Oral Answers to Questions

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gillian Keegan]

Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children from wherever they go missing. Children who go missing from home can face the same risks as a child going missing from local authority care. The Department for Education’s statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care settings sets out clear steps that local authorities and their partners should take to prevent all children from going missing and to protect them if they do go missing. Responsibilities to missing children remain unchanged during the pandemic. We expect local authorities to feel empowered to use their judgment to find suitable ways to safeguard children from the risks of going missing.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to ensure the timely implementation of the expansion of the holiday activities and food programme throughout the regions of England.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Vicky Ford)]

Rolling out the excellent holiday activity and food programme for children across the country will mean that even more children will benefit from free healthy meals and enriching holiday activities. We have already written to all the local authorities with guidance. We will work closely with them, including sharing best practice from our pilot programmes, and we are appointing a national organisation from spring next year to support the local delivery.

[Tom Hunt]

Ipswich was lucky enough to be one of those pilots and, this summer, it actually had the holiday activity and food programme in operation. It was great to go there to meet not only the children who benefited from it, but the different organisations and the young adults from Ipswich who were able to play a part in delivering that service. Can the Minister outline what plans are in place, looking ahead to the Easter and summer holidays, to make sure that this continues to happen and that the community is completely aware of how it can get involved in this fantastic project?

[Vicky Ford]

It was a huge pleasure to visit the Government’s holiday activity and food programme with my hon. Friend in Ipswich this summer. We saw at first hand how local partnerships helped to deliver these excellent schemes, so we want to encourage schools, childcare providers, food suppliers, voluntary organisations, sports experts, and arts experts all to come together in partnership. Interested parties should contact their local authorities and together we will all make sure that next year’s holidays are full of food and fun.

School Attendance: Covid-19

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2020 Westminster Hall

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David, for the third time in recent weeks—I served under your chairmanship twice the week before last. I want to make a few comments from my position as a member of both the Petitions Committee and the Education Committee, which has looked at this issue closely since the start of the pandemic.

I was quite depressed every week, seeing the immense damage done by school closures on all pupils but particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs. I remember when the Petitions Committee first discussed the petition, and in many senses it is a shame that it was not debated far sooner. What it called for related to March, when we did not know much about the virus and its impact on young people, whereas now we know far more. I do not know whether everyone who signed the petition would have done so knowing what we know now, but, while I sympathise with the concerns of many of the people who did sign it, I do disagree with its principal call to take the power out of the hands of schools to issue fines, if necessary, should parents withhold their children from school. It is ultimately the role of schools, experts and the Department for Education to determine whether it is safe for children to go to school and not that simply of parents. There would be unintended consequences.

Virtually every parent whose kids are in school cares passionately about their kids and their education. The Government made the important decision at the start of the pandemic to keep schools open for children from vulnerable backgrounds, but the small proportion of them who actually went in was worrying. I remember a session with the Children’s Commissioner, who had a real concern. The brutal truth and sad reality are that some children are deemed as vulnerable because of the households they live in. The benefit of them going to school every day is that other adults can check the welfare of that child and, if there are any issues or concerns, have a conversation with them and intervene. It was a great worry for many of us that, for a prolonged period, many of those vulnerable children were not going into school. On that occasion, putting the decision on whether they should go to school entirely in the hands of a parent left me with concerns. That would be in some respects an unintended consequence of taking the power away from the school and the Government during that period of lockdown. We could have gone further and required that all vulnerable children went into school.

I also had concerns about the online learning offer. Before the debate, I talked to a headteacher of a school in my constituency in a deprived part of town with probably the highest proportion of students for whom English is an additional language. Their online data indicates that only 22% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds with a principal language other than English received good-quality online learning during the period when schools were closed. A lot of children at the school come from the Roma community, and for them it was only 10%. Again, we must look at why that was.

