Oral Answers to Questions
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(10 years, 8 months ago)
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Michael Gove
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for directing me towards the Family Action report, which I found interesting and sometimes sobering reading. The report identified 13 schools; they are not a representative sample. Those with the most significant additional costs for uniform tended to be voluntary aided schools rather than academies or free schools. There is no evidence that academies or free schools impose any additional uniform costs over maintained schools and there is no evidence that the overall increase in uniform costs has run out of kilter with other costs that families face. However, the Department is renewing its guidance to make sure that schools make the right choice for parents.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Does the Secretary of State agree that it is particularly exciting for the academy programme when primary and secondary schools are brought together in the same academy structure, such as the Montsaye academy in Rothwell and the Kettering Buccleuch and Kettering Science academies in Kettering itself?
Oral Answers to Questions
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(10 years, 9 months ago)
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Michael Fallon
The regional growth fund makes grants not simply to projects and individual companies, but to programmes organised by local enterprise partnerships and other private sector organisations, many of which focus on improving the level of skills in these particular areas.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Would my right hon. Friend be kind enough to accept an invitation to visit the site of the proposed junction 10A on the A14 near Kettering, which has attracted the interest of the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Transport and the Department for Communities and Local Government? An investment of £30 million in the regional growth fund could trigger private sector investment of more than £1 billion.
Michael Fallon
Happily, I have not fully finalised my summer plans, so I shall add to them this visit to a motorway junction. [Laughter.] My hon. Friend makes a serious point: there is clearly a bottleneck that needs to be removed. I will see if I can accept my hon. Friend’s invitation.
Pupil Premium
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(10 years, 9 months ago)
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Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Pupils, parents and teachers across the Kettering constituency will warmly welcome the 44% increase in the pupil premium for primary school pupils. Will the Minister recount some of the best examples he has encountered of how the pupil premium is used? How can best practice be best disseminated across our schools?
Mr Laws
Some of the best practice relates to one-to-one tuition, and a whole series of interventions, about which we are publishing information, have come from research institutions, including the Education Endowment Foundation. What we want to ensure is that the evidence of what works does not come simply from politicians, but from educational experts. It should be available for schools to look at and should not be politicised in any way, as sometimes happened in the past. We are appointing a pupil premium champion in Dr John Dunford, who will go out to schools, draw attention to what works and ensure that best practice is spread right across the country.
National Curriculum
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Michael Gove
My position on sex and relationship education is that I am in favour of it.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
What emphasis will there be on spelling in the national curriculum, and by what age will primary school children be required to learn their 12 times table?
Michael Gove
The 12 times table will be required by the end of year 4, which is a significant advance on where we are at the moment, and there are indicative tables as part of the national curriculum document that lay out how we can ensure that students can spell. I should also say that, on a recent primary school visit that I undertook, I asked the students whether they had enjoyed their national curriculum tests. The universal view was that the tests were fun, but the most fun were the spelling, punctuation and grammar tests that this Government have introduced.
Oral Answers to Questions
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(10 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Laws
I certainly can. I can tell the hon. Gentleman that under this Government, the amount of money that has gone into funding basic need places has doubled in comparison with the amount available under the last Government. I can also say that the reason why there might be pressures at the current time is that the hon. Gentleman’s party removed over 200,000 primary places between 2003 and 2010—in spite of the warnings about higher pupil numbers from the Office for National Statistics.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
The borough of Kettering has the sixth fastest household growth rate in the whole country, and the pressure on primary school places is getting more acute year by year. Will the Minister ensure that in his new funding formula, there is appropriate funding for areas of the country that are experiencing rapid population growth?
Mr Laws
My hon. Friend makes an excellent point because the Government are not only allocating much greater capital for basic need, but have changed the funding formula for distributing this money so that where there are pockets of basic need in areas that were previously not recognised, we are reflecting that fully in the distributions.
GCSEs
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(10 years, 11 months ago)
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Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
The English language, used right around the world, is perhaps the greatest export from these islands, but one of the knock-on effects is that, despite the best efforts of colleges with specialist language expertise, such as the Montsaye academy trust in Rothwell in my constituency, as a nation we do not teach modern languages as successfully as we might. Against that background, why will modern languages be in the second wave of these reforms, not the first?
Michael Gove
My hon. Friend makes a very good point. It is simply that there are some quite difficult issues to deal with when it comes to finding exactly the right way to ensure that speaking and listening skills, in particular, are properly assessed, but I absolutely agree with him that we need to do more to encourage the take-up of languages. Unfortunately, it dipped under Labour; it is now increasing, thanks to the changes that we have made with the English baccalaureate measure.
Child-care Ratios
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(11 years ago)
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Elizabeth Truss
I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware that the cost of staff represents 70% of the average cost of a nursery, and that the cost of premises is only a small part of the overheads that account for the remaining 30%. Staff cost is the major driver of the cost of child-care places. The ratios hold down staff costs and staff salaries, which makes it difficult to attract people to the profession and means higher costs for parents.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
There are many excellent child-care providers in Kettering, but there are not enough. Is not one of the problems faced by nurseries and child-care providers that there are more than 400 early-years qualifications and child-care providers find it difficult to assess whether those qualifications are the best that should be available?
