Education

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Wednesday 25th September 2019 Ministerial Corrections

[Mr Steve Reed (Croydon North) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the new Minister to her post. As she will know, children with special needs rely on help with speech and language and on counselling support, but the Children’s Commissioner has published research showing that the severe underfunding of those services is seriously damaging children’s lives and futures. Even after the spending review and the additional funding to which the Minister has referred, we still face a £1 billion shortfall in special educational needs services by 2021. Given that the Government could so easily find £1 billion to bribe the Democratic Unionist party, will the Minister agree, here and now, to find the same amount to fully fund the services that the country’s most vulnerable children so desperately need?

[Mrs Badenoch]

I met the Children’s Commissioner last week, and discussed this issue among many others. We welcome her report. However, I remind the hon. Gentleman that the Government are spending £7 billion on special educational needs, and are adding an additional £700 million. That is part of the extra £14 billion that we are spending over three years, and I think that it is to be welcomed.

[Official Report, 9 September 2019, Vol. 664, c. 485.]

Letter of correction from the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Saffron Walden (Mrs Badenoch).

An error has been identified in the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Croydon North (Mr Reed).

The correct answer should have been:

[Mrs Badenoch]

I met the Children’s Commissioner last week, and discussed this issue among many others. We welcome her report. However, I remind the hon. Gentleman that the Government are spending £6 billion on special educational needs, and are adding an additional £700 million. That is part of the extra £14 billion that we are spending over three years, and I think that it is to be welcomed.

Disadvantaged Schools: Per Pupil Funding Increase

The following is an extract from Questions to the Secretary of State for Education on 9 September 2019.

[Judith Cummins]

Pupils in disadvantaged areas are significantly less likely to pass crucial GCSEs such as English and maths. School funding must reflect different needs in different places, but the Government’s recent funding announcement will do exactly the opposite and sees more money going into affluent schools in the south of England while many schools in Bradford South will continue to lose out. How can the Minister justify that disgraceful situation?

Oral Answers to Questions

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

6. If he will hold discussions with Stoke-on-Trent City Council on its plans to fund services for children with higher needs.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mrs Kemi Badenoch)]

Next year local authorities, including Stoke-on-Trent City Council, will share in an increase of more than £700 million in higher-needs funding. We will hold separate discussions with the authorities that have raised specific issues with us.

[Gareth Snell]

The Minister will be well aware that, as part of its higher-needs recovery plan, Stoke-on-Trent City Council proposes to plunder classroom budgets by £14.5 million over the next four years. The headteachers in the city are opposed to the plan, which will require a sign-off from the Department in order to go ahead. Will the Minister make a commitment today that rather than signing it off, she will convene a meeting of the headteachers in Stoke-on-Trent, so that alternative arrangements can be found that do not necessitate robbing Peter to pay Paul?

[Mrs Badenoch]

We are aware of the issues that have arisen in Stoke-on-Trent. The commissioner is due to submit a report to the Department today, and officials will review it and submit recommendations to me in due course. Once a decision has been made, the report will be published.

[Karen Bradley (Staffordshire Moorlands) (Con)]

A number of children with higher needs in Stoke-on-Trent attend Horton Lodge Community Special School in my constituency, where there is great concern about the provision of funds for residential care and the possibility that the school will become unviable. Will the Minister meet me, and perhaps consider visiting Horton Lodge, to see what we can do to ensure that that wonderful, special place continues to operate for many years to come?

[Mrs Badenoch]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for raising this case in her constituency. Yes, that is something that we should be able to do for her.

[Ruth Smeeth (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

The Minister has just referred to a report which is currently under way, and which relates to children’s social services rather than the high-needs budget. The cuts proposed by Stoke-on-Trent City Council will cost every secondary school £100,000 and every primary school £50,000. That is money we cannot afford to spend. Will the Minister undertake to accept the request from my neighbour and hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Gareth Snell), and convene a meeting of headteachers before the Secretary of State signs off a deal?

[Mrs Badenoch]

We are aware that local authorities are facing significant pressures. That is why we are making an additional investment of more than £700 million, which will help them to manage those pressures next year. The Department has been looking at this matter, and we will be in touch with Stoke-on-Trent in due course to decide on the best possible actions to be taken in the future.

[Mr Steve Reed (Croydon North) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the new Minister to her post. As she will know, children with special needs rely on help with speech and language and on counselling support, but the Children’s Commissioner has published research showing that the severe underfunding of those services is seriously damaging children’s lives and futures. Even after the spending review and the additional funding to which the Minister has referred, we still face a £1 billion shortfall in special educational needs services by 2021. Given that the Government could so easily find £1 billion to bribe the Democratic Unionist party, will the Minister agree, here and now, to find the same amount to fully fund the services that the country’s most vulnerable children so desperately need?

[Mrs Badenoch]

I met the Children’s Commissioner last week, and discussed this issue among many others. We welcome her report. However, I remind the hon. Gentleman that the Government are spending £7 billion on special educational needs, and are adding an additional £700 million. That is part of the extra £14 billion that we are spending over three years, and I think that it is to be welcomed.[Official Report, 25 September 2019, Vol. 664, c. 7MC.]