Going forward, we must keep schools open. Like many of my colleagues, I have received a lot of emails recently from the National Education Union about its desire for schools to be closed now, but I disagree. While I sympathise with parents and teachers who have concerns about safety, and the Government need to heed and address those, I think it is absolutely critical that, come what may, our schools are kept open.

We know far more now about the virus and its impact on young people, but we also know far more about the impact of closing schools on children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. I am pleased that, from what I have read over the past couple of days, the principal Opposition are also of the view that schools must stay open. It is incumbent on the Government and Opposition to work together in whatever way they can to ensure that that is the case.

In conclusion, although I am sympathetic to some of the concerns raised in the petition and I completely understand why, at the time it was launched, so many people signed it, in the cold light of day today I think that we must resist it and ensure that our schools have the power to issue fines. No head would issue one lightly, and they must do so sensitively where parents have serious concerns about covid-19 and its potential impact, but ultimately the school needs to have that power, because we have seen the devastating impact of school closures. We must keep schools open. I share the view of my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis), as I have discussed with him before on the Education Committee on which we both serve.

[Wes Streeting (Ilford North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David.

I begin by thanking the Petitions Committee for facilitating this debate, the organisers of the petition for presenting it to Parliament and, of course, the more than 100,000 people who have taken the time to engage with the petition, sign it and stimulate the discussion we are having today—including 500 or so people in my own constituency. These debates are a good way of providing a direct connection between salient issues that people are discussing in our constituencies and live debate here in Parliament.

I also take this opportunity, having only recently been appointed as the shadow Schools Minister, to say an enormous thank you to the entire schools community—the headteachers, governors, teachers and support staff who have been doing an outstanding job in very difficult circumstances. I do not think any of us as constituency MPs could fail to be moved by some of the testimony we are hearing from schools about the extent to which they have moved heaven and earth to try to keep pupils learning—including during the first lockdown, where we could have been forgiven, from some of the coverage, for thinking that schools were closed and that learning had stopped.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. Many staff had to work doubly hard to ensure that their pupils could continue to gain access to learning in unusual circumstances, through remote learning and with all the challenges that we know exist. I will refer to those challenges, but they have already been outstandingly put, not just this afternoon, but in an Adjournment debate before the recess by my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh).

Obviously, a big part of this debate centres on fines, and I will come on to address that, but first and foremost I want to be absolutely clear about where we as the Labour party sit on the question of whether schools should remain open during the pandemic. I think that is really the thrust of the petitioners’ case. We know from some of the opinion polling out today that there is divided opinion in our country, but Labour is clear that it is in the best interests of children and young people up and down the country for schools to remain open and for young people to continue to gain access to learning in school, with a teacher, as much as they possibly can.

There is a strong reason for that. The reason why we invest in teachers and why successive Governments—forgive me for referring to the actions of the previous Labour Government—invested so much in education is that we know that of all the policy levers we can pull in Parliament and in government, education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet in terms of shaping young people’s life chances and giving them every opportunity in life that they deserve. We know that every single day of school missed for pupils from every background has a significant impact on their achievement, their understanding, and, crucially, on their life chances. For young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, that is especially true. We have to do everything we can to make sure that throughout the pandemic, as the Children’s Commissioner has strongly argued, schools are among the last to close and the first to reopen. I appeal to parents who are minded to withdraw their children from school because of worries, concerns and anxieties about whether school is safe and the best place to be to think really carefully about their children’s long-term future and life chances. With the best will in the world, and paying enormous tribute to the work that parents and carers have been doing at home to try to support their children’s learning, that is no substitute for a qualified teacher, a trained professional, teaching children in the classroom environment. We should be really clear about that.

We should also be concerned about the impact that the first lockdown and ongoing absences are having on children’s life chances, especially on those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. In the analysis by the Education Endowment Foundation, published in June, its median estimate was that the attainment gap could widen by 36%, but plausible estimates indicated it could widen by between 11% and 75% as a result of school closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In May, Vicki Stewart, deputy director of the pupil premium and school food division in the Department for Education, pointed to similar figures. Research published by the Royal Society in June suggested that school time lost because of the pandemic could harm the economy for the next 65 years, and unless catch-up lessons are effective, researchers predict a 3% loss in future annual earnings for pupils caught up in the pandemic.

