Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Blomfield Excerpts
Monday 24th March 2014

(10 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Steve Rotheram Portrait Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)
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13. What steps he plans to take to improve vocational education.

Paul Blomfield Portrait Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)
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15. What steps he plans to take to improve vocational education.

Gordon Marsden Portrait Mr Gordon Marsden (Blackpool South) (Lab)
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16. What steps he plans to take to improve vocational education.

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Matt Hancock Portrait Matthew Hancock
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I do not recognise any of those figures, but I do recognise the need to make sure that apprenticeships are driven by the skills that employers need, so that they remain high quality and increasingly fill the skills gaps that have been left by an education system that was far too divorced from the world of work.

Paul Blomfield Portrait Paul Blomfield
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What would the Minister say to Richard Wright, who speaks on behalf of Sheffield business as chief executive of the local chamber of commerce and who wrote to the Secretary of State saying that the funding cut for 18-year-olds in further education would remove money from where it can have the most effect in equipping young people with maths and English, and with the technical and vocational skills that are modern and relevant, to ensure that they are work-ready?

Matt Hancock Portrait Matthew Hancock
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The first thing I would say is that we have ameliorated the change so that no institution will lose more than 2% in the coming financial year. The second thing I would say is that we had to make this change because of the mess left in the public finances by the Labour party. [Interruption.] Labour Members do not like it, but it is the truth, and until they get used to admitting their fault, nobody will trust them with the economy again.