Academies (Funding) Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Academies (Funding)

Mark Spencer Excerpts
Thursday 16th June 2011

(13 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nick Gibb Portrait Mr Gibb
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The hon. Lady seems to be contradicting herself. There is a shortage of primary school places, yet she says that there is no need for the free school programme, which could be used to create more school places. We want not only more school places but more high-quality school places, and that is what the free school programme, in particular, is designed to achieve.

Mark Spencer Portrait Mr Mark Spencer (Sherwood) (Con)
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The Dukeries college in Ollerton and the Joseph Whitaker school in Rainworth are just two of the large number of schools that are applying for academy status. Is not the fact that the numbers have reached such a high level a ringing endorsement of the Minister’s policy?

Nick Gibb Portrait Mr Gibb
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Yes, and it demonstrates that the teaching profession values that autonomy and the trust that the Government are putting in them. That is in enormous contrast to the top-down, prescriptive approach taken by the previous Government. That is why I believe that our system will work. In contrast, Labour did not manage to achieve a significant rise in standards in the schools system during its 13 years in office.