Elizabeth Truss
My hon. Friend makes a good point. We are introducing an early-years educator qualification, which will be the only criteria for judging whether someone should have a qualification at level 3. In order to get that qualification, someone will be required to have an English and maths grade C at GCSE, which will ensure that we get higher quality in the profession. We are also introducing early-year teachers, which, again, will involve a single qualification at graduate level.
Oral Answers to Questions
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(11 years ago)
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Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Will the Minister join me in celebrating the fact that Kettering Science academy and Kettering Buccleuch academy both have a complete set of brand, spanking new buildings and that, together with the dynamic leadership of the heads and sponsoring organisations, this will help transform two of the worst performing schools in Kettering into two of the very best?
Munitions Workers
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Robert Flello
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her comments. Where we draw the line has been a concern. Should the children, grandchildren or more distant relatives of a munitions worker who is no longer with us be able to get the badge? In an ideal world, I would agree with her that the children, and possibly the grandchildren, of munitions workers should be entitled to receive the badge on behalf of their loved one, who sacrificed themselves and put themselves on the line for this country. As a compromise, given the difficulties identifying people, the first step would be to recognise those who are still alive.
As far as the families are concerned, the second part of what the all-party group is asking for at the moment is being launched on 15 April: the fundraising launch for a lasting memorial at the national memorial arboretum. The memorial would form a permanent reminder, to which families—children, grandchildren and more distant relatives—could go. The Roses of Swynnerton—groups around the country referred to their munitionettes in different ways—could perhaps take a rose along to it. A memorial at the arboretum would be a good permanent reminder for families more widely, but as a first step we need the recognition for surviving munitions workers.
I assure the Minister that the issue is not party political. The campaign is an all-party one, and has support from Members across the House. We are absolutely committed to working collaboratively and, like the munitions workers, in a comradely way, with the Government. We just ask that, rather than seeking justification for why living munitions workers should be excluded from the recognition that other groups have had, the Government consider again how such recognition can be given. We also ask the Minister to agree that the danger and cost of giving a badge to someone who perhaps was not there is far outweighed by the need to recognise the ever-decreasing group of people who risked their lives day in, day out. That risk is a price worth paying.
All I really ask of the Minister is that he consider the matter with colleagues. My Front-Bench colleagues will probably hate me for trying to push for a spending commitment, but we are talking about a few thousand pounds. The fundraising push for the permanent memorial seeks to raise £100,000, and the cost of providing a medal or a badge to the surviving munitions workers is probably half that amount. The Chancellor will probably not lose too many nights’ sleep over £50,000, and any help and support, not least in publicising the fundraising drive, would be much appreciated.
In closing, I repeat my concern that if we do not make rapid progress it will be too late for the brave individuals who worked and risked—often giving up—their lives at factories such as the Royal Ordnance in Swynnerton. Those people are all now in at least their mid-80s, and with every day that passes more of them pass away without recognition. I therefore again urge the Minister and his colleagues to review their position. It is only just and proper that the Government give the Roses of Swynnerton, and everyone who was employed in the manufacture of munitions, the formal recognition they deserve. They went about ensuring, in a quiet and determined way—almost without raising an eyebrow—that this country could fight the first and second world wars. They ensured that there were bullets in the guns that our brave soldiers were firing, shells in the artillery pieces, and munitions in the aeroplanes that went up to defend us. If there had not been, all the work and effort, and the fact that the lives of our fantastic military personnel were put on the line, would have come to nothing.
These people need recognition, and they need it soon. I therefore urge the Government to put aside concerns they may have. I hope that in responding to the debate, the Minister can at least say that he will talk again to colleagues. To go away and think again would be a good first level of commitment. Let us give recognition to these people—predominantly women—who have sacrificed so much.
Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)
As wartime munitions were manufactured also in my Kettering constituency, it is my good fortune to have the privilege of chairing this debate. In a moment, I will call Mr Reckless, and then it will be Nia Griffith, Phil Wilson, Huw Irranca-Davies and Russell Brown. I will ask Mr Perkins to start his speech at no later than 10.40 am, so if you pace yourselves you will all get in.
Oral Answers to Questions
Philip Hollobone Excerpts(11 years, 1 month ago)
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Vince Cable
We are being extremely energetic in promoting that agenda. It is certainly true, as the Office for Budget Responsibility has made clear, that the slow-down in the British economy was primarily due to the failure in net exports. In our major export markets, zero or negative growth has been a significant factor. As I said in my first answer, we have very rapid growth in exports to some of the big emerging markets. A lot of that is due to the supportive efforts that are being made not only by British business but by Ministers, including me.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Is it not a serious source of concern that while we have a £20 billion trade surplus with the rest of the world, we have a £48 billion trade deficit with the European Union?
Vince Cable
Yes, it is a source of concern. We now have the benefits of a much more competitive exchange rate, and given the efforts that we are making to promote British exports and import competing industries, I would expect that deficit to narrow.