Term-time Leave

Steve Brine Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2015 Westminster Hall

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered an e-petition relating to term-time leave from school for holiday.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr McCabe. I understand that this is your first time in the Westminster Hall Chair. It is my first time opening a debate here, so hopefully we can learn together.

It is a pleasure to open this debate on a controversial and unpopular policy that has provoked much public interest, as we can see from the number of members of the public present. The debate is the result of an e-petition calling for parents to be allowed to take their children out of school for up to two weeks for a family holiday; it has been signed by more than 120,000 people. I am leading the debate because I am a member of the Petitions Committee, but I also have a keen interest in the issue and have been campaigning about it for the past 12 months or more. I have been contacted by, and have spoken with, hundreds of parents, tourism-related businesses, charities and campaigning organisations about the issue. In my opening statement, I hope accurately to represent the views of all those people, while making it clear that I share those views.

To begin with, I want to make it absolutely clear that I support the aim that children should attend school regularly. Education is vital, but it is not the only important thing in a child’s upbringing. Although I support that aim, I fundamentally disagree that telling parents when they can and cannot take their children on holiday is a job for the state.

During the election campaign, I became increasingly aware of the policy’s detrimental effects; in my view, its wider economic and social impact outweighs the positive effect on school attendance. I represent the constituency of St Austell and Newquay in mid-Cornwall, and the policy’s impacts are especially felt in Cornwall and other places that depend heavily on tourism. I will lay out three main reasons why the policy is wrong and counterproductive and why it needs to be reviewed.

We have heard an awful lot about fairness in politics over the past few years. My first reason is that, sadly, the policy is blatantly unfair to a number of groups. The first group are those unable to take a holiday during school holiday times, including many who work in tourism and other sectors. Many small tourism-related businesses in Cornwall are too busy to allow their staff to take a holiday during the peak holiday season; many are owner-run and have to make money while people are on holiday. People with such work cannot, therefore, afford to close and take a holiday themselves during the season. In fact, the introduction of the policy has made things even worse for tourism businesses because the season is now even more concentrated, into six or seven weeks of the school summer holidays. That places even greater demand on the businesses during the peak season and makes it even more difficult for them to allow staff to take a holiday.

It is not, however, only those who work directly in tourism who are affected; it is also those who work in the public sector in tourism areas. For example, our local police in mid-Cornwall have for many years restricted police officers’ ability to take holiday during the peak season due to the increased demand for policing in the area. The policy effectively tells people who cannot take a holiday during school holiday times that they cannot have a family holiday, and that seems completely unfair.

The policy is also unfair in other ways—on people who cannot afford to pay for a holiday during the peak holiday season, for example. We all know that holidays taken during the peak season, whether in this country or abroad, are out of the reach of many families on low incomes; in fact, many families we would consider to be on middle incomes struggle to pay the peak season prices. There have been calls for the Government to intervene and bring some sort of regulation into the holiday market, but we have to accept that that is incredibly unlikely—we live in a free market economy and prices are set by supply and demand. But surely we can expect the Government not to introduce policies that make the matter worse, and it is worth noting that that is precisely what is happening.

The restriction on term-time holidays has had the unintended—I am sure—consequence of increasing demand during school holidays and pushing prices up during the peak season. Holiday resorts in Cornwall say that because there is greater demand during the peak weeks and they are also losing business during what we call the shoulder weeks, they are having to increase prices in the peak weeks to make up the difference. The cost differential between term-time and school holiday prices is widening. Far from helping the lower-paid to have a holiday, the policy is exacerbating the situation.

Another group that the policy is unfair to are the many families who rely on charities for a holiday. I have been contacted by a number of charities that have for many years taken groups of disadvantaged families on holiday during September. They do it then because prices are lower and they are often able to get a good deal on a holiday park during periods of lower demand.

An example close to my heart is an organisation called Cornwall One Parent Support. I have been involved with the charity right from its beginnings, almost 20 years ago, since when it has provided support for single-parent families, including taking them on a cheap, subsidised holiday in September. It has often taken groups of up to 40 families away for a week. The holiday provides a great opportunity for the parents and children to have a break and experience a holiday they would otherwise never be able to enjoy. However, since the introduction of the policy, the organisation cannot run the holidays in the same way, as the families are prevented from taking their children out of school. The policy is unfair to a great number of families, and sadly it is the lowest paid and most disadvantaged who appear to be losing out.

I also believe that the policy is detrimental to family life. As a matter of principle, I do not believe that it is the role of the state to tell parents when they can take their children on holiday. Every child is unique, and it should be for parents to decide what is right and best for their child. Some parents will decide that the best thing is for their child to be in school at all times; others will decide that the benefit of a family holiday—the experience of travel, new cultures and meeting new people—is more beneficial than being in school for that week. It should be, however, for the parent to make the choice.

[Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)]

It is, of course, the state’s right and responsibility to see that children get a proper education, and we know that being in school clearly leads to that. I do not think that the signatories to the petition are saying that taking children out of school for family holidays is an absolute right, and I wonder whether there might be a compromise to be reached for children in the early years of primary school—reception, year 1 and year 2. Would my hon. Friend suggest that the rules could be relaxed for those years?

[Steve Double]

I agree with my hon. Friend. The vast majority of parents—if not all of them—want a good education for their children. The issue is not about a competition between education and family; it is that many parents, including me, consider that family holidays and the experiences they bring are part of a child’s education. One of the sadnesses of the policy is that it has pitted school and education against family, when we want them to work together for the benefit of the child and to do what is right and best for that child.

If we view education as just what takes place in the classroom, we rather miss the point; education needs to be about much more than that in a child’s life. The point that my hon. Friend made about flexibility is absolutely right—we need some common-sense flexibility brought into this issue. Parents want their children to be in school regularly, and that is what the Education Act 1996 asks for. Let us not forget that the 1996 Act gives parents the option to home educate, which seems to be a bit of a contradiction given the application of the strict rules that I am discussing.

Many parents have contacted me on this matter. It is a widely held view that a child’s upbringing and education are about more than what happens in the classroom. Clearly, formal schooling is a central and critical part of any child’s education, but it is not the only important element. The breadth and variety of experiences that children can gain from travel can enrich and deepen their view and appreciation of the world. I know that from my own upbringing. The times when I travelled with my parents shaped and developed my understanding of the world in a way that the classroom teacher would never be able to provide.

There is a deeper, more concerning aspect of the policy’s impact on families. The policy sends out the message that being in the classroom is somehow more important than being with their family, which is something I fundamentally cannot support. No matter how good a school or individual teacher is, being in school can never be more important, more valuable or more beneficial in a child’s life than a positive and healthy family situation.

We all know that we are living busier and busier lives these days; the pressure and stresses of daily life put more demands on family life than ever before, so the time that parents have with their children is more precious than ever before. The benefit of that week or two away—away from the pressures of life and the domestic and mundane responsibilities of home—can be an oasis for any family, offering the opportunity to regroup, to refresh their relationships and to strengthen the family bond. I know the cliché is often used, but the quality time parents can spend with their children on a holiday can be one of the most positive things a child can experience in the madness of today’s world.