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Ind)]

8. What progress his Department has made on further amending the School Admissions Code to ensure that summer-born and premature children can be admitted to reception at the age of five at the request of parents.

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[Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Lab/Co-op)]

16. What plans he has to improve the provision of services for children with special educational needs and disabilities in schools.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mrs Kemi Badenoch)]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question, which gives me another opportunity to let everyone know that the Government have announced an additional £14 billion for schools over the next three years, including the £700 million of high-needs funding for special educational needs and disabilities that we have been discussing.

[Luke Pollard]

Pupils with SEND account for nearly half the 41 pupils excluded from schools every day, which is contributing to the increase in the number of pupils being home schooled. What support is being given to pupils with SEND who are being home schooled?

[Mrs Badenoch]

We are going to be looking at that as part of a review into special educational needs and disabilities, and I refer the hon. Gentleman to the written ministerial statement that we laid before Parliament today.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

Around 100 children in Harlow are without an education today as the Aspire Academy, run by TBAP, has closed yet again. Despite numerous meetings with Ministers and the academies commissioner, no action has yet been taken. Will my hon. Friend commit to the re-brokering of this school, so that a new academy can take it over and allow the children to return to their learning and the teachers to teaching? Mismanagement by the TBAP academy chain has gone on long enough.

[Mrs Badenoch]

An Ofsted inspection of the Aspire Academy in June 2019 rated the academy as inadequate and requiring special measures. The regional schools commissioner for east of England and north-east London issued a termination warning notice letter to TBAP, but a decision is yet to be made about the Aspire Academy and whether it will remain in the trust.

[Justin Madders (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

17. What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Ofsted.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tracy Brabin (Batley and Spen) (Lab/Co-op)]

At long last, after years of calls from the Labour party, settings, academics and even Select Committees, last week the Government finally offered some new funding for the 30-hour childcare policy. Sadly, predictions say it is only 10% of what is required to plug the funding black hole.

May I push the new Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, whom I very much welcome to her place, on how this funding will be spent? Will it be targeted to support outstanding providers that are struggling, to increase the amount of high-quality provision in disadvantaged areas and to reverse the disturbing trend of experienced staff leaving the sector?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mrs Kemi Badenoch)]

Members on both sides of the House care very much about this area. The Government continue to support families with their childcare costs, and we are now spending more than £3.6 billion on support to 2021.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Ind)]

T3. I welcome the extra funding. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that each primary and secondary school in Wimbledon will benefit, and will he commit to writing to me on the revised settlement for each and every secondary and primary school in Wimbledon?

[Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)]

T4. As a result of the introduction of universal credit in Coventry, 25,000 children are below the poverty line. What is the Secretary of State doing, or what are other Ministers doing, to fund school meals properly—not just in the holiday period, but generally?

[Mrs Badenoch]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that question. There are 50,000 more pupils eligible for free school meals at the moment. There is much that this Government are doing, and we will continue to look at ways in which we can improve circumstances for disadvantaged children.

[Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire) (Con)]

T5. Schools in rural constituencies such as North Warwickshire and Bedworth have long suffered from receiving lower levels of funding than their urban counterparts. The fairer funding initiative will go some way to rectifying that, but what more can be done to ensure that no matter where someone lives they will have equal access to the same resources?

[John Spellar (Warley) (Lab)]

T8. I am sure Ministers are aware of the widespread concern in local government at the escalating costs of childcare, much of it driven by private fostering and care companies, often now owned by private equity, and of a tendency to put children into care at an early stage and not as a last resort. Do Ministers share that concern? If so, what are they going to do about it?

[Mrs Badenoch]

We are spending £3.6 billion on early educational entitlement, and the Government have provided free childcare for children aged three to four years. I am not sure that I heard the right hon. Gentleman’s question properly, but I think that if he writes to me, I will be able to provide him with a more comprehensive response.

[Mr William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)]

T7. The recently announced multi-billion-pound settlement for education will be hugely welcomed by Stockport schools. I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had many requests this afternoon, but may I invite him to meet headteachers in my constituency, when perhaps he might share the figures?

--- Later in debate ---

[Marsha De Cordova (Battersea) (Lab)]

In the summer of 2019, Wandsworth food bank handed out 1,024 emergency food parcels to families, which was a 40% increase on last year. It has reported to me that families are having to choose between buying food and buying school uniforms. Will the Minister now publish the estimated figures for the number of children who have gone hungry this summer?

[Mrs Badenoch]

I thank the hon. Lady for that question. We do not collect that information, but the Department has other schemes that are seeking to address the issue, including our holiday activities and food programme, which has supported children from disadvantaged families over the past two summers.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

Female students at Priory School in Lewes were excluded on Friday simply for wearing skirts, which goes against the school’s new uniform policy. They are excluded today and will continue to be excluded until they wear trousers. What support can the Minister give to the families and pupils affected?

School Funding

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Thursday 25th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for St Albans (Mrs Main) and others on securing this debate.

