Oral Answers to Questions

Rob Wilson Excerpts

Monday 16th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Hackney South and Shoreditch has much to commend it, but it is rather a long way from Newcastle upon Tyne Central, so we will leave that one for another day.

[Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)]

10. What proportion of secondary schools have academy status or are in the process of converting to academy status.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove)]

At present, we are fortunate in that more than 50% of secondary schools are either full academies or en route to converting to academy status.

[Mr Wilson]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on that figure. I must tell him, however, that at a recent council meeting in Reading, the Labour administration launched an outdated left-wing assault on the academies programme. Given the clear benefits of academy status, will he condemn that backward-looking element of the Labour party and reaffirm the Government’s commitment to putting children first, not party-political dogma?

[Michael Gove]

That is an excellent point. Now that more than half the number of secondary schools are either academies or en route to becoming academies, those who attack the academies programme are attacking the majority of state schools in the country. It is a pity that there are people in the Labour party who are enemies of state education at a time when so many great head teachers are taking advantage of academy freedoms to raise standards for all.