Core School Budget Allocations

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Tuesday 17th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

The last flippant comment was not necessary; these are all serious issues. Issues such as RAAC have been around in our school system since the 1950s and 1960s. When we discovered new facts and new evidence, we took swift action. There will always be almost no notice; when we have evidence, we cannot just sit on it until a more convenient time to announce it. We had to announce it straightaway. Every school with confirmed RAAC has a caseworker allocated to make sure that we are keeping children safe and keeping them in face-to-face education. So far, we have identified 174 schools with RAAC and in the vast majority of those—all but 23 schools—all the children are still in face-to-face education.

In terms of special educational needs, we published a Green Paper and an implementation plan to improve the experience of parents and children with special educational needs in our school system.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for the update. Clearly, when formulas such as this are being used, it is important that they are tested first to see the results, before those are issued to the schools and other people are involved. Will he confirm that the position is that, even after this error has been corrected, all schools in this country will have enough money to fund the teachers’ pay award agreed by the Government?

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend is right. I have to say that my experience of this particular team in the Department is that they are one of the best teams I have dealt with. This was an error made by officials. They have owned up to it and we have corrected it. It does not affect school funding at all, and it relates to the next financial year, 2024-25. It certainly does not affect this financial year, 2023-24, and the funding of the pay award. Incidentally, it is the highest pay award for 30 years. The 6.5% pay award for teachers is fully funded, with an extra teachers’ pay grant of £525 million this year and £900 million next year. It is totally unaffected by this error.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Monday 17th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

5. What progress her Department has made on improving standards of attainment in mathematics in primary schools.

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

Ofsted’s report on school maths, published last week, stated:

“In the last few years, a resounding, positive shift in mathematics education has taken place in primary schools.”

In the 2019 TIMSS international survey of maths attainment for year 5 pupils, England achieved its highest ever score and rose from 10th out of 49 countries in 2015 to eighth out of 58 countries.

[Bob Blackman]

It is clearly good news that 73% of young people are achieving or exceeding the expected grades at the standard assessment tests. Measures have been taken to catch up after covid, which is really good news, but it is important that we lay the foundations in primary schools so that young people love mathematics and can continue to work on it until they are 18. What measures is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure that?

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In addition to expanding the successful maths hubs programme to deliver teaching for mastery to 75% of primary schools by 2025, we are increasing delivery of the mastering number programme for reception to year 2, which helps students achieve fluency with number bonds, to 8,000 schools by 2024. We will also extend the programme into years 4 and 5 to bolster fluency in times tables.

National Numeracy Day

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Thursday 18th May 2023 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Maria. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on his opening speech, celebrating National Numeracy Day, which, as everyone has pointed out, was actually yesterday. I guess someone miscalculated. My hon. Friend was worried about the length of his speech; it was absolutely the right length, and kept us all interested. None of us who were listening nodded off.

I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Glenrothes (Peter Grant) for his excellent speech, which revealed his clear understanding of maths in general, and statistics in particular. There was a 50% probability that I was not going to like his speech, but it turned out I 100% liked it. I congratulate him on his contribution.

Maths is crucial. We use it every day, whether at work, managing households, or understanding loans and credit. Without a solid foundation in the subject, young people risk being shut out of the careers to which they aspire, and the life they want to lead. Adults with poor numeracy are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as those with competent numeracy at age 30. That is why the Prime Minister announced last month new details of how we will transform our national approach to maths. We will change the way the system works so that everyone will study some form of maths up to 18.

Quality maths education must be built on foundations laid throughout schooling, starting in primary school. The subject is an important part of a knowledge-rich curriculum, giving pupils fluency in key concepts so that they can explore more complex mathematics in secondary school and beyond. That is why we have undertaken fundamental reforms to strengthen maths teaching over the last decade.

Since 2010, the Government have made great strides in improving maths performance across all ages. The way the subject is taught has been transformed in schools, based on the best available international evidence. That includes learning from the approach used by the countries that perform the highest in maths. We reformed the national curriculum teaching methods and the use of textbooks in order to raise standards. More than half of England’s primary schools have now adopted the mastery-based pedagogy from south-east Asia. Teaching for mastery has been supported by 40 beacon schools that demonstrate exemplary teaching, known as maths hubs, as well as by the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics.

