Leone, compared with a total of £23 million spent between 2005 and 2010 under the previous Government. I think that a more constructive approach in this sort of discussion is more productive.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Wednesday 18th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The UK is building vital new roads and bridges and helping Nepal to bring in foreign investment, including on hydro power. In the past three years, UK aid has created 150,000 jobs and built or maintained more than 4,000 km of roads in Nepal.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

T5. Is it still part of DFID’s strategy to try to reduce opium production in Helmand province, and if it is, can we have an update on the progress?

[Justine Greening]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s passion for ensuring that our development work in Afghanistan is effective. He will be aware that we have done a significant amount of work in relation to livelihoods and economic development both in Kabul and, critically, out in Helmand. I am happy to write to him with further details on that.

Afghanistan

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

That is an excellent suggestion. We are working across Government in preparation for the NATO summit. It is fantastic that we are hosting it, and that we are hosting it in Wales. I very much want to make the most of that opportunity to reach out to those diaspora groups that the hon. Gentleman has just mentioned.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

The Commission for Aid Impact gave an amber-red rating for a third of the projects, including the growth in livelihood project, which is relatively poor. Does the Secretary of State think that there is an argument for looking again at the process by which development officers identify, select and allocate funding to those projects?

[Justine Greening]

One thing I have tried to strengthen in DFID is programme management capability, which includes the way in which and the speed with which we respond to programmes that are not on track. We look at Afghanistan, and other such places, because it is such a challenging environment for us to deliver and monitor projects while they are happening on the ground. The hon. Gentleman raises a perfectly good point, and I can assure him that this is a good time for us to look at our Afghanistan programme given the transition that has taken place in the delivery of our projects—some of our projects used the provincial reconstruction team in Helmand, but now we have retrenched within Kabul. I assure him that we are planning ahead to understand what the next three-year outlook should be for our livelihoods programmes and to make them a success.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Wednesday 5th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

6. What her Department’s involvement has been in the Bost agri-business park and Bost airfield.

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

The Bost airfield and agricultural business park project was designed and approved in 2009 at a time when Ministers did not approve any spend under £40 million. In 2012 it became clear that the business park would not be completed within the original time frame or effectively, so to avoid wasting taxpayers’ money, I decided that further UK funding would be cancelled.

[Steve McCabe]

This is my 35th question on this subject since February 2013. I am pleased that the Secretary of State has given me a little bit of information today, but it is not unreasonable for the House to know who was responsible, how much taxpayers’ money was wasted in total, what when wrong, and whether anyone will be held accountable. Would the Secretary of State care to say what she and her officials are so desperate to cover up?

[Justine Greening]

I can say that the hon. Gentleman’s Government were responsible because they designed the project. Indeed, Ministers failed to sign it off because they did not sign off projects of less than £40 million. The only money we are spending on it now is in answering his 30-odd parliamentary questions, which have so far cost the taxpayer £5,000.

High-speed Rail

Debate between Justine Greening and Steve McCabe

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

I agree with that. We have estimated that around 4.5 million air flights a year will transfer on to high-speed rail as a result of this.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

I welcome the right hon. Lady’s brave decision today. Like others, I am a little worried that if the legislative timetable is too long, the project may lose impetus and she may be a victim of election trimming. Will she reflect on those risks?