Exams and Accountability 2021
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Gavin Williamson
This is why we have taken the decision to make the announcement at this stage. I think the four nations in the United Kingdom believe this is the most comprehensive and detailed plan for how we are going to proceed with assessment, examinations and the awarding of grades. I hope this gives every school leader and every teacher, but most importantly children, a clear sense of what they are going to be assessed against, so that they can achieve the very best grade that they are capable of getting.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
The Secretary of State rightly says that he wants to boost fairness and support students, but he will be aware that just last week a million students were not able to be in school. In one school in my constituency of Warwick and Leamington, only 63% were present, which is a massive disparity. On 21 October, he said he would deliver 500,000 laptops, but only 200,000 have so far been delivered. Does he accept that there is a massive gap in delivering the fairness he promises? Should priority be given to teachers to be vaccinated to ensure they can stay in school?
Gavin Williamson
I very much share the hon. Gentleman’s view on the important role that teachers, and also support staff, have been playing in the delivery of education. Obviously, right through this pandemic, there has been a national priority of putting education at the centre of the Government’s response, which is why schools have remained open, even during a national lockdown. There will be specific clinical needs that have to be met as part of a vaccination programme, but there has always been a priority put on education, and for teachers to be able to get into school and teach and for support staff to support them. We will obviously be looking at this in the next wave and the announcement on vaccinations.
Oral Answers to Questions
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 7 months ago)
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Nick Gibb
We take this issue very seriously. We have already supplied 220,000 laptops and tablets to schools and local authorities up and down the country—one of the biggest procurements of computer devices in this country. We have plans in place for another 250,000 laptops, and £160 million has been spent ensuring that people have access to the internet should they need to self-isolate. However, at the moment, 99.8% of schools are open and 90% of pupils are in school learning with their teachers.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
Gavin Williamson
I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman’s predecessor, Chris White, who is involved in the Warwickshire College Group and has already made representations to me on this matter. We recognise that the college sector plays an important role. That is why we have been increasing the rate of support and funding. We will continue to work with the sector to ensure not just its future stability but its future success.
Oral Answers to Questions
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Nick Gibb
We have, as I said, announced a generous three-year settlement for schools. It is the best funding settlement in 10 years, with £14.4 billion over three years. Schools that are in financial difficulties can approach their local authority and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, which will provide support for schools that are experiencing difficulties, including the deployment of school resource management advisers. Schools and academies have £4 billion of cumulative reserves, and we expect those to be used first, but we keep this issue under review, and our regional teams are constantly monitoring whether schools are struggling to provide the hygiene and all the other measures that schools are putting in place right across the country.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)
We continue to do everything in our power to ensure that all children and staff can be back in the classroom safely. Our guidance is clear that if schools implement the actions set out in the system of controls in our guidance, they will effectively reduce risks in their schools and create an inherently safer environment for all to operate in.
Matt Western
I want to place on record my thanks for the professionalism and efforts of all our teachers and senior leadership teams across the country, who have done such an amazing job over the weeks; I am sure that that is echoed across the Chamber. However, just in the last week after the start of term, we have had 46 cases in schools across the UK and 86 cases in Scotland. A total of 158 schools already have cases. In a Suffolk school—I think it is in the Health Secretary’s constituency—five teachers have tested positive, and the school has had to close. Is the Secretary of State confident that the Government have this under control?
Gavin Williamson
Very much so. I draw the hon. Gentleman’s attention to the joint letter by the chief medical officers of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland in which they pointed out that children are best served by being in school, but he is right to highlight the risks and challenges of children returning to school. That is why, at every stage, working right across the sector, we have put in place the strictest level of controls and a system of controls, in order to create a safe environment for not just the children and those who work in schools but the community as a whole.