Mastery pedagogy encourages fluent recall of number facts, and promotes efficient written methods, as well as a whole-class teaching approach with the objective that no pupil is left behind. In mastery teaching, as in top-performing jurisdictions such as Singapore and Shanghai, significant time is spent developing a deep understanding before moving on to the next part of the curriculum sequence—teaching the components of calculation, step by step. That approach to teaching has shown that wide attainment in the subject is possible. In the 2019 trends in international mathematics and science study survey, year 5 pupils in England achieved their highest ever mathematics score of 556, which improved significantly on 546 in 2015.

To complement evidence-based approaches to maths teaching, the Government introduced more challenging assessments at both primary and secondary levels. That included the multiplication tables check in year 4, which was made statutory in 2021. For pupils who took the check, the mean average score was 19.8 correct answers out of 25, with 27% of pupils achieving full marks. The Government also introduced new key stage 2 maths tests, and reformed GCSEs and A-levels. Those assessments ensure that children master the basics of mathematics before tackling more demanding content, and match the standards set in the highest performing countries and jurisdictions around the world.

The improvement in maths attainment was seen in England’s 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment results, which were our highest ever for 15-year-olds. PISA assesses the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science in approximately 80 countries. In terms of international league tables for maths, the UK was 28th in PISA 2009 and moved up to 18th place in PISA 2018.

Last month, the Secretary of State announced plans to expand the maths hubs programme so that more children can benefit from those proven teaching methods. By 2025, the proportion of schools supported by teaching for mastery will expand to 75% of primary schools and 65% of secondary schools. Maths hubs’ intensive support will aim to reach the schools that need it most, and they will also deliver an expansion of the mastering number programme, which helps children in the first years of primary school to master the basics of arithmetic, such as number bonds and times tables. The programme will reach over 8,000 schools by 2024, and we will also expand it to years 4 and 5 in order to bolster those cohorts’ fluency in times tables.

Last month’s announcement also included further support for teachers of 16 to 19-year-olds who are resitting their mathematics GCSE or functional skills qualification. We know that teaching for mastery also works for this age group, because an evaluation showed that GCSE resit students taught by teachers in the full mastery intervention made one month of additional progress in maths compared with other students. Tellingly, students from disadvantaged backgrounds made even greater progress, averaging two months’ additional progress compared with other students. Since 2014, 16 to 19-year-olds without maths GCSE grade 4 or above have been required to continue studying maths, and more students than ever are now achieving that important benchmark. In 2021-22, 80.3% of 19-year-olds achieved grade 4 or equivalent in maths—the highest level on record.

Enhancing pupils’ mathematics requires us to fully support those capable of the highest attainment in the subject, and since 2018 we have funded the advanced mathematics support programme to increase participation in core mathematics, AS and A-level mathematics, and further maths. My hon. Friend has A-levels in maths and further maths: I am trying to work out what the third one is, but perhaps he can tell me.

[Bob Blackman]

Applied mathematics.

[Nick Gibb]

Of course.

The advanced mathematics support programme also supports improved teaching of level 3 maths qualifications. Additional targeted support is offered in areas of low social mobility and low participation in level 3 maths, to increase opportunities for all students to study the subject beyond the age of 16. Since the programme began, it has reached 86% of state-funded schools and colleges in England, with over 3,000 participating in at least one form of its maths support.

Our reforms and interventions have shown that no pupil’s maths destiny is fixed, as targeted support and proven teaching methods can dramatically improve attainment. To build on our progress, we have announced a fully funded national professional qualification for primary school maths leaders, to improve pupil outcomes still further. That will include instruction in how to train other teachers in maths mastery pedagogy, and we expect it to be available to all primary schools from February next year. We will update the targeted support fund for the 2023-24 year to provide additional funding and incentivise uptake by teachers.

A good understanding of maths has significant benefits for young people’s economic prospects, as has been discussed in this short debate, and a mathematically literate population is essential for a strong economy, as I know my hon. Friend will agree. We are one of the few countries in the OECD where young people do not routinely study some form of maths until the age of 18. The Prime Minister recently confirmed his ambition for all young people to study maths until the age of 18, which will equip them with the knowledge they need to succeed, whatever their chosen career. Indeed, he announced the policy at the London Screen Academy, which is where young people over the age of 16 are taught to make movies. If we get this right, it will deliver a transformative change for our economy and society.

