Pupil Premium
Debate between Karen Lumley and Nick Harvey(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)
An estimated 3.6 million children in the UK live in poverty according to the Government’s own measure, but recent figures from the Children’s Society have uncovered that 1.2 million of those children who are of school age do not receive free school meals. Notwithstanding the nutritional benefits that children receive from free school meals, the problem is that free school meals are used as a predominant marker for educational attainment. The well known attainment gap at GCSE level is between those who receive free school meals and those who do not—36% of pupils in receipt of free school meals achieved five or more A* to C grades at GCSE, compared with 63% of all other pupils. That is a useful indicator of the inequalities in children’s educational achievement.
That is also why the pupil premium, which is undoubtedly one of the proudest achievements of the coalition and of Liberal Democrats within the coalition, follows those children who receive free school meals. Designed to help pupils who are most in need and to close the attainment gap, the pupil premium is available to children who are currently eligible for free school meals, who have been eligible in any of the past six years or who have been in continuous care for six months. Those criteria are known as “ever 6 FSM.”
Karen Lumley (Redditch) (Con)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. Does he agree that, although the pupil premium is a great first step, we should be looking for a national funding formula that is fair for every child in this country?
Sir Nick Harvey
I strongly agree, and I welcome the suggestion from Ministers that they are working towards that objective. I also appreciate that, particularly in the current financial climate, it cannot be achieved overnight, but it would be a great pity if, during the five years in which the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form a Government together, we do not see at least some tangible progress towards that object.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Karen Lumley and Nick Harvey(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Nick Harvey)
As the Foreign Secretary has said, demands for greater political, social and economic participation will continue in the middle east and north Africa. We assess that the security situation will remain fragile unless Governments in the region work to fulfil the aspirations of their people.
Karen Lumley
Will my hon. Friend assure the House that the UK has sufficient resources in place to honour its commitment under UN Security Council resolution 1973 and continue operations in Libya for as long as is necessary?
Nick Harvey
I am pleased to give precisely that confirmation. As the Chief of the Defence Staff has said, we can sustain the operation for as long as necessary. We have flexible and adaptable forces. That is not to say that sustaining operations will not put stress on people and assets, but we are perfectly capable of doing so, and nobody should be in any doubt about our determination.