I refer to those figures not because I have a utilitarian view that education matters only because of the long-term interests of the economy or people’s earnings potential, but to underline the point that a significant period of time missed—pupils have already missed significant time in school this year—has an impact not only on this academic year or the next round of examinations or the examinations beyond that; it has a long-term, lasting and detrimental impact on people’s life chances and opportunities, so we cannot be complacent about that.

Analysis of Government data by FFT Education Datalab found that pupils missing the most schooling are in the poorest areas of the country. That is compounded by the fact that online remote schooling has worked less well for poorer families. That should not be a surprise to anyone. As my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden outlined powerfully before the recess, there is deeply unequal access to online learning at home. It should come as no surprise to people that those from the poorest backgrounds do not necessarily have access to the suitable devices that they need, but they lack even the broadband internet access that many people take for granted. The pay-as-you-go charging rates and the stark figures of how much it costs to access Oak National Academy or BBC Bitesize is staggering. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden that the Government should ensure that no pupil forced to isolate at home does so without access to the IT and internet access that they need. I call on internet service providers to play their part too, because there is more that they could do. It is within their gift, for example, to make sure that certain websites, such as Oak National Academy or BBC Bitesize, which are there for legitimate online learning purposes, are made free to access and should not count towards people’s data limits. That would be a really good way for the big internet service providers and telecoms companies to step up to the plate.

[Tom Hunt]

If there are future closures or if children have to self-isolate, should Ofsted have a role when it inspects schools to look at the job that the school has done to make sure that it facilitates first-class online learning if a significant number of kids in that school have to self-isolate?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful for that intervention. There is a role for Ofsted to play in looking at remote learning in the home, not least to disseminate best practice among schools. Let us just be clear for a moment—we are asking schools across the country to do something that they have not previously been asked to do. Even the very best teachers will have to adapt quite significantly to teaching remotely. It requires a completely different skillset, and we do an enormous disservice to people whose professional careers are spent in distance learning by pretending that teaching in a classroom full of pupils, where it is possible to look right into the whites of their eyes and ensure they have access to the right books and the kit that they need for their learning, is not a very different challenge from teaching someone via an internet connection with video streaming.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wes Streeting]

That is absolutely right. We heard from the Chair of the Education Committee, the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), that back in June around 700,000 disadvantaged children were not doing homework and did not have proper access to computers or the internet. As my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden said, the number could be higher.

That brings me to my fundamental concerns about where the Government have been on education throughout this pandemic. On too many occasions, education has been an afterthought for the Government in their response to the pandemic. There was more thought and guidance provided about opening pubs than about opening schools. Some of the support that has been provided to schools in terms of the funding they need to keep a safe environment—such as personal protective equipment, sanitisers, hand-washing facilities, deep cleans and frequent cleans, and cover for absent staff who have been forced to self-isolate—falls short of what schools need.

This is my point of reassurance to the public, including people who are thinking about whether to send their children to schools—headteachers are doing everything they can to keep their schools safe. I do not know a single headteacher who would open their school if they did not believe it was safe. However, they are looking at the end of the financial year with real worry and anxiety, because they will spend what it takes to keep their schools safe for their pupils and staff, but at the moment they do not have the certainty that, as the financial year-end approaches, the Government will step up and do whatever it takes to ensure that those costs are covered. The Government need to act in that respect.

I am deeply concerned about what we saw before half term, when allocations of laptops were cut at the 11th hour. The Government need to step up and recognise—this is a general point about the pandemic response—that there are some things that central Government can do well, but providing responsive emergency resources to local communities, whether food parcels, laptops or internet connections, is much better done locally. They should give local authorities, academy trusts and schools the freedom and resources to buy the kit they need for their pupils. They know their pupils best, but they need money to ensure that those kids have the kit and the internet access that they need. I urge the Minister to reflect on the shortcomings of the provision so far.