The maths to 18 expert advisory group has now been established to guide the next stages of our thinking. It will consider both the maths needed by the changing employment market and the most effective way that this can be taught. To support those aims, the Government will commission research on post-16 maths provision around the world, so that our curriculum can rival those of the best-performing countries. Additionally, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education will work with employers to review the maths content in apprenticeships. I look forward to hearing the group’s conclusions on how we can enhance young people’s maths knowledge before they start work and make Britain more globally competitive.

Teachers already work tirelessly to deliver high-quality maths education. Rolling out maths to a substantially larger post-16 cohort will require a greater workforce, trained and equipped to teach young people the maths skills that they need, and we will work closely with schools and colleges to do that sustainably. We are already expanding the Taking Teaching Further programme, delivering funding for further education colleges to recruit and offer early career support to those with relevant knowledge and industry experience to retrain as FE teachers, and we will launch a financial incentive pilot this year for up to 355 teachers that will be targeted at some of the hardest to fill subjects, including maths.

We know it is not enough to bolster the abilities of the up-and-coming workforce: as has been pointed out by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East, some 8 million adults in England have maths skills below those expected of a nine-year-old. We announced the Multiply adult numeracy programme in 2021, which is the first priority of the UK shared prosperity fund, the Government’s flagship fund for supporting people and places. That programme teaches adults maths that they can use in everyday life, and can support them to attain a formal qualification, such as functional skills or the GCSE. Some 81 local areas in England are receiving up to £270 million in funding up to 2024-25, and that programme has already reached over 10,000 people.

Following National Numeracy Day, I would like to restate the Government’s commitment to maths as an essential pillar of children’s education. It enables them to build logical thinking and intellect, while equipping them with practical competency for work and life. The Prime Minister wants to change how we value maths as a country while making a positive difference to people’s lives, their career prospects and the economy, and we hope to build on the advances in school-age teaching in the past decade to ensure that every young person leaves education with the maths they need to succeed in modern life.

Awarding Qualifications in 2021 and 2022

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Thursday 22nd July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. As he acknowledged, there are no performance tables in 2021. In 2022, there are no performance tables for standard assessment tests, but there will be performance tables for GCSEs and A-levels. By 2022, we will not have had performance measures from secondary schools in either 2020 or 2021. These are qualifications for young people that really matter to their life chances, and we are able to make adaptations to them, as I have explained. There is also the notion of comparable outcomes, so they will be a fair reflection of schools’ performance. Parents do need to have that data and that information when making a choice of secondary school for their children. By contrast, in primary schools we have not been able to make adaptations to the SATs in 2022, so we did not feel it was fair to continue with performance measures for the 2022 SATs.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con) [V]]

I thank all the heads, principals, lecturers, teachers, staff and, indeed, pupils and students across Harrow for all their work during the pandemic. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving an early indication of what is going to happen next year, but we know that the teacher assessments may, in some cases, produce unusual and strange results. Will he come back to the House in the autumn to report on the number of appeals, on the number of individuals who have opted to take the examinations and on what the impact of that has been? Then we can all learn from the experience of teachers and lecturers during the pandemic.

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. We will of course be able to publish data on the number of entrants to the autumn series. Undoubtedly, Ofqual will be publishing details of the appeals process. I assure my hon. Friend that the quality assurance process is rigorous. The exam boards have carried out a check of each school and exam centre’s approach to assessment and internal quality assurance. Headteachers have to sign a head of centre declaration form, to confirm that the grades submitted are fair, accurate and in accordance with the processes they have agreed. Schools submit a sample of evidence of how they determined those grades, and the exam boards will review centres whose grades are significantly out of line with previous years. They will challenge schools where the evidence does not support the grade awarded. I hope that quality assurance process will provide some reassurance to my hon. Friend.

Educational Settings: Reopening

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

Of course we want to give schools the appropriate notice, which is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said last week that we would give schools, colleges and universities two weeks’ notice. That is not just for the schools; it is for parents as well, who need to know precisely what their childcare arrangements will be. As for the malware issue, that occurred in a very small number of devices. They have been dealt with, and the virus has been removed.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con) [V]]

I know that my right hon. Friend is as keen as everyone is to get schools fully open with children back in them. As we emerge from the national lockdown, it is likely that we will go back into some form of tiered approach. Can he update the House on what the plan is? Will all schools of a particular type be fully open, or will it be based on the tier an area is in? That will be vital in terms of heads and senior staff planning for how they reopen their schools fully.

