HIV Awareness: PSHE Lessons
Mike Freer Excerpts(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
The issue that I wish to raise today with my hon. Friend the Minister is sex education in our schools. For once, however, I do not want to stray near the issue of statutory sex education; I wish to focus on HIV awareness in the teaching of health and sex education to pupils. Before I touch on the issue of how the subject is taught, I think it is important that we understand the ongoing public health issues that need to be addressed, in part through improved sex education.
As chair of the all-party group on HIV and AIDS, I am conscious of the work we still have to do to eradicate HIV/AIDS. Despite the groundbreaking public health initiatives of the 1980s—for which much credit must go to the leadership and tenacity of the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Security, Norman Fowler, who is now Lord Speaker—HIV/AIDS continues to be a health issue in the UK. There are now more people living with HIV in the UK than ever before. In 2015, an estimated 101,200 people in the UK were living with HIV, 13% of whom were unaware of their infection. Infections used to occur predominantly among men who have sex with men—MSM—but that has changed over the past 10 years. The majority now occur through heterosexual transmission: in 2015, 57% of new infections were among heterosexuals. Most telling is the fact that 90% of those new infections came through unprotected sex—sex without condoms.
We continue to have a public health issue and a problem with sexual behaviour. I believe that we must therefore redouble our efforts not just to change, but to ingrain behaviour. We need to ingrain the safe sex message at the time in people’s lives when it can have the biggest impact—in our schools, with the 15-to-18 age group. I do not propose to touch on the arguments about statutory sex education—as I said, that is a debate for another day. Instead, I want to touch on why targeting 15 to 18-year-olds is important and, crucially, on why we need to look at a different approach to teaching this important topic.
Overall infection rates were on a steady downward trend until recently, but we have seen a slight increase in infection rates in the 15-to-24 cohort. There could be many factors behind that increase. HIV/AIDS is less visible in the media than it used to be; it receives less attention from celebrities, who have been invaluable in raising awareness. Major breakthroughs in treatments and in the accessibility of anti-retroviral drugs—ARVs—mean that HIV/AIDS is no longer life-threatening, although it is certainly life-changing. The fact that it is no longer deemed a terminal illness might be a factor in why people are becoming a little complacent: because living with HIV is manageable, people think that they can cope by just taking a daily pill.
You will remember, Madam Deputy Speaker, and so will other hon. Members, that when we were under the age of 24 we felt invincible—nothing could touch us. Now, when we drive past a club at 3 in the morning, it might be minus 6° outside, but under-24s are scantily clad because they think they are invincible. They think that nothing will happen to them, or that if it does they do not have to worry, because there is a pill or because by the time it becomes a problem there will be a cure. Importantly, the safe sex message about the use of condoms has been lost or diluted. It is important to remember that condom use protects against not just HIV, but a range of other sexually transmitted infections.
How do our teenagers learn about sex? We know that access to the internet has changed how many teenagers view sex, and that online pornography can provide a distorted and unrealistic view of sex. The ability to find a date or sexual partner via phone apps has changed how teenagers learn to have sex and the frequency with which they can have it, but sadly online pornography and hook-up apps rarely teach or stress safe sex. Too many provide no sexual health messages at all.
That, of course, is not a matter for the Department for Education, but how we combat that distorted view of sex and address the lack of safe sex messages is a matter of education. We have to be honest and accept that few teachers relish delivering sex education, and it is probably true that few pupils relish discussing sex with a teacher. It is embarrassing for both. There is likely to be a credibility gap. Even a teacher in their 30s will be deemed old by teenagers in school and being taught about sex by them is likely to be viewed as being taught by their mum or dad. That is how cringe-worthy much sex education can become.
I believe, therefore, that we need to use people closer to the age range of the students, especially those I would call young advocates—those with personal experience of living with HIV or chlamydia, of having a cervical cancer test or of the implications of losing a parent to HIV/AIDS. If sex education is delivered by people closer to the age range of the audience, it becomes personally relevant and much more powerful in getting the audience to listen. Young advocates can explain sex beyond the mechanics without embarrassment—I realise it was a long time ago, but my sex education was very mechanical and quite rudimentary.
If we can update how we teach teenagers about sex, we can have a significant impact on their sexual health. We need to show how life-changing illnesses such as HIV can be, and that message is much more powerful if taught by somebody going through that experience. It is important to stress not just the implications of dealing with an infection or life-changing illness but—most importantly—how teenagers can protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and a range of other sexual health issues. Young advocates can deliver a more powerful and personal message—one that students can relate to and are more likely to take notice of. We need a radical change in how we approach sex education, especially HIV awareness.
Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)
I thank the chair of the all-party group on HIV and AIDS for giving way. As a vice chair of that group, I wholeheartedly agree with his comments. Will he join me in praising the work of people such as the Student Stop AIDS campaigners, who are raising awareness of the epidemic not only in this country but of its impact globally, and setting an example for their peers?
Mike Freer
The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. The all-party group often invites young advocates and voices to come in and talk to parliamentarians and others, and we have seen at first hand the impact that a young person can have talking about the impact of an HIV infection on their life and their family. It is much more powerful than middle-aged men or women talking to teenagers—not that he is a middle-aged man yet.
I shall provide just three examples of people and organisations that I would ask the Department to consider meeting and using. One of the most inspirational young men I have met is Robbie Lawlor. He is an HIV advocate based in Ireland and the UK. He was diagnosed as HIV positive at 21. He was taught little about sex in school, let alone safe sex. His diagnosis sent him into depression and he abandoned the university place he was about to take up, but he has now become an inspirational advocate for HIV awareness. He tours and speaks passionately about the need to talk more openly about sex and safe sex and about how to challenge stigmas and ensure that people are more aware of risky behaviour and the importance of testing. He says:
“If we can’t talk openly about sex with our friends and family, how are we going to negotiate safer sex with people we may potentially sleep with? Shame inhibits people from going to get tested, and prevents people from getting the information they need.”
Robbie has also advocated for people living with HIV to be at the heart of education on HIV to ensure that individual stories are heard and some of the most damaging misconceptions about what it is to live with HIV are confronted by people who know how their diagnosis has affected their day-to-day lives. I urge my hon. Friend the Minister to meet Robbie and hear at first hand how we need to change the way in which we approach HIV in sex education.
There is also a group called Positive Voices, whose speakers are fully trained to deliver sexual health presentations to diverse audiences in a range of settings including schools, colleges, faith-based groups and community organisations. They cover HIV prevention and safer sex messages, as well as sharing their own experiences of living with HIV. Those presentations are very powerful. They are tailored for young people and adults, and the speakers work with organisations in advance to ensure that they are both appropriate and engaging.
I recently came across the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which is now doing work in the UK. It has launched an initiative called the sex squad. I must say that I became rather excited by the idea of a sex squad: it is certainly a catchy title for a sexual health education initiative. Imagine the sex squad coming into your school! It would certainly catch the imagination of the pupils.
The sex squad initiative is part of an arts-activist movement to improve sexual health education. It started in Los Angeles, and, interestingly, in the very traditional, conservative southern states of the United States, and it involves a multiple-component presentation and peer education. It is a new model for community-based sexual health education, which targets young people in communities that are at risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. As well as organising live and digital interventions, it is inspiring the creation of youth-led high school sex squads at four state high schools in Los Angeles. It harnesses the power of humour and story-telling to create performances for teens that are memorable, inclusive, and fun. I can only recommend the work done by the foundation, which is driven by Elizabeth Taylor’s grandchildren. They are still heavily involved, which is to their enormous credit.
HIV continues to be a problem in the 15-to-24 age group, accounting for 11% of new infections, while 33% of new infections are in the 25-to-34 age range. It therefore accounts for 44% of new infections in people under 34. We need to reach people when they are most susceptible to behaviour change. We need to stop the conveyor belt towards inappropriate behaviour that puts their health at risk. We need to change the way we deliver sex education, especially HIV education, so that we can protect the next generation. The current sex education system is not ingraining the message on safe sex. It is time for a more innovative approach. It is time to introduce youth ambassadors where they will be listened to, and where we stand the best chance of changing behaviour and changing lives. Let us change the teaching, and let us change our approach.
Technical and Further Education Bill
Mike Freer ExcerptsMonday 14th November 2016
(7 years, 11 months ago)
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Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
What steps are being taken to address the continuing gender imbalance in our apprenticeships?
Justine Greening
My hon. Friend raises an important point. We want to make sure that young girls get exactly the same opportunities as young boys. We know that part of the challenge relates to the kinds of industries that might offer apprenticeships. The hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) asked me about the engineering profession. It is important to ensure that the technical education route is as desirable for young women as it is for young men, and among the ways we will do that is by steadily changing its image, by ensuring that it is of high quality, and by making sure that people know that if they follow this route, they will come out with experience and qualifications that employers truly value. That is why part of the Bill’s purpose is to put employers at the heart of our technical education strategy.
