School Attendance (Duties of Local Authorities and Proprietors of Schools) Bill

Roger Gale Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 17th May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend and fellow Essex MP the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford) on her excellent Bill and on the skilful way she has guided it through this place. I was very disappointed not to be there in the Bill Committee, but I am delighted to be here to support her and her Bill on Third Reading.

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right that education is the best way to change our children’s future and thereby our country’s future, giving all our children the opportunity to excel and to develop their true potential. She is right to point out that we have made enormous strides with education, particularly under this Government and over the last 14 years, to a point where we now have the best readers in the western world. She pointed out how we have raced up the PISA tables; we now rank 11th in the world for maths and 13th for reading worldwide. However, I was deeply concerned last year to see reports suggesting that, in Southend, a fifth of school pupils are missing 10% of their lessons over the course of a year. The most recent data from Southend Learning Network suggests that, in primary schools, persistent absence sits at 5.7%, just above the national average of 5.4%. In secondary schools, persistent absence is 7%, which is below the national average of 8.7%. That is good news, but both those figures are still too high.

As my right hon. Friend eloquently demonstrated, only a small diminution in attendance can have a significant impact on exam results and, therefore, pupils’ ability to go on and fulfil their potential. That is why I welcome the action that she has taken. She highlighted how good attendance requires a holistic approach, involving schools, families, local authorities and other local partners, which I wholeheartedly agree with. I also agree with the view of the Education Committee, of which I am a member, that the Department for Education’s 2022 guidance, “Working together to improve school attendance” should be put on a statutory footing. The Bill takes steps to ensure that that happens.

This is an excellent Bill, and I am delighted that it enjoys cross-party support. It is a positive step forward in enabling children to get the support they need and help them not only to return but to stay in school. Again, I thank my right hon. Friend for introducing it. It has my full support. I hope to see it pass today and make swift progress through the other place, so that we can get it on the statute book as soon as possible.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

I call the Opposition spokesperson.

--- Later in debate ---

[Vicky Ford]

With the leave of the House, I again thank everybody who has taken part during the passage of this Bill. I may have been a little modest. This is a very short Bill—it is only a couple of pages long—but the guidance that it will make statutory is enormously detailed and wide-ranging. That is why making that guidance statutory was the No. 1 recommendation of the Education Select Committee, and the No. 1 ask from the Children’s Commissioner and many others.

I remember the Opposition day debate to which the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) referred. I remember asking the shadow Schools Minister, the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell), whether she would support my Bill on that day, and she declined to do so. We have introduced this legislation in the form of a private Member’s Bill; in order to do so, I had to join the back of the queue, because my name did not come up in the ballot. I remind colleagues that not just one but four Labour Members were in the top five of the ballot for private Members’ Bills. If the Labour party really wanted to do something great for our children, it would have taken the Bill through this route itself. Labour Members say that they have a plan for our children, but we can see that they have not. Otherwise, they would have delivered this Bill themselves.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the Third time and passed.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Roger Gale)]

Congratulations to the right hon. Lady.