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend is right to raise these issues, as he always does. We continually talk to stakeholders and advisory groups, and we discuss all options for how to open schools when the scientific advice says that it is safe to do so.

Catholic Sixth-form Colleges

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Tuesday 5th March 2019 Westminster Hall

[Nick Gibb]

That will be very much an issue for the next spending review, but perhaps a neater solution would be to address the issue of the conversion of Catholic sixth-form colleges to academy status. I am aware that the issue of academy conversion is very significant for this group of colleges. Indeed, each Catholic sixth-form college was asked to consider joining an academy in the reports of the further education area reviews covering their areas, but I understand that only three of the 14 made an immediate decision not to pursue that option.

I should explain—as other hon. Members have explained—that the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 includes specific freedoms, which permit Catholic sixth-form colleges to maintain and develop their religious character. Fully equivalent protections are not included in the legal framework for 16-to-19 academies, which are a distinctive type of institution compared with other academies established through the Education Act 2011. The provisions that allow sixth-form colleges to consider faith when appointing governors and staff, and that allow them to teach religious education and provide collective worship in line with tenets of the Catholic faith, do not currently exist for 16-to-19 academies.

When the legislative framework for 16-to-19 academies was first established, we did not envisage establishing them as faith-based 16-to-19 institutions. At the time, our view was that EU directive 2000/78/EC prevented the creation of new post-16 vocational institutions with a religious character. We had adopted a blanket approach, so that no post-16 provision could be established with a religious character. We are now exploring how to put in place the right conditions to enable Catholic sixth-form colleges to convert to academy status with their existing freedoms.

I know that my ministerial colleagues have met representatives of Catholic sixth-form colleges and the Catholic Education Service to discuss this issue. As the hon. Member for Harrow West pointed out, it would require primary legislation to make the necessary changes, but the Government’s legislative programme does not yet provide the scope for such legislation. We will of course keep this under review in future parliamentary Sessions, and we will continue to work with this group of colleges and with the hon. Gentleman to try to find a solution to this problem.

[Bob Blackman]

Clearly there is the issue of any potential legal impediment. Will the Minister confirm that, provided the United Kingdom leaves the European Union on 29 March, that legal impediment will fall way and it would be up to the Government to bring forward a change in the law—a private Member’s Bill could achieve the same—that would enable Catholic sixth-form colleges to academise if they chose to do so?

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. I think later legal advice shows that the issue is more nuanced than that, and it might be possible to legislate even while we remain subject to the EU directive. I very much hope that we can take that forward when an opportunity arises.

Last year, sixth-form colleges raised concerns about the creation of new 16-to-19 free schools and the approvals process for academies to create new sixth-form provision. We have listened to those concerns and strengthened the criteria we use to assess new sixth-form proposals. For all schools that apply to open a sixth form, we have set a clear requirement that all local sixth-form and FE colleges must be consulted prior to a business case being submitted. Furthermore, during the last free school application wave, we were explicit that all applications for new 16-to-19 provision must provide evidence of need for additional places in the area, and that any request is likely to be approved by exception only. In the guidance for wave 14, which we published recently, this requirement was strengthened further.

I conclude as I began: by paying tribute to the excellent academic achievements of Catholic sixth-form colleges and their support for improving social mobility among students from disadvantaged backgrounds. I recognise that such colleges have particularly felt the tightening financial circumstances, despite our protection of the base rate of funding. The issue of academisation is significant for the sector.

I echo the sentiments of the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills when she spoke at the winter conference of the Sixth Form Colleges Association in January. As we prepare for the spending review, explaining the issues through opportunities such as this debate will help provide strong arguments for the sector. More importantly, the continued delivery of excellent education and strong pastoral support and guidance will be the best advert for further investment in Catholic sixth-form colleges and all colleges in this important and high-performing sector.