University technical colleges have also been established to address skills gaps in local and national industries. They provide technical education that meets the needs of modern businesses. Indeed, they also give a much different offer to young people who are interested in specialising through a technical education route.
Free School Funding (Sixth Forms)
Mike Freer Excerpts(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
Free schools are a notable achievement of the last Government and, of course, of this Government. My constituency has embraced the free school concept and we have many excellent examples. The Archer Academy is one of them: a free school providing inclusive education for secondary-age children in N2 and the surrounding communities of N3 and NW11. It opened in September 2013 after a long and persuasive campaign by local parents. It has been over-subscribed since day one, and currently has 452 students on the roll, across years 7, 8 and 9. In the most recent round, it received 915 applications for the 150 places available from September 2016.
The children come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds but enjoy an ambitious and stretching curriculum, with an extended day enabling all to participate in creative, sporting and character-building activities. The success of the school was underlined by Ofsted, which recognised behaviour and safety as “outstanding” and gave the whole school a grade of “good.” Children at the school are making outstanding progress, and senior leaders estimate that 80% to 92% are on course to achieve A* to C grades at GCSE, or the equivalent, including in English and maths, when the first cohort takes those exams in summer 2017. Those high levels of achievement are a result of the relentless ambition and outstanding teaching being provided by the staff team. That is all the more remarkable given the mixed intake of children from a variety of backgrounds, many of whom face significant barriers to success as a result of deprivation, family breakdown and language challenges. It truly is a mixed London school.
When the founders applied to the Department for Education to establish the school, they evidenced the clear demand to provide much-needed spaces in the London borough of Barnet, given its acknowledged shortfall. The school was approved in July 2012 to serve 11 to 16-year-olds, and it opened to students in September 2013 on one site while a second site was acquired and works were completed in time for its opening in September 2015. The applicants made it clear in their original application that their aim was to provide sixth-form provision in time for the initial cohort, but they understandably focused initial efforts on developing the immediate key stage 3 and 4 phases. In the next academic year, the school will operate a lower and upper school using both sites. Barnet is one of the most popular boroughs for development, and one of the fastest-growing London boroughs in terms of population. Land restrictions in Barnet are the reason behind the need to operate across two sites and they contribute to the complications as the school seeks to offer a sixth form. Given the requirement from the Government for all children to remain in education to 18, the school is encountering significant pressure to meet need.
With the first cohort of children commencing their GCSEs, attention is turning to the post-16 offering, how to meet the needs of the pioneer cohort, and the continued demands of the local area. Discussions about options for expanding to include a sixth form started with the Education Funding Agency in 2015.
Barnet remains a net exporter of sixth-form age students. That highlights the continuing shortage of provision in the borough. Students have to travel some distance to get a sixth-form education. Provision is an issue most acutely felt in the south of the borough, where the Archer Academy is sited. Most of my constituency suffers an acute shortage of places and will continue to do so unless we can allow good free schools to expand. The local authority’s school place planning process recognises the shortfall across all ages, and its most recent strategic planning documents stated:
“The primary pressure will feed through to the secondary phase in the next few years and there is projected to be a significant shortfall in secondary school places by the end of the decade and beyond.”
The shortage is projected to continue through to 2029-30. All this is set against a growing population in Barnet, and in Finchley in particular.
Let us turn to the process of approval for a sixth form and the funding sources available. In theory, the decision to approve the extension of provision rests with the regional schools commissioner, with whom I am in touch, as is the school. I have arranged for him to visit the school next month. However, his power to approve such a change is hampered by the specific problems arising from current funding provision, and the barriers that the process puts in place for schools where there is a shortage of sites. While schools out of London may be able to expand their offer to include a sixth form by expanding their premises or re-profiling existing space, the pressures on the Archer Academy mean that a new site is the only way forward. It is the only way that children can continue their now compulsory post-16 education at a through-11-to-18 school.
Current funding is provided through the condition improvement fund, a competitive fund capped at £4 million. Try buying a site for a new school in Finchley for £4 million. That would be a struggle and it would take up the whole fund. The fund’s guidelines prioritise essential works, such as major repairs to boilers and roofs, from among all the applications received from schools across England.