As a general point, as was set out earlier in the debate, fines are a blunt instrument for compelling people to turn up to schools. The general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Geoff Barton, said:

“We don’t think that it is the right approach to fine parents for the non-attendance of children as soon as schools fully reopen in September, and the Government should not expect schools to take this action.”

We have had similar representations from the National Education Union and the National Association of Head Teachers. As much as the Government say, “Let’s have a conversation first. This is about discretion,” we have seen too many cases in which that does not apply, and schools do not necessarily believe that they have the flexibility that the Government say they do.

One of my constituents, a teenage girl who was shot in the lungs when she was a young child, was compelled by her school to go back, despite the risk of coronavirus and a letter from her GP, because the school threatened her with a fine. A mother of a terminally ill three-year-old was forced to deregister her older daughter from her school to avoid being charged weekly non-attendance fines. A woman with type 1 diabetes, asthma and an underactive thyroid, which means she is classed her as clinically vulnerable under NHS guidelines, has been threatened with a three-month prison sentence and a £2,500 fine because she refused to send her children back to school amid coronavirus.

Some of this stuff is bizarre. It is really inappropriate to put families in that position. As a general point of principle, I do not think school fines work, and in the current circumstances the Government have to be clearer in their guidance about what happens if there are vulnerable family members at home with underlying health conditions who are concerned that a child coming back from school might present a risk, or if vulnerable people live with a member of school staff who presents a risk. That is something about which lots of staff in school and school leaders are anxious.

[Tom Hunt]

Those are powerful stories, and I have huge sympathy for those involved, but going back to school is the best thing for some vulnerable kids because it enables more oversight. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there could be other stories in which not giving the school that discretion and the ability to fine could be to the detriment of those vulnerable kids?

[Wes Streeting]

Ultimately, in the worst case, parents have the right to withdraw their children from education altogether. I think, by the way, that that is not the right course of action. All the evidence says that children will be safer, happier and better educated if they are in school. That is why we are clear that the Government must do whatever it takes to keep schools open—we do not hear the phrase “whatever it takes” often these days—but people have legitimate concerns. Parents sending their children to school and staff going to work in school need to know that the headteacher and the governing body are being given the resources they need to ensure the school is clean, safe and welcoming, to put in place the right measures, from protective equipment to hand-washing facilities and sanitisers, and to ensure that they do not have to cut corners on cleaning—in catering facilities, for example, multiple cleaning rounds are needed throughout the day. Parents need to know that if, for whatever reason, staff are forced to isolate and cannot be at school, schools can bring in the cover support that they need to make sure that their children are still well supported and well educated. Parents need to know that if their children



I am concerned that the schemes and funding initiatives that the Government have already announced—they are obviously not up and running yet; they are out to tender—are not targeted as well as they should be on pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. I urge the Government to get back to that focus. I am really looking forward to the many exchanges that I will no doubt have with the Minister in the coming weeks, months and years.

One fundamental problem with the Government’s approach to education policy in the past 10 years, and with where we are today, is that progress on closing the attainment gap at crucial points in pupils’ education journey—whether it be at their entry to primary school at five, when they leave primary school at 11, or when they are sitting their GCSEs at 16—has not only stalled but is beginning to slip into reverse gear. If we are not careful, we will allow the pandemic to rewrite the story of educational disadvantage in this country in a way that none of us wants, with the gap between those from the wealthiest and poorest backgrounds widening, and with children who have special educational needs and require additional support being left further behind. We cannot let that happen, because even with the best lifelong learning system in the world, children only get one chance at a primary and secondary education. Those formative years are absolutely crucial, which is why we believe that schools must be supported to be safe and open, and that we need a national strategy to make sure that no pupil is left behind.

