Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Wednesday 24th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Gullis]

I, too, wish to pass on my thoughts and prayers to Lord Field’s family, friends and colleagues and particularly to students and teachers at the Birches Head Academy in Stoke-on-Trent who are part of the Frank Field Education Trust.

Since being elected in 2019, I have: helped to reopen Tunstall Town Hall with a new library and family hub; secured funding for additional CCTV, new alley gates and better lighting in Tunstall to ensure that our streets are safe; and helped to breathe new life into Tunstall’s old library and baths, thanks to this Government’s levelling-up fund of £56 million to Stoke-on-Trent.

Sadly, Labour-led Stoke-on-Trent City Council seeks to undermine that progress by: introducing a brand new tax on residents to have their garden waste collected; refusing to take planning enforcement against rogue and absent landlords who plague Tunstall High Street; and increasing crime and antisocial behaviour by dumping undesirable people in the centre of Tunstall. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that Stoke-on-Trent Labour—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is normally Mr Gullis who is loud. Please, let me hear him.

[Jonathan Gullis]

This just goes to show the disdain that the Labour party has for Stoke-on-Trent.

Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that it is time for Stoke-on-Trent Labour to axe the garden tax, to take the fight to lousy landlords—

Ministerial Code: Investigation of Potential Breach

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Tuesday 23rd May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

The people of Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke are more interested in how the Home Secretary will empty the hotels that are being used right now for economic migrants and asylum seekers, undermining £56 million of levelling up funding. They are interested in how to use the 330 brand new police officers that have been recruited to tackle crime and fly-tipping in places such as Cobridge, Tunstall and Smallthorne. They are interested in ensuring that we use the £2 million of Safer Streets funding that we secured to put in new alley gates and additional CCTV. That is what they want to see, not this witch hunt from the Labour party. The Home Secretary has already taken accountability—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Gullis, when I stand up, you sit down. Once we get that message, we will understand each other. We want to get through, and I think the Minister absolutely got the question.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Tuesday 9th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I call Jonathan Gullis.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

Day one on the job and Labour in Stoke-on-Trent talk about cancelling the £56 million of levelling-up funding, which is UK-leading, going to the great city of Stoke-on-Trent. Will the Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirm that the Conservative Government will have the backs of the people of Stoke-on-Trent and deliver this important levelling up?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Wednesday 15th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Karl Turner. He is not here, so I call Jonathan Gullis.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

T7.   Will the Secretary of State meet Councillor Abi Brown and me to see the power of Silicon Stoke that is ready to be unleashed, alongside our fantastic gigabit broadband roll-out, our world-class university, Staffordshire University, and, of course, the digital T-levels that we already have on display, so that we can truly create those fantastic new jobs of the future?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Gullis]

My hon. Friend will understand only too well, as a former resident of Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, that, like Cornwall, it too is a place of outstanding beauty. This Government are committed to ensuring that affordable housing is delivered, and since 2010 more than 9,000 homes have been delivered in Cornwall. In August 2021 we announced £1 billion of funding from our affordable homes programme, which will be used to deliver more than 17,000 affordable homes across the south-west. I am pleased to say that Cornwall is also an education investment area and has 26 schools that are eligible for the levelling up premium, including Liskeard School and Community College in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and specialist teachers in certain subjects in those schools can claim up to £3,000 tax free annually. Finally, in March 2022—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is not a full lesson we are putting out, just a good answer.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jonathan Gullis]

I am delighted to tell the hon. Lady that, at the next independent pay review, I have asked for this Government’s manifesto commitment to a £30,000 a year starting salary to be honoured for 2023-24.

[Mr Speaker]

Question 4 has been withdrawn.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let me just say that we want better taste in the House. The Minister is no longer on the Back Benches, so his rhetoric needs to be that of a Minister. I know he has that standing and capability. Come on, Minister!

[Jonathan Gullis]

Mr Speaker, I am making the point very clearly. The hon. Gentleman has an opportunity to stand at the Dispatch Box and talk up the teaching professions, talk up our schools, and talk up our reforms since 2010-11, which have seen the attainment gap narrowed—that was until, of course, the global pandemic, which has affected every single sector of our economy. Sadly, things have not gone in a way that we would have liked, but we are putting in the effort through the national tutoring programme, the £1.3 billion recovery premium, and the £650 million catch-up premium. That is an awful lot of money going into the system. We are also making sure that teachers are of a high quality, and, most importantly, that they have high-quality mentoring, an initial teaching training round and an early career framework, which give them the support that they need.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Can I say to the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Florence Eshalomi) that this is topicals and other people want to get in? We are going to go over the time now. We have got to help each other.

[Jonathan Gullis]

The hon. Lady will understand—she is a fantastic champion for her constituents—that the current global economic state is very serious. Inflation is not unique to this country. For example, it is at 17% in Holland and 10.9% in Germany. We are very aware of the pressures on households, which is why the £4 billion front-loading in the spending review has been so important, with the additional funding for the national tutoring programme, the recovery premium and the catch-up premium, the £2.5 billion for the pupil premium and the free school meals programme.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Monday 23rd May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

T9. The decision to scrap grammar schools was once described as “a real tragedy for this country…they are a very important part of the mix in our educational system…and they should be supported”.I completely agree with the Prime Minister and I am glad that the Secretary of State is also so supportive, saying that he wants to “spread the DNA” of grammar schools across the education system and give them a special status to retain academic selection in the upcoming Schools Bill, but it is not right that children in Teesside and Stoke-on-Trent do not the same opportunities as a child in Kent or Stratford-upon-Avon, so will the Government support my right hon. Friend—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Mr Gullis, I told you to be short, but you obviously cannot. Secretary of State.

School Openings: January 2022

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Wednesday 15th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

Bousted should resign.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We do not need any extra comments, Mr Gullis. You were hoping to catch my eye and I was thinking about coming to you next, but you obviously do not want me to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Thursday 4th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the voice of the Potteries, Jonathan Gullis.

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

There can be no better place to Bus Back Better than the great city of Stoke-on-Trent, because, sadly, in a survey of 230 residents from across Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke, people said to me that fares are not fair, reliability is non-existent and there is not good connectivity for places such as Brindley Ford and the great village of Milton. The Secretary of State joked with me recently that I must have broken WhatsApp, because I kept bombarding him with demands and messages. He should save himself a load of hassle, give Stoke-on-Trent the £90 million it wants for the Bus Back Better strategy, and ensure that we level up in the great city of Stoke-on-Trent.

[Mr Speaker]

A straight yes, Minister?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Thursday 25th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

You might slip on something; be careful!

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Jonathan Gullis

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Gullis (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Con)]

What plans he has to include proposals on improving the protection of the public in the forthcoming sentencing White Paper.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the birthday boy.