Clearly, the provision of a sixth form is essential to enable the pupils of the Archer Academy to meet their potential, but the competitive nature of CIF makes it inappropriate for funding such essential provision. The cap of £4 million means that schools in areas such as Finchley, and especially in London, which require capital investment to acquire sites and develop and build new provision are effectively barred, as the cost of land and the low availability of sites make such expansion virtually impossible. Furthermore, the guidance from CIF recognises its limited role as a route for sixth-form expansion. Its own document states:
“The core priority for CIF is condition: keeping academy and sixth-form college buildings safe and in good working order…Most CIF funding aims to address issues with significant consequences that revenue or Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) funding cannot meet.”
A second priority for CIF is expansion, providing a smaller proportion of CIF funding to support high-performing academies and sixth-form colleges that need to expand their facilities or floor space to increase the number of admissions in the main year of entry, or to address overcrowding. The CIF priorities do not specifically mention allowing existing cohorts to have an 11-to-18 education in one school. In 2015-16 CIF was four times over-subscribed. It is expected that over-subscription will continue in the coming financial year. Only applications that demonstrate a high project need aligning with those priorities are likely to be considered, let alone successful.
The guidance states that applicants preparing expansion projects should consider the alternative option of setting up a free school. I cannot believe that such a flagship policy that is working so well would say to successful schools, “The only way you can expand is by setting up another free school to meet that sixth-form need.” That cannot have been the Government’s original intention in supporting parents and meeting local demand by opening parent-led schools. Anybody who has tried to support parents through the process of opening a free school knows that it is cumbersome, lengthy and stressful for all involved.
Once again, this process of opening a new school or seeking to access CIF is not suitable for schools in densely populated areas where there are land shortages, and where the cost of that land is exorbitant. Also, forcing free schools to open an additional school to meet that need will deprive that school of any economies that arise from running schools on one site. Suggesting that the Archer Academy should run on three sites is nonsense. It would only create a less financially secure profile than is necessary or desirable. In the case of the Archer Academy, the need to address the issue is pressing. In two years’ time, 150 children will complete their GCSEs without an obvious and appropriate sixth-form offer—and there will be a further 150 in each year after that. Clearly, although the need and demand for such provision exists, the funding structure is weighted against those in London and densely populated areas. The current funding options will penalise a successful and thriving school.
I will finish by touching on the local area-based reviews. These are perfectly laudable in terms of trying to ensure that the DFE has the right capacity to meet the needs of students and employers in each area—capacity provided by institutions that are financially stable and able to deliver high-quality provision. The reviews are ongoing and establish a long-term picture. However, this approach will not deliver for Barnet and for Archer Academy in time. It will not allow the academy to meet the pressing need of the existing cohort, who need to start their A-levels in September 2018 and are looking to make their decisions on their sixth-form placements in the imminent future. For those reasons, it is urgent that we are able to secure clear guidance as to how funding can be made available, recognising the particular circumstances of this thriving free school.
I ask my hon. Friend the Minister to explore how funds in the existing financial settlement for free schools can support the expansion of good free schools, and to say whether he or a colleague will meet me and the chair of governors to look at what urgent support the Department can provide.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Freer Excerpts(9 years, 8 months ago)
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Nicky Morgan
As we have seen during the current Parliament, schools have been able to raise standards at a time of straitened budgets. I have every faith in them. I believe that they will continue to raise their standards, and that all the young people in that school will benefit.
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
The Secretary of State has been very supportive of the protection of schools against terrorism attacks, and my constituents and I are very grateful for that. Will she update the House on progress in the funding of counter-terrorism measures at independent Jewish schools?
Nicky Morgan
My hon. Friend has raised an extremely important point. I do not want any young people to feel frightened of attending school or of their journey to and from school, and, sadly, that applies particularly to members of the Jewish community at present. I have had discussions with a number of Jewish organisations about the funds that are required and the estimates that they have provided.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Freer Excerpts(9 years, 9 months ago)
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Nicky Morgan
I very much agree that transparency is extremely important, which is why this Government have backed the Think, Act, Report initiative that encourages companies to think very hard about equality and diversity, including pay, right the way through their organisations. We now have more than 270 employers signed up covering 2.5 million employees.
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
2. What assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the appointment by the Church of England of its first female bishop; and if she will make a statement.
The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles)
I thank my hon. Friend for his question and I congratulate Libby Lane on becoming the new Bishop of Stockport and the first female bishop in the Church of England. I am delighted to see the Church of England moving into the 21st century, at least in this respect.
Mike Freer
Does the Minister agree that at last we have a great role model for the Church of England and girls in this country?