Swaminarayan School Closure

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Wednesday 18th July 2018 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Howarth. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) on securing this important debate and on his opening comments.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) is, of course, right that the Government’s academies and free schools programme has enabled a number of Hindu faith schools to be established in the state sector for the first time, as free schools set up by organisations such as the Avanti Schools Trust. He pointed to a new school opening this September under the free schools programme. There is also the Avanti House Primary School in Harrow and the Avanti House Secondary School, which were opened under the free school programme—the secondary was rated good by Ofsted in May 2018. There is the Krishna Avanti Primary School in Croydon and the Krishna Avanti Primary School in Leicester, again set up under the free school programme.

There are more than 2,300 independent schools in England, and between them they provide an enormous variety of educational experiences for our young people. Around 7% of children are educated in the independent sector, which is a significant contribution to our education system. Some schools in the independent sector will close and some will open. The independent sector also has a number of faith schools, which bring their own distinctive flavour. Schools with a religious character also play a strong and positive role in the state-funded sector, making up a third of all schools. They are some of our highest performing schools and are often popular with parents, giving them greater choice and the opportunity to pass on their ethos to their children.

Although the independent school sector as a whole is flourishing, with broadly constant numbers of schools and pupils over the past few years, it is inevitable that there will be changes. Every year, a number of independent schools close—usually about 70 or 80. Other schools open their doors in broadly the same numbers, but the profile of the sector tends to change over time in response to a number of factors, including market pressures. We should not forget that independent schools, whether run by charities or as businesses, operate in the marketplace. The decision to close an independent school is a matter for the owner or proprietor alone, except for the small number of cases when the Government seek to close a school because of a serious and extended failure to meet the independent school standards; that has not been the case for the Swaminarayan School.

Unlike state-funded schools, independent schools do not have to go through an approval process before they close. Although the owner or proprietor is asked as a matter of courtesy to inform the Department for Education that the school can be removed from the register of independent schools, there is no obligation to give the Department any details of the reason for closure. The Department passes what it knows to the relevant local authority, in case the closure results in demand for state-funded school places.

It is, of course, always a priority, whenever an independent or state school closes, to ensure that alternative schools are found for the pupils. My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East is absolutely right to raise that important issue. It can be a very difficult time for families, and sometimes there are added time pressures. Families were told about the closure of the Swaminarayan School well in advance. That is not often the case, and it will assist parents who are currently sending their children to the school.

I turn to the closure. Although the school is not in the constituency of the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall, it is likely that many children from families in his constituency attend it. Naturally, those families will have found the announcement of the closure disappointing. It is a reasonably sized school: in January 2018, it had 420 pupils, although only 377 are expected to be there this September, and it caters for an age range of between two and 18 years. When it was inspected in 2014, the Independent Schools Inspectorate found that the provision was excellent. The October 2014 report says the school

“enables pupils to obtain excellent standards in their work and to develop outstanding qualities as young people”.

It also says:

“Both at GCSE and in the sixth form, pupils benefit from first class curricular arrangements, and from a wide-ranging programme of activities”.

That reflects what the hon. Gentleman said. As I said, there is no requirement to give the Department specific reasons for closure, but our understanding from statements supplied by the trustees is that the reasons are primarily financial, and that falling pupil numbers are the driver. The closure of all parts of the school is now planned to take place in 2020, to give parents the maximum amount of time to find alternative schools.

The school has a designation as a school of religious character and a declared religious ethos of Hinduism, although not all the pupils who attend are of that religion. It is right to acknowledge that the closure of a school with a specifically Hindu ethos is a matter of regret, simply because at present there are relatively few other schools of that nature in England. There are two primary academies, four free schools and an independent school. Most Hindu children attend schools in the state or independent sectors.

As I have suggested, there is nothing the Government can do to stop the closure now that the trustees have taken the decision. We do not fund independent schools, and nor do we come to arrangements that are designed to help them overcome financial difficulties. That is what being independent is about; it is not just about giving schools greater freedom to operate in the way they want.

I am sure the school will work closely with the local authority and parents to ensure that alternative schools can be found for the children who are still at the school in 2020. I will write to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East about the site. If it had been a state school, there are particular provisions to ensure that the first option is for it to open as a free school. As it is an independent school, I will write to my hon. Friend in technical terms about whether there are provisions in statute that can enable the site to continue to be used for educational purposes, or whether it is free for the owners to dispose of as they wish. I will write to him to confirm that position.

I have listened very carefully to what the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall said. The priority over the next two years must be to ensure that the pupils who would have been at the school in 2020, had it remained open, are found alternative places.

