Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lisa Nandy and Elizabeth Truss

Thursday 17th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

T8. Earlier in this Parliament, the Secretary of State supported selling off the public forest estate. Does she still?

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are not going to sell any of the public forest estate. I speak as an MP who has in my constituency one of the largest lowland forests, Thetford forest, which is a fantastic resource for people and nature.

Academies Bill [Lords]

Debate between Lisa Nandy and Elizabeth Truss

Monday 19th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss (South West Norfolk) (Con)]

The hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood) mentioned speed and several other hon. Members have referred to impatience. Yes, we are impatient because we have had 13 years of failed education policies, which have not delivered for the poorest in our society. Education spending per pupil doubled from 1997 to 2009, yet the trajectory of improvement in GCSE results has not changed since the mid-1990s. According to the international league tables of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment—PISA—we still have a massive difference between the top and bottom achievers.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

Does the hon. Lady accept that one of the reasons why so many Labour Members feel strongly about the speed with which the Bill is going through is, as my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood) said, that schools are the heart of communities and, unless they are consulted, the heart will be ripped out of them and children will be let down in the process?