Nick Boles
I do agree with my hon. Friend. Role models such as Libby Lane are very important, which is why the Government are supporting schemes such as “Your Life” and “Inspiring Women”, which is led by the formidably impressive lawyer, Miriam Gonzales. I believe that her husband has a job, too, but I think we can all agree that she is the role model in that family.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Freer Excerpts(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Matthew Hancock
As I said in my earlier answers, we will publish the impact assessment very soon. The crucial question is how, in the context of getting the country out of the budget deficit mess that was left by Opposition Members, we can make decisions that will have the best possible impact on the ground. Is it fair to fund 18-year-olds, who usually take fewer hours of education per week, at the same rate, or should we reduce the funding for all 16 to 19-year-olds instead?
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
T6. Does the Minister agree with the shadow Secretary of State that Labour failed on vocational education, and does he agree with me that the Government’s rectifying of that mistake means that we now have more employer-led apprenticeships than ever before?
Matthew Hancock
I try not to be partisan at the Dispatch Box, as you well know, Mr Speaker, but it is absolutely true that we are driving up standards in vocational education across the board and in apprenticeships. It was a real pleasure to visit McDonald’s in my hon. Friend’s constituency, which does a brilliant job on vocational in-work education. The previous Government made the intellectual error of thinking that just because people have not attained yet, we should not have high expectations of them. We are reversing the consequences of that error.
Oral Answers to Questions
Mike Freer Excerpts(11 years, 7 months ago)
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Matthew Hancock
The gathering of that evidence started in 2008. It is shocking that that happened under the previous Administration, and we have stopped it.
Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
6. What assessment he has made of national apprenticeship week 2013.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills (Matthew Hancock)
National apprenticeship week last week was a triumph. Tens of thousands of new apprenticeship places were announced; there was double the coverage of last year; and the message went out loud and clear from this House and beyond that apprenticeships deliver.
Mike Freer
I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. Last week I had an apprenticeships fair. Does the Minister agree that the National Apprenticeship Service does a wonderful job in supporting MPs, private organisations and charities in boosting apprenticeships in this country?
Matthew Hancock
I commend the National Apprenticeship Service for its work, and I know there were more than 400 local residents and 22 employers at my hon. Friend’s job fair. I have my own jobs fair tomorrow, and national apprenticeship week next year will take place on 3-7 March. I hope that all hon. Members will get involved.
School Places (Finchley)
Mike Freer Excerpts(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) (Con)
Thank you for granting permission for this debate, Madam Deputy Speaker. I must first apologise for delaying the House prior to the recess.
Education is at the heart of the Government’s agenda, as is allowing good schools to expand. On Monday the Secretary of State for Education said in The Guardian that he was going to change the admissions code to help to meet parental demand for good schools. He said:
“We hope the new admissions code allows the possibility of increasing planned admissions numbers so good schools can expand, and there will be underperforming schools that have fewer and fewer numbers.”
That is spot on, but it assumes that the popular schools are able to expand. In Finchley there is no shortage of good schools at primary and secondary level. We even have schools with the space to expand; what we do not have are the capital grants to fund the expansion. The schools in Finchley are part of the family of schools in the London borough of Barnet, and Conservative-controlled Barnet is consistently one of the best local education authorities in the country. Barnet is enthusiastically pursuing many new academies and free schools.
Before turning to the lack of capital support from the Department, I want to reassure my hon. Friend the Minister that the council has not sat by and done nothing about the shortage of places. Several years ago, it recognised that there would be an increase in demand for primary and secondary places and, in the absence of Government support, it embarked on its own £250 million primary school expansion programme. Starting in 2004, using a mixture of prudential borrowing and capital raised from asset sales, the programme set about rebuilding, expanding and refurbishing the primary estate. Barnet is forecasting that pupil numbers in the maintained secondary sector will continue to grow, and that they will grow by 22% by 2015-16. That is the second highest growth rate in the UK. The situation is not helped by the Greenwich decision. LEAs are unable to put their own pupils first.
The factors combine to create a demographic shift that Barnet council cannot cope with—certainly not without help. Hitherto, enough help has not been forthcoming. This outstanding LEA has not been rewarded for its education record. Having delivered new schools on time and on budget, however, the authority was invited to join the last phase of Building Schools for the Future. I hold no affection for the BSF programme, as I saw Barnet council being forced into a process it did not need and could not afford, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds. The promised £83 million under BSF would have allowed three schools to expand and be refurbished—and two of those schools are in Finchley. The schools lost out when BSF was cancelled, so good schools and a good local education authority were penalised again.
