Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Thelma Walker

Monday 6th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

Either the Schools Minister or I will be very happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss that.

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

Some 50% of schools and colleges, including Huddersfield New College in my constituency, have dropped modern foreign language subjects from their subject choices, citing funding as a reason. What is the Minister doing to reverse this trend?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Justine Greening and Thelma Walker

Thursday 12th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The work of the Careers & Enterprise Company will be vital in making sure that employers are plugged into schools and helping to shape careers advice at a much earlier stage, including in primary schools, than in the past. It is welcome that we are now truly building that pipeline of women who will be able to go into those careers. I opened the National College for High Speed Rail earlier this week, and many girls were starting their apprenticeships there, but there is much more work to be done.

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

T2. While I welcome the Prime Minister’s initiative to tackle ethnic inequality in targeted areas, including Kirklees, can the Minister explain what that will actually do to improve the lives of my constituents?

Schools: National Funding Formula

Debate between Justine Greening and Thelma Walker

Thursday 14th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The basic amount will be going up and the proportion is broadly stable, but the bottom line is that the £1.3 billion extra in the core schools budget is principally going through that per-pupil amount, which is why it has been raised overall, and why I have chosen to protect the amount for additional needs.

[Thelma Walker (Colne Valley) (Lab)]

At a meeting with the National Association of Head Teachers this week, headteachers told me that they face a teacher recruitment crisis, a school budget crisis and endless tinkering with assessment and the curriculum. Will the Secretary of State tell the House which of those she would like them to deal with first?

[Justine Greening]

As I said at the beginning of my statement, the NAHT welcomed the move to fair funding. As for teacher recruitment, part of the answer is to ensure that we are investing in teachers, and the NAO was clear that the Department is taking steps to ensure that we do just that.