Schools and Colleges: Qualification Results and Full Opening
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Gavin Williamson
I would be more than delighted to meet my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health to discuss this matter and ensure that we get as many young people as possible taking medical and dentistry degrees. We also want to consider how, if there is some expansion in the area, this can be something that is long term, by which I mean actually growing the talent as much as possible within our own country in order to support the NHS long into the future as against bringing doctors from abroad in order to support the brilliant work of our NHS, which has so often been the case in the past.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
The Secretary of State will be aware that research from the National Foundation for Educational Research shows an increase of 46% in the gap between children from wealthy households and children from more deprived households. The Children’s Commissioner estimated that 540,000 children would require a laptop because they did not have provision at home, but only 200,000 were supplied. In my question to the Secretary of State on 2 July, I asked why there were so few; why they were so late; and why there was a discrepancy between the date I received in a written answer, which was mid-April, versus mid-May, which is when it was claimed that those laptops were actually ordered.
Gavin Williamson
I apologise to the hon. Gentleman because I do not quite recall the answer that I gave him in mid-April to his written question, but I will write to him with reference to that if he will be so gracious as to accept a letter. We saw the dispatch of more than 200,000 laptops, as well as additional devices for internet connectivity. We have ordered an additional 150,000 devices to support those communities that are most disadvantaged in terms of local lockdowns. This is one of the biggest purchases of computing equipment that the Government have undertaken, and I am sure he will understand that it is not feasible to procure that number of laptops and have them arrive within a week. They have to be procured and ordered and, as I am sure he will understand, there are some shipping delays. None the less, we have done it in good order and on time and when we said that we would do so.
Education Settings: Autumn Opening
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Gavin Williamson
My right hon. Friend is right to point to the importance of accountability measures that need to sit with schools at all stages. I will be asking Ofsted to look at the issue and examine closely what schools are doing in terms of actions in order to ensure that we have continuity of education at all stages. It will continue to be important to do that, because we will see situations in this country where we have local lockdowns, and we need to ensure that there is always continuity of education in those communities.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
I add my voice to those who have congratulated my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) and welcomed her to her new position. I just want to pick up on a point that she raised, which is the issue of laptops. We are well aware that the most disadvantaged children in our schools are at such a disadvantage in the educational setting. We know, though, that all children have been impacted by the failure to provide laptops. In answer to my written question on 10 June, I was told that 230,000 laptops had been ordered on 19 April. Government documents as of this week show that the first order was in fact placed on 15 May. Which is correct?
Gavin Williamson
I will write to the hon. Gentleman with clarification on that matter.
Education Settings: Wider Opening
Matt Western Excerpts(3 years, 11 months ago)
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Gavin Williamson
My hon. Friend makes an important point. We are certainly looking at this, but we are looking at something much wider and more long-term, because we do not believe that purely looking at the summer period is enough to assist children to get the catch-up that they truly need.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
The Secretary of State talked about the availability of laptops and computer equipment to disadvantaged pupils. Two months ago, he promised that that equipment would be available. I spoke to my schools this morning, and they have not received any. The Government talk easily about a levelling up agenda, but while private schools have access to that sort of equipment, as do their staff, it is not available in our state sector. Is it the case that the public rightly believe that the Government are failing them?
Gavin Williamson
I apologise to the hon. Gentleman; he obviously did not hear my response earlier, in which I explained that we have taken a policy decision to ensure that the first wave of laptops we received were going to be targeted at the children who are most vulnerable and have a social worker. The second wave of laptops, which we have just received, are then going to schools and academies through local authorities or multi-academy trusts. We are on schedule to receive all those laptops and get them distributed by the end of the month, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank Computacenter, which has done so much work to ensure that those laptops are distributed.
Educational Settings
Matt Western Excerpts(4 years, 1 month ago)
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Gavin Williamson
I know that my hon. Friend is a great champion of such issues in his constituency, and it was a great privilege to be able to join him on a recent visit to one of the high schools there. Let me take this opportunity to thank the many volunteers who contribute so much to our school system. We recognise, in these unique times, that we will be turning to whole communities in supporting one another and supporting those who are most vulnerable, whether they are young or old, to help them to get through the coming weeks.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
According to Public Health Warwickshire, 43% of nurses have children in schools. That obviously accounts for a great number, which increases when those in other blue-light services and other key workers are added. As the Secretary of State has said, it will be interesting to see what emerges tomorrow, but it must be of concern that many workers who are parents will withdraw from employment because their priority will be their children, and that will have an impact on many sectors. Perhaps the Secretary of State could say a bit more about what he envisages.