Awarding of Qualifications: Role of Ministers

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kate Green]

I accept how difficult it was to predict the way in which the pandemic would open out in March and to decide on a course of action, and it is important that we understand how those decisions were taken, but what is not acceptable—

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Kate Green]

No, I will not—I am going to make some progress.

What is not acceptable is that we ended up in a system of utter chaos when results were declared: chaos that was deeply demoralising—indeed, devastating—for many young people.

Ofqual told the Secretary of State that No. 10 was briefed before A-level results day—told about the risks to outlier students and to schools that were improving, and about the benefits to small cohorts such as independent school students. So is it true that No. 10 was aware of these concerns well in advance of results being published, and if so, why did the Prime Minister fail to do anything about them? Time and again, it seems, both the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister were warned about injustices that the system would throw up but failed to address the problems. That is not to say that Ofqual was perfect, although the Secretary of State forced it into an impossible position. Ofqual must know that there are lessons to be learned and commit to learning them. That is why it is reassuring to see it commit to releasing all the data used in the qualifications process this year to independent researchers. Will the Secretary of State today give a similar commitment?

[Tom Hunt]

Did the hon. Lady not express her own concerns back in July about predicted grades, and was she not an advocate for standardisation?

[Kate Green]

Nobody has said that centre-assessed grades are perfect. On the day that the Leader of the Opposition called for them, he acknowledged that problem, but we were in such an extreme situation at that point, where it was vital to put the best interests of young people first. It took days and days of agony and anguish for those young people and their families before the Secretary of State made the right decision.

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

Clearly, this was a very concerning time for many of my constituents, and I have seen many cases of young people in my constituency having been negatively impacted by this algorithm, so it could have been handled better, perhaps. It could have been handled better in Wales, perhaps; it could have been handled better in Scotland, perhaps. However, this is an unprecedented time. It is not like we can go to the shelf and ask, “How do you reopen schools in the middle of a global pandemic?” or “How do you award exam results when you have no exams?” This is completely unprecedented, and it is right that we take that on board.

It is interesting that when it came to reopening schools and getting kids back to school, or awarding exam results when we had no exams, it is not like the Labour party said, “Right, this is our plan: you should do this. Here’s a really detailed plan that you should follow.” The Labour party has never done that. In fact, as I pointed out earlier, we actually had the shadow Education Secretary in July criticising predicted grades and saying that standardisation was a way forward.

I say this passionately, as someone who became a Member of Parliament because I care about children with special educational needs and as somebody who had special educational needs myself. I think the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition should take some responsibility for the fact that we were not able to get more kids back to school before the summer holidays. I think he should accept that responsibility. Looking forward—[Interruption.] He made no effort. The Labour party has great influence in the National Education Union. It used none of that influence, and it continues to use none of that influence. Vulnerable children have paid the price of its leader’s inaction. [Interruption.] Okay—let’s all calm down.

Looking forward, it is absolutely critical that we provide schools and schoolteachers with certainty as quickly as possible, and that must mean exams next year. Exams are not perfect, but they have a place and they should continue to have a place. I say that as someone who was dyspraxic and an unconventional learner and pulled rabbits out of the hat at exams. Sometimes kids with SEND actually do better in exams than they do if there are no exams.

We should also look at what happened in Germany, which is probably the main example of a country that carried out socially distanced exams. With the benefit of hindsight, of course, we made the right decision at the time, but we should learn from Germany and next year give certainty to all our schools that exams will go ahead. There will be no plan B; there must be exams. I disagree with much of what Ofqual has said over the last few months, but on that I am in agreement with it. I look forward to seeing the Secretary of State next week.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I call Apsana Begum, who has two minutes.

History Curriculum: Black History

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for School Standards (Nick Gibb)]

May I start by congratulating my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) on securing this debate, and on her interesting, well researched and compelling speech? She is right, of course—and I am sure that there is no one in this House or the country who disagrees—that the 245-year slave trade was, in her words, depraved, cruel and an abomination. But as the Secretary of State said in June, this country also has a lot to be proud of and children should learn all aspects of it—the good and the bad. Time and again, this country has made a difference and changed things for the better right around the world, and we must teach about the contributions from Britons of all ethnicities, both men and women, who have made this nation the great nation that it is today.

