Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Gibb Excerpts

Monday 14th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

7. What progress has been made on plans for a new Church of England free school in south Birmingham.

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, it is planned that Christ Church Church of England Secondary Academy will open in September 2021. Feasibility studies have been completed on the proposed site on School Road in Yardley Wood and will be shared with local residents at ward meetings in advance of the formal planning application in the late autumn.

[Steve McCabe]

I am grateful for that information. About this time last year, Ministers and officials told us that they could afford to close Baverstock school in Druids Heath because they had more than sufficient places in south Birmingham. Now it transpires that around that time they were planning to build another school a mile and a half down the road on playing fields used by local residents, including Maypole Juniors FC, for a variety of recreational activities. Can the Minister talk us through the economics of his decision?

[Mr Speaker]

Briefly.

[Nick Gibb]

The decision to locate and build the new school in Yardley Wood rather than on the Baverstock site is supported by Birmingham City Council, as that location will help address the need for new secondary school places not only in the Selly Oak area but in the neighbouring Hall Green area. The feasibility study shows that the site can accommodate a school and make greater use of the playing fields, and will significantly improve sporting facilities for both pupils and the local community.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

rose—

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[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

10. If he will take steps to ensure that the dangers of problem gambling are taught in PSHE lessons.

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

At the beginning of the year, we invited views through a call for evidence on the status and content of personal, social and health and economic education, and we spoke to a range of expert groups. We are considering the evidence we have gathered, and we will make an announcement on the subject later in the year.

[Philip Davies]

Will the Minister work with Gamble Aware and other problem gambling charities such as YGAM—the Young Gamblers Education Trust—to ensure that schoolchildren understand gambling and the dangers of gambling addiction, especially given that the Government, wrongly in my view, currently allow 16-year-olds to gamble on the national lottery and scratchcards?

[Nick Gibb]

Some schools already choose to teach about the dangers of gambling in their curriculum—for example, in their PSHE provision. During the recent call for evidence, we heard from a number of problem gambling charities, including Gamble Aware, and we are considering the evidence that they submitted.

[Mr William Wragg (Hazel Grove) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the provision of integrated user-friendly programmes is crucial to delivering good PSHE in primary schools, and will he recognise the work of organisations such as 1decision and Headway, which I have the pleasure of hosting in Parliament today?

[Nick Gibb]

I very much hope that those organisations will respond to the call for evidence; we are keen to hear from organisations with expertise in this area. We are consulting on the content of relationships education, and we will respond to the consultation shortly.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) (Lab)]

11. What support the Government provide for kinship carers.

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[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

T2. What support has the Department provided to schools to help them to address cost pressures?

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

The Department provides a range of support to schools, including a national deal to help schools to save money on such things as energy, where there is a 10% saving, or photocopiers and other computer equipment, where there are savings of up to 40%. We are also providing buying hub advice in pilots in the north-west and the south-west and a new framework from this September to help to drive down the costs of agency supply staff.

[Mike Kane (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that the unintended consequence of the Progress 8 assessment system, as The Times Educational Supplement put it this week, is that all the losers look the same—they are schools in white, working-class areas with high levels of pupil premium. On the current measures, this will result in Ofsted having no choice but to downgrade these schools, compounding the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, and putting off prospective academy sponsors. What action is the Minister taking?

[Nick Gibb]

Actually, Progress 8 carries widespread support in the sector. It is a far better method of assessing schools than the previous method—five or more GCSEs of A* to C—because it measures progress and takes into account the starting point of pupils when they start secondary school. We think it is a good measure. We are looking at some of the details of the outliers when we calculate Progress 8, and we will have more to say on that in due course.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

T4. The Minister will have read the Education Committee’s report on the Government’s Green Paper on children’s mental health. Does the Minister agree with the Committee that there needs to be specific, distinct proposals to enable looked-after children to access mental health services?

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[Mrs Sharon Hodgson (Washington and Sunderland West) (Lab)]

T8. As chair of the all-party group on art, craft and design in education, I welcome the Government’s recent announcement of extra funding for the arts. However, will the Minister explain what benefit that would bring to the majority of children who are missing out on arts education because of funding cuts, as evidenced by the recent BBC survey on this issue, especially as the new money went to the gifted and talented?

[Nick Gibb]

Yes, the money we announced was for those schemes, but we are spending £500 million between 2016 and 2020 on music and arts in our schools. We value music and the arts in our schools—they are hugely important—and those schools with the best academic results also tend to have very strong arts, music and sports facilities and offer that as well.

[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

T6. English universities are soon to start advertising for courses that start in 2019, after we have left the EU, and the courses will run after the transition period. Will the Minister provide an update on the fee status that will apply to EU students on those courses?

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[Christian Matheson (City of Chester) (Lab)]

Will the Minister confirm that when the hated 1% pay cap is lifted, the balance will be paid entirely from central funds and will not be foisted on to the schools themselves?

[Nick Gibb]

The Government’s position is clear: the public sector pay cap is no longer in place and we have adopted a more flexible approach to public sector pay. We have asked the School Teachers’ Review Body to use this flexibility to target the next pay award to promote recruitment and retention.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

What more can be done to help companies such as Turnock Ltd in my constituency and its owner, Gordon Stone, who has apprentices busy making Christmas lighting for cities and towns across the country?

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[Robert Courts (Witney) (Con)]

West Oxfordshire schools are frequently small and rural. What is being done to help them?

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend will know that the national funding formula contains a sparsity allocation of more than £20 million for schools in rural areas, particularly small schools, to help to deal with the problem he has rightly highlighted.

[Ruth Smeeth (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

On Friday, the University of Chester Academies Trust wrote to its staff at two schools in my constituency, University Academy Kidsgrove and University Primary Academy, to announce savage cuts. Will the Minister meet me and other colleagues with UCAT schools in their constituencies immediately to talk about an urgent solution?

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[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

Time is short, but I wish good luck to all the young people who are starting their standard assessment tests and GCSEs this week.

The Government claim that they have increased funding per pupil in my constituency. Does that increase take account of inflation and national pay increases for teachers and staff?

[Nick Gibb]

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has said, we are spending record amounts on school funding: £42.4 billion this year, rising to £43.5 billion next year. We recognise that there have been cost pressures on schools, and we are giving them a range of help and advice on how to deal with those pressures. For instance, there are national schemes for buying energy, computers and other equipment to help schools to manage their budgets at a time when they are having to do so.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

How does the Secretary of State expect local authorities to retain special services for vulnerable children, let alone share them, when they have faced—on average— 40% cuts in total funding in the last eight years?