I am sure that the capital division of the Department will argue that Barnet has received capital that it should use for expansion. I know that, because it wrote to me in forceful terms to tell me, but Barnet has received an average of just £14.6 million over the past few years for non-academy, non-children’s centre spend. That is money earmarked for new boilers, new toilets, roof repairs, rewiring and so forth—simple basic maintenance. With more than 120 schools in Barnet, that is just £122,000 per school. To put that into perspective, the cost of rewiring one secondary school alone was £1.9 million. The allocation does not go far. It is true that the council could have diverted that capital for school expansion, but is the capital team really expecting a first-class local education authority to tell parents that their school’s broken boiler or leaking roof cannot be fixed because the money has been spent on expanding another school in a different part of the borough?
The council cannot simply borrow the money. I would like to stress that borrowing approval, supported or otherwise, is no help at all. Barnet council has been on the funding floor for several years and borrowing approval is useless if the debt servicing cost is unaffordable because it falls on the general fund paid for out of general council tax. The capital allocation formula appears to need a complete overhaul. The increase in demand for state places has been seen across every borough in London. It is inequitable that London accounts for 64% of pupil place shortages and yet receives just 26% of the capital allocation.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
My hon. Friend is making a powerful case for the plight of Barnet, and indeed for the whole of London. Does he agree that we are talking not only about issues related to expanding schools, but about allowing parental choice, so that faith-based schools are an important part of the equation? We have identified the need for a Hindu secondary school located between Harrow and Barnet, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend to secure support for it from the Department.
Mike Freer
My hon. Friend makes a very good point. The expansion of the Hindu faith school somewhere between Barnet and Harrow would not only meet parental preference but relieve pressure on the remaining schools in the maintained sector.
To return to the iniquity of the shortage of places and the capital funding allocation, that discrepancy between 64% of places and just 26% of funding means that London is short-changed by more £300 million in the existing allocation.
The current shortage of primary places has been met by providing additional classrooms in portakabins, by changing information technology rooms and libraries into classrooms, or simply by making children travel much further to an available school space. That is not a sustainable solution.
Things are no better in the secondary sector. The area is served by the Bishop Douglass mixed Roman Catholic comprehensive school, which is over-subscribed with 383 applications for 180 places, and by the Compton mixed comprehensive school, which is also over-subscribed—and every applicant from Finchley N2 was rejected; not a single pupil could get a place there. Mr Speaker went to the Compton school—or the Finchley Manorhill school, as it was then called—but he would not get in today, as he lived too far away from it. Then there is Christ’s college, a boys-only school—again over-subscribed, with 424 applications for 150 places. St. Michael’s Catholic grammar school for girls has 370 applications for just 96 places. We also have Henrietta Barnett, a highly selective girls school, grossly over-subscribed with 2,000 applications for 180 places. Then we have Copthall, a girls comprehensive. It too is over-subscribed, and 100% of applicants from N2 were rejected simply because they lived too far away.
In the past fortnight alone I have received 200 emails from worried parents. Let me report just some of what they have said. Mrs Catherine Atkinson wrote:
“I have lived in East Finchley for 28 years. My son got into Fortismere by the skin of his teeth 8 years ago and I remember the stressful wait for the letter saying he had the place. Those not so lucky because they lived maybe 200 yards farther away from the school were offered either Bishop Douglass school or…Christ’s college.”
That would more difficult today, because those schools too are over-subscribed and full.
Mrs Carey wrote to me:
“I live in Long Lane. My daughter is in year 5 and my son is in year 4. Our position is as follows: Fortismere—we’re not in catchment and are unable to afford property prices in Fortismere catchment. Wren Academy Church of England—we are not churchgoers and we are not close enough geographically either. Compton—not in catchment. Christ’s College—we would be in catchment for our son, but that is not much help for our daughter! Bishop Douglass—it is at heart very much a Catholic school”,
and they are not churchgoers.
“Henrietta Barnet is highly selective.”
In Barnet, first preferences granted stand at just 62%, and once second preferences have been allocated, just 85% of parents secure their first or second preferences. That is well below the national average of 85% and 96% respectively. I appreciate that capital is scarce, and I appreciate the difficulties that the Minister is experiencing. I am not asking him to issue a cheque this evening, although I am pretty sure that we would name a school after him if he did: the “Gibb Academy” does have something of a ring to it.
I hope the Minister will accept my view that we must seek to overhaul the capital allocation formula, reward good local education authorities, fund good schools so that they can flourish and expand, help parents to secure their preferences, and give pupils the best possible education and start in life. All that I ask this evening is that he agree to meet me, along with the chief executive and leader of the council, to discuss what targeted support he is able to provide.