The Government believe that all children and young people should acquire a firm grasp of history, including how different events and periods relate to each other. That is why it is compulsory for maintained schools from key stages 1 to 3, and why academies are expected to teach a curriculum that is as broad and ambitious as the national curriculum. The national curriculum that we inherited in 2010 had been stripped of knowledge, with a heavy focus on vague concepts such as skills of learning. The Government therefore embarked on significant reforms to the national curriculum, with the aim of restoring the importance of subject knowledge in all its complexity and fascination. In 2014, the new, more ambitious, knowledge-rich national curriculum came into force in England, and from 2015 we introduced more rigorous GCSEs.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

Would the Minister agree with me that, if we do look at putting a greater emphasis on black history, there should be a clear focus on doing so to promote greater unity and a sense of shared Britishness, and that we should be slightly cautious that we do not promote more separateness?

[Nick Gibb]

My hon. Friend makes an important point about not being divisive with our curriculum and, indeed, with schools’ ethos in general. The Government have strongly promoted the study of history to the age of 16 by including GCSE history in the English baccalaureate measure for all state-funded secondary schools in England. With the introduction of the EBacc, we have seen entries to history GCSE increase by a third since 2010. The reformed history curriculum includes teaching pupils the core knowledge of our past, enabling pupils to know and understand the history of Britain from its first settlers to the development of the institutions that help to define our national life today. It also sets an expectation that pupils ask perceptive questions, sift arguments and develop perspective and judgment.

The curriculum does not set out how curriculum subjects or topics within the subjects should be taught. We believe that teachers should be able to use their own knowledge and expertise to determine how they teach their pupils and to make choices about what they teach.

Schools and Colleges: Qualification Results and Full Opening

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Tuesday 1st September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

We are always learning right across the spectrum about some of the challenges that can occur. We had more than 1.6 million pupils back into school before the summer recess, and I am sure that that provided many lessons and benefits for the devolved nations in terms of what a safe return looked like for children.

The hon. Lady highlights the importance of having testing readily available. We have worked incredibly closely, hand in glove in fact, with Public Health England. The guidance that was developed, especially scientific and medical advice about how we ensure a safe return, has been informed by Public Health England, and it has collaborated with the public health authorities in Scotland. It is why we have test kits in every school. We recognise that not all youngsters—especially some of those from the most deprived families—will necessarily be in a position to access testing easily. We recognise how important it is that they have a test and return to school at the earliest moment possible.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

Last week I visited Inspire Suffolk in Ipswich with the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford), the Children’s Minister, to see the excellent work that they have done for their school holiday programme to help disadvantaged pupils stay engaged and motivated throughout the summer holiday. I welcome the significant DFE funding that is enabling Inspire Suffolk to run 1,700 sessions across Suffolk.

Will my hon. Friend commit to support charities such as Inspire Suffolk so that in future, as we tackle these challenges, we back charities that have a key role to play, in partnership with schools, in ensuring that our kids can catch up and get the support that they need?

[Gavin Williamson]

My hon. Friend has raised this issue in the House before and has championed the work of holiday activity programmes across his constituency and more broadly. We have rolled out the holiday activity programme for a second year. We are looking at how we can do more and build on an incredibly successful programme. I would be happy to work with him and other organisations to see that delivered.

Education Settings: Autumn Opening

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

The hon. Lady raises an important point and, as part of the guidance that we have issued, we have set out clear guidance about schools being able to offer wraparound care, because we know how incredibly important that is for so many working parents and how it supports them in being able to do their work.

