John Bercow
Main Page: John Bercow (Speaker - Buckingham)Department Debates - View all John Bercow's debates with the Department for Education
(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Sarah Teather
The hon. Gentleman is correct in saying that I did not answer his point about Lancaster and Fleetwood, so I will respond to him in writing about it. As I said, schools will be held accountable for their use of the pupil premium by the detail in the performance tables, which will be published from this year, and by the requirement from September 2012 to make it clear how they are spending their pupil premium money in respect of the progress made on the attainment of the pupils it covers. We are also very committed to providing advice on best practice and we will be doing that soon.
Mr Speaker
The motto is that Ministers should look at the question on the Order Paper before answering, rather than afterwards, but I appreciate what the Minister has said and I think that the House is grateful for it.
Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)
10. When he plans to launch the internal review of personal, social, health and economic education announced in the teaching White Paper.
Sarah Teather
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
The hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) will just have to wait with bated breath for our early years statement, which will be out shortly and in which we will make further announcements about Sure Start and how we intend to improve the quality of early years.
Mr Speaker
Order. I remind the House that topical questions and answers are supposed to be brief.
Michael Gove
That was a very effective pitch from a very effective Back Bencher.
Mr Gibb
My hon. Friend raises a good point, which is a major concern of this Government. More than one in six parents have children who are not offered a place at their preferred school. That has led to 85,000 appeals. We are reviewing the admissions process, which is far too complex to understand and administer. One of the proposals is to allow good schools to raise the pupil admissions number. We have had a very good response to the consultation so far and will announce our response in due course.
Mr Speaker
Order. It is much better when the hon. Gentleman addresses the House. We always look forward to that.
Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)
It appears that the 16 to 19 funding consultation for 2013-14 will not be published until September at the earliest. Will the Secretary of State take steps to ensure that that does not delay the publication of information about the 2012-13 budgets for schools and colleges?
Michael Gove
That question was epigrammatically brilliant and requires no further elucidation from me, other than to say, “Hear! Hear!”
Mr Speaker
Order. I must say that as a quick learner, the Secretary of State is proving to be exemplary, and the House is grateful to him.
Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)
Every head teacher and teacher I have spoken to dislikes and has enormous disrespect for the E-bac. I have not come across a single educationist who supports the Secretary of State. It is causing chaos at key stage 4 and in our schools. Is that what he meant by giving more power and autonomy to teachers?
Michael Gove
Oscar Wilde once said that one should try everything in life once apart from folk dancing and incest. I think that he was only 50% right.
Mr Speaker
Order. We always go away from listening to the Secretary of State not only entertained, but improved. We are grateful to him.