[Bob Blackman]

One of the questions I asked—I apologise to the Minister, because they were not necessarily expected—was: what assistance can the Department give to parents who wish to set up a free school, if they wish to pursue that route? There are 377 pupils in the school at the moment.

[Nick Gibb]

We give a lot of help to groups that wish to set up free schools. The New Schools Network is the starting point of that help; once a proposal is in play, we will allocate an official in the Department to help it come forth. A number of Hindu free schools have already been established through that process, and I am happy to work with my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East and the hon. Members for Ealing, Southall and for Ealing North (Stephen Pound), if they want to meet to discuss particular proposals for a Hindu free school to replace the Swaminarayan School.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Monday 11th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Parents in my constituency largely have access to schools offering faith-based education for their children, if they desire it, but every one of those schools is over-subscribed. What more can my right hon. Friend do to ensure that there is real choice for parents in faith-based education?

[Nick Gibb]

We greatly value the important role that faith schools play in our education system. They are high performing, they are popular with parents and they make an excellent contribution to our education system. Through the free schools programme, we have facilitated the creation of 71 new state-funded faith schools.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Thursday 23rd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

9. When she plans to respond to the Government’s consultation on caste as a protected characteristic in equality legislation.

[The Minister for Equalities (Nick Gibb)]

The public consultation on how best to ensure that there is appropriate and proportionate legal protection against caste discrimination closed on 18 September. We received more than 13,000 responses, which are currently being analysed, and we will respond in due course.

[Bob Blackman]

Given the thousands of responses from British Hindus saying that having caste as a protected characteristic in equality law is unnecessary and divisive, will my right hon. Friend take action to remove that provision—which was introduced by the Labour party—from the legislative book?

[Nick Gibb]

We appreciate that caste is an extremely sensitive and emotive subject which is important to many people, but there is clearly no unanimous view among consultation respondents about how best to provide the necessary legal protection against caste discrimination. We are therefore considering the responses very carefully, and will be taking account of all the relevant points raised when deciding how to proceed.

Education: Public Funding

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Tuesday 4th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

We do believe that education is the best economic policy that there is. That is why we are improving standards in our primary schools. We have improved the curriculum and the teaching of reading and mathematics. We have revised, reformed and improved GCSEs, so that children leave our schools with qualifications and an education on a par with the best in the world.

Whatever the hon. Gentleman likes to say, we have protected school funding in real terms. I do acknowledge that schools face cost pressures over a four-year period from 2016-17, and we are helping schools to deal with those cost pressures. Those pressures are being faced right across the public sector, and they are there because we have to deal with the economic mess left by the last Labour Government.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

Given that during the general election campaign, headteachers from all over the country wrote to parents to say that per pupil funding would be cut quite dramatically, what will my right hon. Friend do to make sure that parents receive the good news that there will be no reductions in per pupil funding?

School Funding Formula (London)

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Wednesday 28th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nick Gibb]

I accept my hon. Friend’s point. We have had many discussions on these and other issues—regarding not only schools in his constituency, but f40 schools across the country. I feel strongly that schools with children who come from deprived backgrounds, with all the challenges they bring, should receive extra funding through the formula in addition to the money that comes through the pupil premium. I also strongly believe that we need to ensure that children who start school behind their peers catch up. Funding, I hope, will help ensure that they do. My hon. Friend is right, however, that we want to ensure that schools without any of those characteristics are properly funded. We can do that when a strong economy is generating the revenue to pay for those funds.

[Bob Blackman]

One of the issues that the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Sir Vince Cable) did not raise was rising rolls, particularly in London. The birth rate and the influx of people coming to London with young children require schools to accommodate more children, but the money lags. Will the Minister consider that aspect? If schools are not going to lose out over all, the per-pupil funding will be crucial in London to make sure that money goes to the schools as rolls rise.

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right: as pupil numbers rise, so funding for schools will rise as well, because it is based on a per-pupil approach. We are spending record amounts on school funding—£41 billion this year—and that is set to rise further as pupil numbers rise.

