Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Stephanie Peacock Excerpts
Monday 11th December 2017

(6 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Anne Milton Portrait Anne Milton
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It was a delight to launch the careers strategy last week. Its spine will be the Gatsby benchmarks, which are critical. The pilot in the north-east demonstrated just how much progress we can make if schools meet all those targets.

Stephanie Peacock Portrait Stephanie Peacock (Barnsley East) (Lab)
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Class sizes in Barnsley are above the national average. As a former teacher, I know the impact that that can have. Does the Secretary of State accept that it has a detrimental impact on pupils?

Justine Greening Portrait Justine Greening
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As we have heard routinely today, school standards in England are rising. In the end, that is what parents care about. There are 1.9 million more children in better primary and secondary schools, and the phonics check is improving literacy outcomes tremendously. It would be good if Opposition Members welcomed that for once.