Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

2. What steps he is taking to ensure equitable opportunity for young people throughout the UK.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to ensure equitable access to opportunity for young people in (a) Staffordshire and (b) the West Midlands; and if he will make a statement.

[Matt Vickers (Stockton South) (Con)]

18. What steps he is taking to ensure equitable opportunity for young people throughout the UK.

--- Later in debate ---

[Gavin Williamson]

I know that my hon. Friend is very passionate about this issue, having been a teacher herself. I am sure that she will welcome the 6.5% per pupil increase in North Devon, which is making, and will make, a real difference to children’s attainment. This is a Government who are delivering extra money for schools throughout the country, but what is also important is that this is a Government who recognise that it is not just about cash—although we are delivering extra cash—but about standards, and about raising standards in every single school for every pupil.

[Michael Fabricant]

My right hon. Friend and neighbour will know that Staffordshire has been right at the bottom of the pool in comparison with other counties when it comes to money. What good news can he give his schools in South Staffordshire, as well as mine in Lichfield?

[Gavin Williamson]

As my hon. Friend will know, schools are enjoying an 8.2% cash increase, and schools in Lichfield are receiving an increase of more than 5%. That is to be welcomed, and it is making a real difference. We are also investing in teacher quality and teacher training, and ensuring that the basic starting salary will increase to £30,000. That will be one of the most competitive graduate packages in the marketplace, and will attract the very best into the profession.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2019 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

It goes without saying that we will always be looking to ensure that all students in the United Kingdom get the very best in terms of their education, and Erasmus has played an important part in that. If we were in a situation where we did not have access to it, we would look at successor schemes.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Is my right hon. Friend aware that Israel, Canada, New Zealand and Australia are not in the EU but are members of the Erasmus programme?

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 11th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Saxon Hill Academy in Lichfield, like many other schools that look after severely disabled children, has a programme of sleepovers for the children. That benefits the children, and it is great for the parents because it gives them respite, but the school is now having to discontinue it because of local funding issues. Is there anything the Government can do centrally to help Saxon Hill and similar schools?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

Saxon Hill does a tremendous job, and respite is incredibly important. Part of the reason we have increased the funding, with £250 million over the next two years, is that we are very much cognisant of the fact that there are funding pressures on local authorities’ higher needs budgets.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 17th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

To make A-level foreign languages classes viable, we need more sixth formers to opt for the subjects. To raise the uptake of A-level, we first need to increase the number of pupils who take a GCSE in a foreign language, reversing the damage caused by the last Labour Government in 2004, when they downgraded the importance of languages.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend may recall that schools used to teach Latin to give a better understanding of English grammar. Does he agree that German, Spanish and Italian give a better understanding of grammar than French? When will we get some teachers of those languages?

[Nick Gibb]

Of course, we need all those European languages, as well as Mandarin and other languages, to be taught in our secondary schools. Since 2010, there has been an increase from 40% of the cohort taking a GCSE in a foreign language to 46% this year. However, we need to go further, which is why we have the target of 90% studying the EBacc combination of GCSEs by 2025.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

One sentence of fewer than 20 words.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Some 3,000 parents have signed a petition against King Edward VI School’s policy now of attracting students by catchment area, rather than by the 11-plus. What is my right hon. Friend’s view of the petition?

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 12th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

The kind of support we have in mind is support in terms of materials and training, rather than funding, but we will look very carefully at this once we have examined all the responses to the consultation, to which 40,000 individuals responded.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

The Scottish Parliament has recently decided to embed in the school curriculum LGBT issues so that LGBT children can integrate well and, more importantly, that other children treat them well. What thought has my right hon. Friend given to doing the same in England?

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 10th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Anne Milton]

We do have ambassadors: the young apprentice ambassadors network does a fantastic job of giving talks in schools, and I urge the hon. Gentleman to have those conversations with schools. I will do all I can; I feel passionately about the fact that there needs to be more choice for young people both at 16 and at 18. As my hon. Friend the Member for Taunton Deane (Rebecca Pow) says, we need to educate the parents, and we also need to educate the schools. I point out again that schools have a legislative responsibility to make sure that technical education apprenticeship providers are allowed into schools, and you should call your local schools into account, Mr Speaker, as should all hon. Members.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

4. What progress his Department is making on the introduction of T-levels; and if he will make a statement.

[Mike Wood (Dudley South) (Con)]

13. What progress his Department has made on the introduction of T-levels.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Damian Hinds)]

We have made excellent progress and are working closely with the selected providers who will deliver the first three T-levels from 2020 in digital, education and childcare, and construction.

