Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Siân Berry Excerpts
Monday 9th December 2024

(3 days, 18 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Bridget Phillipson Portrait Bridget Phillipson
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My hon. Friend identifies a number of the challenges that we have inherited as a new Government. We are working as quickly as we can to address them. We want to ensure that teachers right across the sector, whether in our schools, the FE sector or colleges, get the support, the pay and the recognition that they deserve.

Siân Berry Portrait Siân Berry (Brighton Pavilion) (Green)
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In Brighton’s non-academy sixth-form colleges, the current teacher strike action stems largely from the Government not providing the same funding to cover pay uplifts as they do for schools and academies. Will the Secretary of State urgently correct that unjustified funding anomaly?

Bridget Phillipson Portrait Bridget Phillipson
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At the Budget, we set out an additional £300 million for further education. The hon. Lady will know that the Government are not responsible for and play no role in setting or making recommendations about teacher pay in FE colleges. We are looking closely at sixth-form colleges too as part of this, which again is part of the challenge that we inherited from the last Government.