Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Uppal Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to ensure that all pupils attain basic levels of literacy and mathematics before leaving school.

[Paul Uppal (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

5. What steps he is taking to ensure that all pupils attain basic levels of literacy and mathematics before leaving school.

[Jonathan Lord (Woking) (Con)]

15. What steps he is taking to ensure that all pupils attain basic levels of literacy and mathematics before leaving school.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

It is absolutely right that if parents are given the opportunity to play a part in their child’s education and if they are given additional confidence in their own grasp of literacy and numeracy, the whole family can benefit from it. It is a commitment of myself and the Under-Secretary of State for Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock), who has responsibility for skills and adult learning, to make sure that family learning programmes can be supported as effectively as possible.

[Paul Uppal]

A recent study has found that just under a quarter of residents in Wolverhampton have no formal qualifications, which is double the national average. With that in mind, will my right hon. Friend make a commitment to ensure that learners of all ages have the necessary skills and qualifications to enter employment and bridge the skills gap?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need to make sure, of course, that we intervene early to ensure that the next generation succeeds at a higher level than ever before, but we also need to ensure that older people who, for whatever reason, failed to benefit from the education on offer during their time, are given the chance to re-engage with the world of education to improve their literacy and numeracy.