Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 12th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend is a huge champion of mental health in his constituency. Based on my previous answer to him, we are giving the Office for Students £15 million to help universities with mental health support. We have asked universities to sign up to the mental health charter by September 2024. We have a new student implementation taskforce to spread best practice, which is reporting on its first stage by the end of the year. We are also commissioning a national independent review of student suicides.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

18. What recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for schools.

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

We are committed to providing world-class schools. Total funding for both mainstream schools and special schools and alternative provision will total £58.8 billion by 2024-25: the highest ever level per pupil in real terms. That assessment has been confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

[Mohammad Yasin]

Liam, a teacher in my constituency, described the Government’s pay offer as akin to

“a mouldy carrot dangled in front of us to lead us back to the despair of the classroom.”

He works in a school that has had to make redundancies due to insufficient budgets. Does the Minister understand the impact that Government cuts to school budgets are having on children’s futures? Can he honestly say that he is giving all children equal opportunities?

[Nick Gibb]

The hon. Member will have seen that, in recent international surveys, standards are rising in our schools. We increased school funding by £4 billion last year, and this year it has increased by £3.5 billion. Taken over those two years, that is a 15% increase in school funding. Those of us on the Government side of the House want to have a well rewarded, well motivated teaching profession, because that is how we will ensure that standards continue to rise in our schools.