Business of the House

Stuart Anderson Excerpts

Thursday 6th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

The purpose of business questions is to ensure that Members have the opportunity to raise the issues they wish to raise for debate. The hon. Gentleman tells me he has had the chance to question the Prime Minister and the Paymaster General on exactly this question. The fact he does not like the answers does not mean that the answers have not been given and that satisfactory parliamentary time has not been spent on the issue.

[Stuart Anderson (Wolverhampton South West) (Con)]

I am working hard with key partners in Wolverhampton to secure all the funding for the Wolverhampton city learning quarter. We still need some of that funding to come through, but we are delighted with what we have received so far. Will the Leader of the House provide Government time for a debate to ensure that all Wolverhampton children have the right start in life by setting up the city learning quarter?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

I commend my hon. Friend for the brilliant work he is doing on behalf of his constituents in Wolverhampton. As I understand it, the city learning quarter is a most impressive project that supports the council’s objective to boost adult learning in the area with new facilities. The Government appreciate the importance of adult education to improving people’s life chances, so this project supports our wider aims to boost adult learning and reskilling, which we are doing through the adult education budget, the skills bootcamps and free level 3 courses for jobs, which are funding by the new national skills fund. We are spending taxpayers’ money on education across the country to give every child the best start in life, and we are targeting support at the most disadvantaged so that no one is left behind.

My hon. Friend asks when the money will come, and he is right to ask that question. I will make sure he gets an answer from the Department for Education on when the cheque will clear.