In respect of vouchers, may I urge the Secretary of State to prioritise the use of community cafés, and to address the issue of child protection? Finally, may I point out that France is ahead of us in the provision of online education? Lessons are already provided online for all schools. Perhaps the Secretary of State could look into that as well.
Gavin Williamson
The hon. Gentleman highlighted the large proportion of those working in the NHS who have children of school age. That is why it is so vital that we have taken this action to help them to continue in our battle against this virus.
Early Years Family Support
Matt Western Excerpts(4 years, 9 months ago)
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Andrea Leadsom
My hon. Friend is, of course, right to say that it is possible to turn around these outcomes, but the ideal time to do it is during that first, critical 1,001 days, when the baby’s brain is still developing. Although we will always seek to turn things around later on, if necessary, the best chance is during the 1,001 critical days.
As my hon. Friend says, it is possible for a baby insecurely attached in infancy to grow up to lead a perfectly normal and happy life, but there is significant evidence that a troubled early life makes that so very much harder. Sadly, disorganised attachment, in which the person one turns to for love and support is also the person who sometimes abuses or neglects one—and in some cases, terrifies one—can lead to the worst sorts of outcomes in later life, including socio-pathological behaviour and a later cycle of abuse. In short, those who go on to become abusers in 20 years’ time are all too often the vulnerable babies who are themselves being abused today.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
The right hon. Lady is making a powerful point and we all appreciate her bringing this issue to the House. It all seems to stem from the cycle that we need to break. Does she agree that what we had with Sure Start centres and children’s centres was so important in enabling a change of behaviour and the breaking out of that cycle?
Andrea Leadsom
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that there is a cycle of deprivation, which I will come on to discuss, but, as I said to the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), although Sure Start centres are a vital part—having that safe place—in the work that I shall come on to talk about, this is about much more than that. That is just one of many services.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
I commend the right hon. Member for South Northamptonshire (Andrea Leadsom) for securing this important debate today, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Central (Lucy Powell) on her superb leadership of the all-party group on nursery schools, nursery and reception classes. I have been to several meetings. They happen to be held in room 14, and I am always amazed by how many people come from across the country to attend those all-important meetings to make the case for maintained nurseries, in particular.
I first came across the importance of this sector in education when I was a county councillor in Warwickshire. I realised the supreme importance of getting not only to these young people, but to young parents, who are perhaps inexperienced, first-time parents. I realised that there was such a need to help with those early weeks and months of a young child’s development and to assist young parents, who, as I said, may be a parent for the first time, to understand what has just hit them in their new lives. Having visited so many of the children’s centres, I was always struck by how important they were and what a fabulous environment they provided, which was not just safe, but very stimulating, and that was great for both infant and child. It helped them to develop their skills and provided the support for the parent, challenging what was normal and making the child think about those around them—perhaps something they did not have that home. It was a fabulous environment for them to prosper in.
It was a shame therefore to see the breaking up and closure of so many Sure Start centres and children’s centres. In Warwickshire, we have lost 25 of the 39 children’s centres we had seven years ago. That leaves our communities and society with the challenge of provision, particularly in highly deprived areas. In the time I have available, I want to focus on the work of maintained nurseries. My constituency is lucky to have some superb maintained nurseries, and I want to highlight in particular the ones in Warwick and Whitnash, both of which I have visited.
The vast majority of maintained nurseries are set up in the most deprived areas and are so important, but no matter how good they are, they are only as good as the people who run them and the funding they have to sustain themselves. That is the challenge. While many of us welcome the Government’s introduction of the free 30 hours’ provision for three and four-year-olds, it is having an impact on the viability of these nurseries and their ability to sustain themselves given the financial pressures. People working in maintained nurseries are on a real pay level of £3 or £4 an hour, which is way below the minimum wage and a long way short of a national minimum wage.
Maintained nurseries are important for stimulating and developing young infants in those early years—the 1,001 days we have been talking about. I join others in recognising the work of my constituency neighbour the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), and the additional funding he secured. I commend him for doing that and urge him to bring certainty to these nurseries, which are under huge pressure from the funding crisis they face.