[Michael Fabricant]

An Opposition Member has mentioned apprenticeships, and T-levels are very important in that area, but the business placement has to be effective, and Government research has shown that businesses say that that is important, too. So what are the Government doing to work with businesses to make sure that these placements are effective and meet the requirements of both business and education?

[Damian Hinds]

My hon. Friend is right: a quality industrial placement is a fundamental feature of T-levels, and piloting of these placements is already under way. Providers will be receiving nearly £60 million in 2018-19 to work with businesses to deliver those placements, which will significantly reduce the burden on businesses.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 29th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Vielen Dank, Herr Sprecher. Do you not agree with me—[Interruption.] I should not have said, “Vielen Dank, Herr Sprecher”; I have completely thrown myself. I should have asked, does the Secretary of State agree that German is an important language to learn? Not only does German give us the grammatical structures that would otherwise be learnt from Latin, which is rarely taught in schools nowadays, but it is easy for British people to speak German with a convincing accent.

[Stephen Pound (Ealing North) (Lab)]

Thank you, “Herr” Fabricant. [Laughter.]

Schools Update

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 17th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The amount of money that the hon. Gentleman’s local authority will get in the coming two years will not see any cuts. In fact, as I have said, a 0.5% increase per pupil will be allocated to that community. I reiterate that this is indeed a better settlement for those schools than would have been the case had his party won the election.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

I accept that I have been a pain in the butt to both parties over the years. I remember saying to Prime Minister Tony Blair many years ago that the funding postcode lottery between counties was unfair and he agreed, but he did nothing about it. I was also a pain in the butt to the Schools Minister when I gave him a hard time a couple of months ago. I welcome today’s announcement, but the Secretary of State will know how much the National Union of Teachers’ website has alarmed students and parents over the past few months. When our school funding formula is announced, will it be transparent and available on a website, school by school?

[Justine Greening]

Indeed it will be, and I hope that the unions will choose to update their websites with accurate data. As the questions today have demonstrated, it is not easy to introduce fairer funding. There are millions of reasons why it is a difficult step for any Government to take, but we have done it because we cannot expect social mobility or strong education outcomes everywhere when our children are funded in such different ways, purely depending on where they happen to grow up. Nobody can accept that if we want to tackle inequality of opportunity, and that is why we are taking these steps. It is complex, but we are doing it because it is the right thing to do.

Education: Public Funding

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Tuesday 4th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

No school in the hon. Lady’s constituency will see a cut in per pupil funding as a consequence of the move to the new, fairer national funding formula.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will recall, probably with gloom, my question to him two or three weeks before the general election, but, as Arnie Schwarzenegger would say, “I’m back,” and I want to ask him the same question. He told me that in Staffordshire the new funding formula would mean that two thirds of my schools would benefit but one third would receive a cut. Is he now saying that that is not the case and that all schools in Staffordshire will benefit?

[Nick Gibb]

I am very happy to see my hon. Friend back in his place. He is absolutely right that no school in his constituency will see a cut in funding.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

The EPI has said that the national funding formula is broadly welcome. David Laws, its executive chairman, said that

“the department is right to pursue a formula which targets a significant proportion of funding to disadvantaged pupils”.

The hon. Lady will know that inner London remains the highest-funded part of the country; it is 30% better funded on a per-pupil basis than the national average.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

It might be International Happiness Day, but I can tell my right hon. Friend that parents in Staffordshire are pretty unhappy, actually, because they are in a county that is in the bottom 15 of funding throughout the UK. Fairer funding must not just be open; it needs to be fair, too, and Staffordshire schools are losing out. That is unacceptable.

[Mr Gibb]

I am sure that my hon. Friend will be making representations through the consultation process. The consultation closes on Wednesday, and we will listen to and read very carefully all the contributions. Funding in his constituency rises by about 1.2%, equal to about £600,000, and 65% of his schools will see an increase.