Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Michelle Welsh Excerpts

Wednesday 8th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Welsh (Sherwood Forest) (Lab)]

I am proud to speak on this Bill. Children growing up in our country deserve the best possible start in life. Where a person is born should not determine their future, but after 14 years of Conservative government, not all children have the same opportunity to succeed. During those 14 years, the very notions of early intervention, diverse educational pathways and early years priorities were eroded. I know that, because I was working on the frontline. I saw what happened, and the damage that was done.

The number of children living in poverty in the UK has risen by over 8% since 2014. In my constituency of Sherwood Forest, one in five children live in poverty; across the east midlands, the number is almost one in four. That is simply outrageous. Children deserve better. That is why I am pleased to support the Bill; it puts children and their wellbeing and safety back at the heart of the Government’s decision making, where they belong. I am proud that the Bill seeks to improve safeguarding and protection for children throughout the education system. Make no mistake: this is the single biggest piece of child protection legislation in a generation, and to suggest otherwise shows a total lack of understanding and no real knowledge of how children’s protection services work today.

Another element of the Bill that I am really proud to see is the roll-out of free breakfast clubs in primary schools. A child’s experience at school massively impacts their future, and when children go hungry at school, they are more likely to fall behind their peers. I am a school governor and a mother, and I know from all my friends who are teachers that children turn up to school who have not been fed, or with empty lunchboxes. I have friends who regularly pick up meal deals from the local Tesco to feed children at their school. That is what 14 years of Conservative government have done to the poorest and most vulnerable children in our country. There are so many benefits to providing free breakfast clubs in primary schools, including improved literacy, numeracy and cognitive functioning. It allows children to fully participate and learn during lessons. It gives all children a better start to the day, and a better start in life.

Despite the talk of education improving under the last Government, sadly we hear the same old story: only 8.9% of the most deprived children reach level 3 in both reading and maths, compared with 27% of the least deprived children, and those who receive free school meals are less likely to attain a level 5 in those subjects than those who do not. Some 33% of students from non-selective state schools have at least five good GCSEs; for students attending selective state schools, that figure rises drastically to 92%. It is time we closed this gap for good for the most deprived children in our society. I will be relentless in that pursuit for the children living in my constituency of Sherwood Forest.