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

As the Member of Parliament for Ipswich and an avid Newcastle United fan, I cannot think of a better name for a school than the Sir Bobby Robson School, which will open its doors in September. I have become an associate governor. It will specifically support children with complex emotional and mental needs. Its approach will be to have a transition period, almost a therapeutic approach, where it will try to re-socialise vulnerable young adults so that they can reintegrate and catch up. Will my right hon. Friend join me in wishing the Sir Bobby Robson School all the best for the future and provide it and other special schools with the support and external expertise they need to make sure that vulnerable young adults have the best chance to crack on and have a bright future?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. If we are going to get everybody in, it is important that we have short punchy questions to the Secretary of State, and short answers too.

Education and Local Government

Tom Hunt Excerpts

Tuesday 14th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is an immense privilege to stand before you for the first time as the Member of Parliament for Ipswich. I would like to start by thanking my immediate predecessor, Sandy Martin, for the service he has provided the people of Ipswich over many decades, first as a local councillor and most recently in this place as the town’s Member of Parliament. It is no secret that Sandy and I disagree on many issues, but no one can doubt the care he has for Ipswich. I note that one of Sandy’s final interventions in this place was to lead an Adjournment debate on provision for those with special educational needs in Suffolk. This issue is very close to my heart, as I will come on to later in my speech, but I assure the House that Ipswich has not lost a strong voice on this issue, but gained another.

Looking back over the years, Ipswich has elected a number of towering figures to represent it. Having knocked on tens of thousands of doors across the town, I have been fortunate enough to hear many stories about the public service that they carried out. Two Labour representatives spring to mind: Jamie Cann and Kenneth Weetch. Only recently I found out that Jamie Cann used to have a favourite phrase, “to put a tickle on them”, to describe the incessant way in which he would hound officials for responses to inquiries from his constituents.

More recently, Ipswich was represented by the Conservative, Ben Gummer. In the years that he was an MP, he made a major impact in our town and in this place. It was touching to hear on my door-knocking travels of all the different stories and ways in which he had personally helped the people he represented. He was a dedicated public servant and I have no doubt that he will return to public life in the future. He was ambitious for our town and what it could achieve and his contribution will never be forgotten.

All MPs for Ipswich are lucky to be part of the story of the oldest continually existing English town in the country. I use the term “English town” deliberately because there are those in Colchester who insist that their East Anglian settlement predates our town. Fine place though Colchester is, that town was of course established by the Romans and its history has not been continuous because of its sacking by a red-haired queen from the fens.

Since Roman times, the area around Ipswich formed an important trading route inland to rural towns and settlements via the Rivers Orwell and Gipping, and international trade continues to be at the heart of the Ipswich economy. Approximately 5,000 of my constituents are employed at the port of Felixstowe, Britain’s busiest sea container port. Around 48% of our country’s containerised trade passes through the port of Felixstowe. We also have the port of Ipswich, which employs around 1,000 of my constituents and is the No. 1 grain exporter in the country. It is important that as part of the Brexit negotiations, links are maintained with our European neighbours. However, it is also vital that as we finally regain the ability to control our international trade policy, we set our sights high and our horizons broad as we look to maximise the trading potential of our great country. I want Ipswich to be at the heart of this and I am excited by the possibility of Ipswich becoming a free port.

I have mentioned Colchester and the animosity around the history, but when it comes to football we look north to our East Anglian neighbours in Norwich. Shortly after my selection as a candidate, I was warned that being a Norwich City fan would cost me precisely 2,000 votes. I made it clear that that was not the case: I am in fact a lifelong supporter of the Toon Army, and as a result I share an enduring admiration for Ipswich Town idol, Sir Bobby Robson, one of the greatest figures to have ever graced the beautiful game. However, knowing that the cover-up is always worse than the crime, I did have to acknowledge from the outset one thing that had previously been buried away. I confessed that as a seven-year-old I was led astray by my father who was trying to flog a Škoda Felicia in a Norwich City match day programme. To catch readers’ attention, a yellow and green wig was thrust on my head as part of the accompanying photo. Given my young age at the time, I hope that Ipswich Town fans will forgive me for that infraction and that they can rest assured that I will be staunchly behind the Blue Army in any future East Anglian derby. The name Ipswich Town FC means that Ipswich is known by millions of football fans around the world, and with FA cup and UEFA cup victories under Sir Bobby in 1978 and 1981 it has a far more stellar trophy cabinet than Newcastle United.

