Oral Answers to Questions

John Bercow Excerpts

Monday 16th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Skills and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock)]

We are in the middle of a big culture change, with more and more employers—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Before the Minister gets ahead of himself, with characteristic enthusiasm and gusto, I think he will want to confirm to the House his intended grouping of Questions 6 and 8, which I think his briefing folder will tell him.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

I call Lisa Nandy.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

indicated dissent.

[Mr Speaker]

I thought that the hon. Lady was seeking to catch my eye. Never mind; there will be other opportunities I call Margot James.

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

In my borough of Dudley, young people leave school at 16 to pursue A-levels and other forms of post-16 education at local colleges. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need a system of destination measures that will enable us to track the progress of students back to the school that they attended before reaching the age of 16?

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

Early years practitioners know that we need both structured play and appropriate introduction at the right time to more formal methods of learning to get the most out of every child. We are very fortunate that we have not just a revised early years foundation stage but more and more talented people teaching in the early years.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is of course disorderly to refer to the Gallery, but I feel sure that the occupants of it will be revelling in the praise that the Secretary of State has generously conferred on them. On this occasion, his disorderly conduct is readily excused, but only on this occasion.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

I fully associate myself with such disorderly conduct in the House and congratulate those inspiring school and college leaders who have rightly been recognised by Her Majesty the Queen. Teaching is a moral mission, and it should be celebrated as such.

In 2010, the Department for Education was warned of threats to schools in Birmingham, but for four years, on the Secretary of State’s watch, his Department failed to act. The chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is now urging the Government to provide greater public assurance that all schools in a locality, regardless of their status, will discharge the full range of their responsibilities. When will the Secretary of State accept that micro-managing schools from behind a desk in Whitehall does not work, and that we need a proper system of independent, local accountability?

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

I have to say that the hon. Gentleman did rather better at reading out his question this time than he did last week, so I suppose it really was worth that exercise in déjà vu all over again. The truth is that Labour’s policy is opaque and unclear. At different times, the hon. Gentleman has been in favour of free schools and greater autonomy, and against them. He is currently in favour of abolishing the national curriculum in all schools, but David Blunkett, the man who advises him on schools policy, is in favour of imposing it in all schools. As I have said before: inconsistency, thy name is Tristram.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think that the Secretary of State was referring to the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett). I feel sure that he was.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

T3. Last week, the Secretary of State described the safety of children as central to his Department’s mission. In March, prompted by information arising from the police investigation into Jimmy Savile, he ordered investigations into 21 schools and care homes. How will he co-ordinate that work with similar investigations in the NHS and report the findings to the House?