Stephen Morgan
Main Page: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)Department Debates - View all Stephen Morgan's debates with the Department for Education
(3 weeks, 2 days ago)
Commons ChamberOur Government are driving an agenda to break down barriers to opportunity and reduce child poverty. Around £1.5 billion is spent annually on free lunches for over 3 million pupils. This includes all children from reception through to year 2, and we have committed to introducing free breakfast clubs in state-funded primary schools. As with all programmes, we will keep our approach under continued review.
Knowsley, an area in my constituency, has the highest proportion of obese and overweight children in England, according to NHS data. Knowsley council’s director of public health recently described to me how this was an issue of poverty and deprivation. We know from research into universal free school meals in London that such a policy can reduce obesity rates by up to 10%. Earlier this month, I got unanimous support from the council when I suggested that Knowsley could be a perfect test bed for the roll-out of universal free school meals. Will the Minister meet me and the leader of Knowsley council to discuss that possibility?
Over 13,000 pupils in Knowsley are supported with a healthy and nutritious free meal at lunch time through the Department’s free school meals and universal infant free school meals programmes. Unlike the Conservative party, we are on the side of parents in making a child-centred Government a reality. My hon. Friend is a real champion on these matters, and I am happy to meet him to discuss them further.
Because the previous Government widened eligibility, one in three children could get a free school meal in 2024, compared with one in six in 2010. That was despite the fact that 600,000 fewer children were growing up in workless households and that the proportion of people on low pay had halved. Will the Minister commit that this Government will maintain those levels of eligibility?
The Department recognises the valuable role that free school meals play and encourages all parents eligible for the entitlement offer. We will continue to review our approaches and take a consistent approach going forward.
Both in government and in opposition, the Liberal Democrats have a proud record of championing free school meals for all those who need them. However, even today, too many children from some of the poorest eligible families are missing out. Lib Dem-led Durham county council has automatically enrolled children for free school meals this academic year, resulting in over 2,500 additional children getting a meal at lunch time, and an extra £3 million in pupil premium funding for the county. Will Ministers finally commit to automatically enrolling all eligible children in England? The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is the perfect opportunity to do so.
As I mentioned, we will keep our approach in all Government programmes, including eligibility for free school meals, under continued review. We are aware of local measures on auto-enrolment being trialled and are supportive of the overall aims of such schemes.
As a Government, we have had to take tough decisions to get the public finances back on track. In 2025-26, the entitlements budget will be over £8 billion, with a further £75 million to support the sector in this pivotal expansion year. We have also announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium. Early years is central to our mission to give every child the best start in life.
Early years providers are being hammered. In many cases, their national insurance costs per staff member are almost doubling. A large number are small businesses in the private sector, while others are schools that are taking children before they go into reception classes. All of them—both primary schools in the state sector and small private providers—are worried about the extra costs being imposed on them. Can the Minister assure my constituents and, indeed, people throughout the country that families will not face higher costs and that those childcare places will still be there? Can he assure the House that we will have more childcare places at the end of this Parliament than we had at the start of it?
Unlike the Conservative party, we are on the side of working parents, and high-quality education will be available to every child. As for the hon. Gentleman’s substantive point, it would help if the Conservatives were honest. They would not reverse the rise.
The decision not to compensate nurseries for the national insurance increase has already pushed providers “to the brink”, according to the Early Years Alliance, and many in schools, including schools with nurseries, are worried that they will be next. Local councils received a bill of £1.8 billion as a result of the national insurance increase, but received compensation for less than a third of that because the indirect costs were not covered. Can the Minister reassure the House that compensation for the increase will cover all the costs to schools, not just the direct costs?
The Government have announced that public sector employers will receive compensation for the increase in their national insurance contributions, including school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools, but in line with the arrangements for other areas, there will be no additional NICs funding beyond that.
High-quality childcare and early education is a crucial opportunity to transform life chances, but too often it is unavailable or unaffordable. That is why this Labour Government are committed to delivering additional places in new and expanded school-based nurseries. I congratulate my hon. Friend’s school on the work it is doing. Our plans will benefit children and parents with high-quality and accessible provision.
Protecting children is a cross-Government priority. Although the devolved nations have their own safeguarding systems, we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that safeguarding remains a priority and that we all engage with our schools to see where we need to strengthen our safeguarding support.
I thank the hon. Member for raising those matters. I would be happy to meet her to understand the issues in more detail.
I thank pupils, teachers and school leaders for their resilience since the original buildings were closed in August 2023. We have delivered high-quality temporary modular accommodation that the school will use until its new permanent buildings are ready. We will continue to work closely with the trust and the local community to find a permanent solution.
When I worked at the University of Salford, I was proud to be part of the revolution in higher degree apprenticeships that saw thousands of people finding new technical careers following higher education. With unemployment rising and with recruitment agencies reporting significant reductions in job postings as companies squeeze their payroll following the Government’s national insurance increases, what new measures are the Government taking to protect apprenticeship levels in this economic climate?
Ensuring that schools and colleges have the resources and buildings that they need is a key part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. I will be happy to meet the hon. Member to hear more about his concerns.
Millmead children’s centre in my constituency helps young people achieve their early learning goals and provides safeguarding services, and it has been doing so with deprived families for many years, yet although Kent county council has been given £4 million to protect family hubs, it is not protecting those services. Will the Minister explain to Kent county council that it should be finding the money for this vital service?