The people of Ipswich, such as those working in the ports, are by and large humble, unpretentious, welcoming and honest. They can also be straight-speaking and direct. There is a very strong sense of local identity and they care deeply about their town. However, at the same time, many do feel it has been left behind and is some way off being the place it could be and achieving its true potential.

As a town, we are ethnically diverse, and it is my view that Ipswich benefits from this diversity. We have a sizeable Bangladeshi community who enrich our town no end, including a number of small business owners. They are entrepreneurial and hard-working and our town would be far poorer without them. We have a brilliant Indian community whose contribution is vast, particularly within our NHS, with many working as doctors, nurses and pharmacists, supporting some of the most vulnerable within our community. We all need to work together to begin to believe that the town’s best days are in front of us, not behind us.

I welcome the fact that so many northern communities have new Conservative MPs representing them in this place, often for the first time. We hear understandably how many within these communities feel that their areas have been left behind, but many in the town I represent feel exactly the same, and their concerns should not be forgotten in the stampede rightly to invest in the north. It is hardly like Ipswich and East Anglia have been basking in it.

We need fairer funding for our schools; under Governments of both colours we have not got the investment we need in our transport infrastructure; we have one of the worst-funded police authorities in the country; we have had big problems with crime and antisocial behaviour; and knife crime and county lines have destroyed the lives of many young people within my constituency. We must be calculating and ruthless in going after the gangs who sponsor this evil, and we need tougher sentencing to serve as a deterrent. Justice must be done and be seen to be done.

Closely related to the sense of being left behind is looking at opportunities for our young people and working to ensure that all of them, regardless of the circumstances they were born into and of any special educational needs they have, are given every opportunity through our education system to achieve their full potential. We must not stop until we have an education system that leaves no child behind. We need an inspection regime that is fully behind this principle and schools and teachers who have the resources, freedoms and flexibility as far as possible to tailor education around the specific needs of the child.

As I said before, this issue could not be closer to my heart. When I was 12 years old, I was told I had a reading and a writing age of an eight-year-old and that I risked having to leave my school. I was diagnosed with both dyslexia and dyspraxia. I was lucky, as I had great support around me, including a couple of key individuals at school who saw something in me and helped me to turn things around. The sad reality is that for too many young people with special educational needs this is not the case, through no fault of their own. As well as fighting for Ipswich, if there is one thing I can do in public life, it is dedicating myself to helping these children to ensure that they have every opportunity to achieve their full potential and that their talents are not lost to society, for to be unconventional is to be brilliant.

There are three things that Members should know about me. First, I will always put my constituents first and be ambitious for the town. Ipswich is a fine town and its people deserve a fighter and a champion. Secondly, I will do everything I can to break down the barriers that prevent those with special educational needs from achieving their full potential. Finally, I will always love my country. I remember sitting on my gran’s lap as a six-year-old and asking her what she remembered about the second world war. She was over 80 at the time and I knew she had worked as a teacher in Dover before being moved to north Devon when the Battle of Britain commenced. I remember her saying, “Your granddad was late for dinner”. I asked why and she said, “He was down on the docks dishing out soup to the men coming over from France in the funny little boats.” I am of course referring to Dunkirk.

I also remember what she went on to say, all of a sudden becoming quite serious: “Tom, you must always remember that to be British comes with special responsibilities, because of course being British means you’re part of the greatest country on earth.” This is something I took on board that day and is something I have always believed and still believe to this day. From time to time, events happen that reinforce this view and it is why, at this moment in our island’s story, I look forward with confidence at our post-Brexit future. People can bet against us all they want. More often than not, they will be proven wrong.