Finally, I pass on my thanks to all those who work and volunteer in these nurseries and elsewhere in our provision of early years across Warwickshire but certainly in Warwick and Leamington. I cite in particular the example of Warwick Nursery School, which will be celebrating its 60th birthday tomorrow. I thank them all for their work.
Department for Education
Matt Western Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
It is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk), who spoke so well and in such an informed manner, particularly about the demands and challenges of special educational needs. I thank all the great teachers and headteachers, the leadership teams, the teaching assistants, and all the governors who provide their time voluntarily to some great schools, of which I am proud to have so many throughout the constituency of Warwick and Leamington.
As far as I am concerned, education is probably the greatest gift from one generation to the next, and it always has been. But all that is changing, and it is changing incredibly quickly. From the wholesale closure of children’s centres to the pressures on higher education, every facet and every sector of education is in or potentially faces a funding crisis, but for the purposes of this debate, I wish to focus primarily on our schools and colleges.
In recent weeks I have had the privilege of visiting many primary schools, including Woodloes, Westgate, Telford, St Margaret’s, Bishop’s Tachbrook and Clapham Terrace. Just 37 days ago I visited a great little school—perhaps not so little—and met the children, who were all highly motivated. I took questions from years 5 and 6, and they asked about climate change and plastics in our environment, and there were even questions on Brexit and its impact on exchange rates. I thought it was pretty tough. I got talking to the headteacher, who confided that sometime that day he was going to have to find £50,000 to meet a budget cut. He introduced me to a pupil with special needs. The child needs one-to-one support, but the school cannot afford it, so the headteacher is left trying to square a difficult circle. Since 2015, the school has lost more than £340 per pupil. Of course, the school is not alone in that. In fact, that sum of money is pretty typical across our primary schools.
Thirty-two days ago, I went to a special educational needs picnic in the constituency. It was brilliantly organised by some wonderful parents—Cassie, Ellie, Froo, Helen and Emma. The event brought together parents from across Warwickshire and gave them a voice, enabling them to speak about the crisis that we are facing in special educational needs and disability funding. The parents are desperate. As we have heard from Members across the House, their children are being squeezed out of mainstream education by schools that cannot afford to teach them. Some schools can provide only a limited number of hours a day or week, so the children spend much of their time at home. Some of the most vulnerable children in our society are being denied a full education. It all sounds faintly Victorian, but I do not blame schools and nor do the parents—but they do blame the Government.
Eleven days ago, I hosted a meeting for parents at a local secondary school. Some 60 people attended. They feel anger and frustration. Just nine months ago, only days before the start of the academic year, the headteacher was suspended, the board of governors dissolved, and an interim executive board introduced. Months later, the sixth form faces closure and the school faces significant cuts. The pupils and parents are being left in limbo; their choice is limited. They are having to look around for alternative sixth-form provision—as if that is going to be easy.
Earlier in the week, I was talking, by chance, to a sixth-form student at another secondary school who had just finished her A-levels. Her story well illustrates the destruction of the provision and choice available to this next generation. Like several of her friends, she wanted to study politics, but there were too few of them—just six—so the choice was withdrawn. She took German instead, but the teaching staff had to be cut, so she ended up teaching herself for her final year. What chance is there for her?
Ten days ago, I visited another primary school—again in Warwick. I met the school council. The headteacher talked me through the financial crash that the school has faced. It has lost £97,000 since 2015-16—that is £511 per pupil. It has lost two teaching assistants, and the school has just 200 pupils. The headteacher has to cover special educational needs and disabilities in the absence of sufficient special educational needs co-ordinators. As a result, it is typical for the school to have up to 3% of pupils excluded at any one time. As if that were not enough, the future appears even bleaker: there will be a £35,000 deficit next year followed by a £140,000 deficit the year after. This school is, of course, not alone.
All our primary schools across the area are facing a crisis. One in south Leamington has lost almost £650 per pupil. Similarly, a school in north Leamington has had to cut £570 per pupil and six teaching assistants. In Whitnash, one school has lost £540 per pupil. These are huge sums for schools to have to face up to.
