Birmingham Schools

Liam Byrne Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is, as ever, absolutely right. A key element of the Prime Minister’s 2011 Munich speech was an insistence that we do everything possible to ensure that everyone who grows up in this country can speak English fluently, and that is one of the principal aims of our education programme.

[Mr Liam Byrne (Birmingham, Hodge Hill) (Lab)]

At times over the past month or two, I have thought that this day would never come. These reports have been kept under wraps, hidden in full from parents, while they have been leaked in part left, right and centre. Parents, who should have been the first to know, have been the last to know about the contents of these reports. I am sure that the Secretary of State will want to apologise to the House for the contempt with which parents have been treated in this debate. Secondly, he knows that I have been at the forefront in calling for this Ofsted process. I am glad that Sir Michael Wilshaw has today said that there is no evidence of an organised plot to radicalise our children or introduce extremism into schools, but four out of the six academies—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I do not know with what frequency the right hon. Gentleman contributes from the Back Benches—[Interruption.] Order. I recognise that these matters are of extreme salience to his constituents; I do not need him to tell me that. The simple fact is that his question, which is not yet a question, is far too long—[Interruption.] Order. We must leave it there for now.