Business of the House

Leigh Ingham Excerpts

Thursday 14th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lucy Powell]

Like the hon. Gentleman, I was utterly horrified by the antisemitic attacks on Israeli citizens in Amsterdam recently, and our thoughts are with all those affected by those awful events. I condemn abhorrent acts of violence wherever they occur, including in this country and Amsterdam. The Government take antisemitism very seriously and have a zero-tolerance approach to it. I am pleased to see that the hon. Gentleman has been so successful in the early draws for Backbench Business debates, because he is a stalwart of this place and deserves to be at the front of the queue for many more debates to come.

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

Will the Leader of the House join me and my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) in congratulating Newcastle and Stafford college, which has just secured its second “outstanding” Ofsted rating? As a proud graduate of a tertiary college, I know the importance of such institutions in providing the good jobs of the future—though I doubt that Nelson and Colne college expected my good job of the future to be the one I am doing now. Could we please have a debate about the importance of tertiary education around the UK?

[Lucy Powell]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating Newcastle and Stafford college. Getting an “outstanding” rating twice in a row is some achievement for a further education college, and she should be very proud to represent it. We have inherited a really terrible situation in further education. I was pleased that the recent budget invested an extra £300 million as a down payment, but it will take us some time to get further education back in a fit state.