It is not just primary schools facing massive financial pressures, but our superb nursery schools, such as Warwick and Whitnash. Since 2013, we have seen the dismantling of our precious children’s centres. In Warwickshire, the Government’s funding cuts, together with the failure to raise sufficient money by claiming zero council tax increases, have seen the wholesale closure of the children’s centres, with 26 of 39 being closed.
As the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) rightly observed, the first 1,000 days are critical for both child and parent, yet we are seeing the withdrawal of these services for many in our community. Across Warwickshire, the bigger picture is pretty bleak. Schools have lost £50 million in total since 2015—that is an average of £244 per child. It is not as if Warwickshire already had very high per-pupil funding; it comes 120th out of 140.
It is easy to talk about these cuts in the abstract. They are extremely damaging to our children, their parents and the teaching staff, but they are also damaging, as we have heard elsewhere, to our society and to our communities, as schools are so often at the very centre of them—they are the very heartbeat of them. The cuts are also damaging to our cultural wealth and our economy, as my right hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr Jones) illustrated so well earlier on.
How can it be that we have cut music, arts and design and languages from so many schools’ provision and choices? Those sorts of subjects are increasingly the preserve of private schools. It has to be a concern that so many in our society are being denied that choice.
I am afraid to say it, but I think that what the parents of Warwick and Leamington appreciate so well is that the Government are failing the next generation. It cannot be right that so many young people are being denied the education that they deserve and that would ultimately serve this country well. But they are also being failed in the protections they need, whether safeguarding or mental health provision in our schools.
In conclusion, I agree with the notion of a 10-year education plan, as mentioned by the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon). He is right that we need long-term planning—schools are crying out for it—but that means nothing without the massive increase in investment that we need in our education system. I urge the Minister to fight hard for that in the spending review. However, that would benefit only those born today. As it stands, this Government have failed the next generation, and the young people let down by an ideology born of austerity will never forget it.
History Curriculum: Migration
Matt Western Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Chris Evans
That is very interesting. The hon. Gentleman makes a pertinent point. I did not study Irish history until my third year. I hold my hands up that I did not know who Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera were. I knew nothing about the cause of the troubles. When I was growing up, the troubles were just something that happened over the Irish sea in places I did not recognise but if I had been taught about it I would have understood where the troubles began. That, essentially, is what I am getting to.
Coming back to my upbringing in south Wales, on every street corner there was a Bacchetta, a Gamberini, a Sidoli; the Italian community migrated into south Wales and set up cafés, ice cream parlours and other things. The story of south Wales is also the story of migration. Many of the pits and steelworks came about from people migrating in for the work, yet we never talked about that. Interestingly, I grew up in Lower Bailey Street in Wattstown in the Rhondda but I did not know who Bailey was. He was a guy called Crawshay Bailey, a landowner from Northumberland who had never visited south Wales.
What is so important about these migrant stories—we see this with the Windrush generation as well—is the question of how many of us sit down with a relative or an elderly friend and record their experiences. Their experiences are the experiences of Great Britain, and that is what I am talking about in my example of the Fleur de Lys local history society. We were sitting there just as Tower colliery was closed—the last deep mine in south Wales. The number of people who remember the mines and have experience of working underground is getting smaller, and we need to sit down and record those experiences, because once they are gone they are gone forever. I urge everyone here to sit down with a friend or relative and talk about their experiences. I direct this to the Minister: this is something we should seriously look at having on the curriculum. We should get schoolchildren to speak to their relatives, and ask them to keep an archive of those relatives’ experiences, especially as they are now getting old.
Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)
My hon. Friend makes an interesting point about migration and the history of those coming into communities in south Wales. Of course, many from south Wales went to Chile and other parts of the world, to mine there. So we have had migration out of the country, when people have been seeking employment.
Chris Evans
My favourite fact is always that in Pennsylvania in the 1920s there were more Welsh speakers than in Wales. That came from Welsh migrants going to West Virginia and Pennsylvania to work in the mines. We also have the famous colony in Patagonia, which was set out in the famous novel “How Green Was My Valley”.
We need to be a bit braver about our history, about our history as an island race, as my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) said. We have to accept that slavery happened. We talk about it a lot when we talk about American history. We touched on it a lot when I was at university—