Let me first acknowledge the efforts that preceding Conservative-led Governments have made over the past decade, constantly increasing the schools block budget. Funding for our children’s primary and secondary schools has gone up from £30.4 billion in 2010 to £43.5 billion for next year—a £13 billion increase. Since 2010, more children are in good or outstanding schools, the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils has been lowered, and there are tens of thousands more teachers and teaching assistants. However, funding is only one measure. Schools are performing so much better than before, but I must recognise concerns raised by my local headteachers and parents about available funding, as schools are having to meet costs that they never did before, and I am speaking today to give them a voice in this Chamber.

The Library estimates that my constituency has benefited from a 6% real-terms increase to the schools block funding since 2013, from £57 million to £61 million. This is good news, but per pupil funding has gone down, indicating that there are more pupils than before. There is more money, but it is being thinly spread, and this is one reason that school budgets are under more pressure.

Locally, headteachers at Helena Romanes School, Saffron Walden County High School and Joyce Frankland Academy, among others, have told me about the issues that they and their staff are facing. These issues include more lessons being taught with fewer teachers, as those who retire from the profession are not replaced; schools having to rely on donations from generous parents and carers for extracurricular clubs; stopping the late school bus service; and simply not having enough resources. Additionally, although school spending has increased since the end of the last decade and now stands at just under £5,100 per pupil, reductions to sixth-form funding and local authority services have affected budgets and provisions for school transport and pastoral care. Teachers in my constituency continue to do fantastic work despite these pressures, because they are motivated first and foremost by giving children the best possible education.

I know that the Minister acknowledges the hard work of teachers across the country, and ask him also to recognise the passion shown by my local teaching staff and to help support them by taking into account our rise in pupil numbers when considering funding allocations. More still needs to be done, but I appreciate that the Government have already taken positive steps to bridge current funding gaps, which is encouraging. Earlier this month, the Secretary of State wrote to colleagues to confirm that the Government would be funding all state-funded schools, further education and sixth-form colleges to cover increased employee contributions in the teachers’ pension scheme, helping to relieve pressure on schools. This is a measure that I personally lobbied for, so I thank the Government.

[Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) (Con)]

Like my hon. Friend, I am an Essex MP, and like her, I have heard concerns from my local headteachers about funding. Does she agree that the national funding formula is a necessary reform, but that we need to put more money into it at the spending review this year to ensure that more school pupils benefit?

[Mrs Badenoch]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point; I agree with him completely.

Just over 13,000 new school places have been added in Essex, alongside seven new free schools and a further eight schools to follow. There is a need for more funding, as my local schools have called for, and I am pleased that the Government have already started to account for this. Over the next two years, total funding in the county will rise by £48.7 million to £855.8 million. This is welcome news and demonstrates continued progress under this Government to improve the quality of teaching.

The Government have a record to be proud of, as 90% of children in Essex attend schools rated good or outstanding, compared to 67% in 2010, and 66% of pupils are reaching the expected key stage 2 standard in reading and writing. [Interruption.] Opposition Members may laugh, but the truth is that it is not just about the money that is spent, but the outcomes that we measure, and we are doing very well on outcomes. We are asking schools to do much more than they ever have, and it is only right that we give them much more money to do so. I encourage Ministers to listen closely to my schools’ funding concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Monday 25th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

As part of the EU negotiations, we are mindful of the fact that we want academics here to work with academics from abroad. The Prime Minister said in her most recent science speech that roughly 50% of researchers in the UK are from the EU—we intend that to remain the same post Brexit.

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

T9. There is still a strong demand across businesses in my constituency for technical skills. What progress has been made on the introduction of the new institutes of technology?

[Anne Milton]

Sixteen proposals for institutes of technology will go through to stage 2, which we will launch in July. IOTs are a collaboration between higher education and further education, with a focus on levels 4 and 5; traditionally, this has been rather neglected in this country but it is so crucial for building the skills base. They will also extend to levels 6 and 7. There will be a £170 million capital fund to help IOTs get off the ground.

Oral Answers to Questions

Kemi Badenoch Excerpts

Monday 29th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

11. What steps the Government are taking to encourage more young people to consider careers in engineering.

[Mrs Kemi Badenoch (Saffron Walden) (Con)]

15. What steps the Government are taking to encourage more young people to consider careers in engineering.

--- Later in debate ---

[Anne Milton]

The national robotics competition must be the subject of young people’s dreams, and I do indeed congratulate Collyer’s. The £406 million put aside in the autumn Budget to improve skills—particularly STEM skills, including a maths premium for 16 to 19-year-olds —will also drive up the interest in engineering.

[Mrs Badenoch]

I am an engineer, and I started my career as an apprentice. It is the year of engineering, but the industry is facing a shortfall of 20,000 places. Does the Minister agree that apprenticeships are a good, cost-effective way to study engineering, and if so, will she tell me what the Government are doing to promote them?

[Anne Milton]

They are an excellent way to study engineering, and I would point my hon. Friend to degree apprenticeships. The first graduates in digital and technology solutions graduated from Aston last year, as did those in quantity surveying from John Moores in Liverpool. We have put aside £10 million to help with the development of degree apprenticeships, which is a brilliant way for young people to get skills.