Lindsay Hoyle
Main Page: Lindsay Hoyle (Speaker - Chorley)Department Debates - View all Lindsay Hoyle's debates with the Department for Education
(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Bridget Phillipson
I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for raising what is obviously a very important case in his constituency. I will ensure that I look into the concerns he has raised and, if it would help him to meet a Minister to discuss it further, I will ensure that that is arranged, too.
Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)
With the growing obesity and mental health crises among our children and young people, quality physical education has never been more important, yet annual funding for PE will be slashed by a staggering 22% under the new PE and school sport partnerships network, with primary schools hit particularly hard. To make matters worse, these cuts are being hastily rammed through midway through the school year, leaving teachers, parents and sports co-ordinators completely stranded. Can the Secretary of State look parents and teachers in the eye and claim that cutting sports budgets mid-term is giving every child the opportunity to get on?
Mr Speaker
Order. Please, come on. I have a lot of people to get in, Bill. Do not take complete advantage.
Josh MacAlister
I thank my hon. Friend for his advocacy for Hudson primary school. He has spoken to me before about the excellent performance of the school and its headteacher. We will be selecting the 250 schools for the school rebuilding programme by the end of the year and announce them at the start of next year. It will be based on those schools that have the most acute need in terms of their building state. I am happy to discuss that further with him.
Georgia Gould
Absolutely. We are investing £3.7 billion into creating 60,000 new specialist places, and I have heard from families how life-changing it is to have that provision in their community. Children who have been out of school, sometimes for years, are now back in education. Earlier we were talking about the issues affecting rural schools, and there are real opportunities to create inclusion bases in schools around the country.
Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)
Just a few months ago, the TES reported that the Government had frozen the high needs funding block, which special schools rely on. Headteachers are warning that the Government’s decision means that children will not get the support they need due to a lack of funding. The Minister may well point to the Experts at Hand service, but it is not the same and does not come close to meeting what each school will have lost. How can she justify freezing the high needs funding block when the demand for special schools is rising, the demand for education, health and care plans is rising, and the Government’s reforms are years away?
Georgia Gould
I very much agree that Ofsted inspections of multi-academy trusts are a really important lever in ensuring that inclusion is part of the decision making of all trusts and all schools.
Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)
First, we heard that Ministers were trying to rig the SEND consultation with pre-written responses. Now it has emerged that the Department for Education-funded charity Contact, which supports local parent carer forums, has issued guidance stating that parents may be blocked from these groups if they dare to publicly criticise Government policy. Why are Ministers so determined once again to stifle any criticism of their reforms by silencing the very families whose opinions matter the most? Will the Minister ensure that this outrageous guidance is reversed?
Bridget Phillipson
I know that my hon. Friend values the contribution of our teachers as much as I do. High-quality teaching is the single biggest factor in good educational outcomes for our children. We are improving pay and taking action on workload. I am also proud that we are doubling maternity pay—the first major change in maternity pay for teachers in more than 25 years. That is essential in a profession that is primarily female. By ending the Tories’ two-child limit and lifting half a million children out of poverty, we will ease the strain on teachers, who for too long have had to step in where Governments have failed.
Sir Ashley Fox (Bridgwater) (Con)
The Secretary of State knows that the figure she has quoted to the House excludes primary schools. The Labour party manifesto promised to increase the number of teachers by 6,500, funded by the party’s education tax, yet this morning the DFE website says that there are now 1,900 fewer teachers than in 2024. Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, says that the overall fall in teacher numbers makes a mockery of this Government’s promise to increase teacher numbers. He is right, isn’t he?
Bridget Phillipson
The hon. Gentleman has long campaigned on this issue and has a strong record in making clear his commitment to tackling antisemitism wherever it is found, and I share that commitment. I want to thank the Union of Jewish Students for its “Time for Change” report. I spoke recently at a launch event attended by vice-chancellors, where I made it clear that I expect universities to take action against antisemitism, which is completely unacceptable. Too many Jewish students on campus have been subject to harassment and intimidation. That is unacceptable and vice-chancellors must act.
Jack Rankin (Windsor) (Con)
My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) rightly highlights the scourge of antisemitism on our campuses. Against that backdrop, is it not extraordinary that the Government have chosen to deny students access to the Office for Students free speech complaint scheme while extending it to everybody but students, which I raised with the ministerial team on 20 April? The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education—the body to which students are directed instead—is nothing but a legal dead-end for students who are subject to discrimination because of their beliefs. What message does it send to Jewish students facing intimidation and harassment that their complaints are treated differently from those of academics and visiting speakers? Will the Government introduce meaningful sanctions, including funding consequences, for universities that repeatedly fail to protect them?
Georgia Gould
At the moment, too many children do not have access to sport and are not meeting the recommended 60 minutes of daily activity, so it is critical that we build something that supports schools, like the one the right hon. Gentleman mentioned, with national bodies to provide those opportunities. The funding breaks down into £580 million to build the new PE and school sport partnerships network, £200 million for improved facilities, and the rest for transitional support for schools through the year before we build the new service. There will be transitional support in place, but we will build something that is better for schools. I am happy to have a discussion with him to clarify matters.
Saqib Bhatti (Meriden and Solihull East) (Con)
I say to the Minister that the Government cannot do more if they are making a 22% cut to funding. The whole nation is watching the world cup and millions of children have recently competed in their annual sports days, yet the Government snuck out this massive cut to PE and sport funding during the recent May half-term. The Secretary of State said that this is a misunderstanding, but it is not; it is a 22% cut that will have serious consequences for millions of children and it will hit the disadvantaged the hardest. Senior headteachers describe it as
“a funding cut dressed up as an initiative to boost PE and sport in schools”.
It is hastily rolled out and will hurt the poorest children, so why are the Government doing it?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Olivia Bailey)
I thank my hon. Friend for all that he has done to secure that new hub in Cotmanhay. All the evidence shows that children who start school on the backfoot find it much harder to catch up. The Conservatives gutted Sure Start and let school readiness flatline, but this Government want the best start for every child. That is why we are setting a stretching target for record proportions of children to be ready for school, and why we are transforming early education and family support services with record investment and a strategic focus that has long been lacking.
Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)
The resignation of the Prime Minister this morning was a damning indictment of the record of this Government over the last two years. Part of the Prime Minister’s legacy will be teacher morale at an all-time low. New data from the National Education Union today shows that 72% of teachers believe that the Government have performed badly on education. Why does the Secretary of State think the country and so many teachers have lost faith in this Government?
Georgia Gould
We are increasing investment in schools, and I would be happy to meet the hon. Member to discuss their concerns.
Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
I know that Members across this House will have been sickened and devastated to hear reports of the abuse suffered by baby Preston Davey prior to his murder at the hands of his adoptive parents, in whose home he should have been safe. It is of concern that Preston was seen by several different professionals in the weeks and months before his murder. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 legislates for stronger safeguarding arrangements, including the introduction of multi-agency child protection teams in every local authority area. In the light of the serious safeguarding failings in Preston’s case and in other recent cases of children who should have been safe in the care of the state, will the Secretary of State set out the expected timetable for implementing these reforms? How quickly can we expect to see stronger safeguarding practice consistently nationwide?