In December last year, we launched the second stage of the consultation on the detailed design of the formula. As part of the consultation and to ensure maximum transparency, we published detailed illustrative impact data for all schools and local authorities, and that enabled us to hold a truly national debate during the three months of the consultation. During that period, as I said, I met parents, teachers and governors. Both the Secretary of State and I met hon. Members from across the House. We received more than 5,000 letters on the national funding formula and held more than 10 debates in the House. We received more than 25,000 responses to the consultation itself.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T7. My right hon. Friend will be well aware that Harrow is the most multiracial borough in the country. Can she explain to the people of Harrow why every secondary school bar one and every primary school in my borough will see a reduction in expenditure under her plans?

[Mr Gibb]

My hon. Friend will know that 22% of the schools in his borough will see an increase in funding, and per-pupil funding on average in Harrow remains high, at £4,792 per pupil. That is higher than in many local authority areas around the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Monday 10th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

11. What progress she has made on maintaining the availability of GCSE and A-level qualifications in community languages.

[The Minister for Schools (Mr Nick Gibb)]

After several months of negotiations, we have secured the exam boards’ commitment to continue to provide all but one of the existing language qualifications at GCSE and A-level. I place on record my thanks to Rod Bristow of Pearson and Andrew Hall of AQA for their help and support in securing a long-term future for those important qualifications. It is right that we have a range of language qualifications available, reflecting the diversity and dynamism of today’s Britain.

[Bob Blackman]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his answer and on the negotiations that have taken place.

Every year, thousands of young people from the age of five onwards begin learning Gujarati, Urdu or Punjabi, expecting it to lead to a long-term qualification. What steps can my hon. Friend take to make sure that those qualifications are secure not just for an interim period but in the long term, and that the teaching staff are available to provide that education?

[Mr Gibb]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for his work in helping to secure those qualifications, particularly in Gujarati, working with the Consortium of Gujarati Schools. I am pleased that we have secured the continuation of qualifications in community languages. There will be no gap in provision—the existing qualifications will continue to be offered until 2018, when the new qualifications are introduced. We continue to support the recruitment of high-quality language teachers, including by offering bursaries of up to £25,000. There are also many successful and long-standing Saturday schools, which help to ensure that culture and languages continue to be taught.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Monday 4th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely wrong. Following the apprenticeships review in 2012, employers are designing new apprenticeships that are more responsive to the needs of business. More than 1,300 employers are involved; 241 standards have been published; and more than 160 new standards are in development. In the last Parliament, there were 2.4 million apprenticeship starts, and the reforms to technical education will build on that. This is a very successful part of our education system.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

T3. One of the concerns about the fairer funding formula is what happens to sixth-form students. Can Ministers confirm that fairer funding will apply to sixth-form students in particular, and clarify what is proposed for sixth-form colleges?

Term-time Holidays

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Thursday 19th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

I am happy to enter into a constructive dialogue with my hon. Friend, and with my hon. Friend the Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double). We have given academies discretion to set their own term dates, and I urge all hon. Members who represent areas with high levels of tourism to work with their schools, the local authority, and other local authorities, to find a way to set term dates that reflect the needs of their local communities.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

My hon. Friend will know that when children are absent from school, it is disruptive to the child who misses school but also to the class when they try to catch up. One experiment currently being tried is to extend the school day by 30 minutes, and extend half term from one week to two weeks in certain areas, to allow parents to take their children on holiday for two weeks. What does the Minister think of that idea?

[Mr Gibb]

That is precisely the kind of idea that we hope and expect will come from the discretion that we have granted academies in this country, and many schools are taking advantage of that freedom.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Bob Blackman

Monday 7th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

6. What progress has been made on the academies programme in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

There are currently 203 academies open in 83 local authorities. More academies will open in September, with numbers continuing to grow each year now that the programme has been opened up to all schools. For the academies with results in 2008 and 2009, the increase in the proportion of pupils achieving at least five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths is 5 percentage points, an increase on last year’s academy improvement rate of 4.3 percentage points, which is double the national average.

[Bob Blackman]

Progress in opening academies under the last Government was extremely slow. Some 1,100 schools have applied for freedom from local authority interference, and freedom to set their own standards to ensure they demonstrate the highest possible quality. What comfort can the Minister give to ensure that those applications will all be honoured, and that those schools will not be dissatisfied?

[Mr Gibb]

I hope I can give my hon. Friend the comfort he seeks. Of the 1,100 schools that have applied, 626 are outstanding and we have said that we will provide them with a fast-tracking process. That should give him the comfort he seeks.