Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life

Debate between Laurence Turner and Bridget Phillipson

Monday 7th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for everything she does to champion our armed forces communities, not least given their importance to her constituency. I will make sure that we reflect further on how we can ensure that our forces families are able to access services.

My hon. Friend’s local authority is one area that currently does not receive funding but, after today’s announcement, it will shortly receive funding. Her area will share in a £12 million development grant that we will confirm in the next few weeks, to help it hit the ground running and get set up from April next year. There will then be ongoing support throughout the spending review period. I do, though, take seriously my hon. Friend’s challenge about making sure that forces families are able to access and benefit from the services. I would be happy to have a conversation with her, or if she can provide more information about what would be helpful to her constituency, I will happily look into it.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

I strongly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement. Under the Conservatives, 40 Sure Start children’s centres in Birmingham were shut down, including seven in my constituency, with devastating consequences for thousands of children who needed that support. I am so glad that Labour is taking action to turn the tide. Will she confirm that when funding allocations are made at local authority level, factors such as population size and child poverty rates, which are particularly important in an authority like Birmingham, will be taken into account?

[Bridget Phillipson]

Yes, we will consider the factors that my hon. Friend mentioned. Later in the autumn, we will confirm the allocations across all local authorities for the next phase. That runs alongside the development grant that will go to local authorities that do not currently receive funding. It will be a massive boost to my hon. Friend’s constituents and to people right across the country; it is half a billion pounds over the course of the spending review period.

Higher Education Regulatory Approach

Debate between Laurence Turner and Bridget Phillipson

Wednesday 15th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson]

Yes, that is crucial. We know that the chance to study at university is life changing for so many students. That is of course the case for younger students—those who have what might be considered the more traditional experience of going to university at 18—but it is also about having the chance throughout life to return to education and training. That is what I have seen across so many institutions in our country. They put in place fantastic opportunities for upskilling and retraining later on in life, as people think again about how they want to go about things. I praise those institutions’ fantastic work in driving growth and innovation, and in the months to come, we will work with them to ensure they can do more.

[Laurence Turner (Birmingham Northfield) (Lab)]

May I invite the Secretary of State to respond to the following statement that was shared by the Union of Jewish Students while she was on her feet?

“We support the changes brought forward by the Secretary of State. She has listened to the concerns we and others raised and has taken action. The result is that the Act will now be less likely to damage efforts to tackle anti-Jewish racism on campus. That should be welcomed by everyone.”

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for sharing those comments. I pay tribute to the Union of Jewish Students for the amazing work it does every day to support Jewish students on campus and to ensure that their voices are heard, including at the highest levels of Government. I give my commitment to UJS that I will continue to work with it and other student groups to make sure their voice is always heard. We as a Government are resolutely behind them in the fight against antisemitism in our country.