Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 24th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We note the sedentary approval for that proposition from the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant).

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

There are many great businesses in Stoke-on-Trent, such as engineering firm Brown McFarlane, that want to grow through trade and investment. Thus far, however, we have had very little engagement from John Peace and the midlands engine. We are not part of the combined authority of the west midlands and the black country. Will the Minister tell the House when John Peace will be visiting Stoke-on-Trent, and what plans the midlands engine has for north Staffordshire?

G20 Summit

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Wednesday 7th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

First things first: I believe in free trade. Indeed, Josiah Wedgwood, an early constituent of mine, negotiated one of the first free trade pacts with France in the 1770s, but now many of my constituents are employed at the nearby Toyota plant in Derby and they were very concerned by the Japanese Government’s comments about investment in the UK if we did not have access to the single market. What conversations did the Prime Minister have with the Japanese about their concerns? May I ask her to take control of the Brexit negotiations and make sure that jobs and prosperity in north Staffordshire are not put at risk?

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman must be the oldest and most long-serving Member in the history of the House of Commons.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 18th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

17. Whether his Department plans to maintain infrastructure investment in deprived communities at the level currently provided by the EU.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Minister Andrew Percy.

Skills and Growth

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Wednesday 17th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Joan Ryan (Enfield North) (Lab)]

In 2013-14, apprenticeship starts in Enfield North fell from 710 to 590. While I agree that the focus on apprenticeships is welcome and necessary, I do not think it should be at the expense of adult skills training. The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London in my constituency faces an unprecedented 21.2% cut in funding, losing some 40 posts. Is this a coherent strategy, given that a large proportion of students—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Interventions must be brief. Although this debate is not hugely subscribed, 14 Members want to speak and I would like to try to accommodate all colleagues. Consideration from Back Benchers and indeed from Front Benchers is of the essence. These debates are mainly about Back Benchers and not about shadow Ministers or Ministers.

[Tristram Hunt]

I almost forgot what you were saying at the beginning of that intervention, Mr Speaker, but I know that pithiness was the key to it. I would—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Let me say to the hon. Gentleman, who was far too long-winded the other day, rather than arguing the toss, “Make it pithy and you would be doing yourself a favour, mate.”

[Tristram Hunt]

Adult skills budgets have faced a 24% cut under this Government, and that will not do anything to meet the productivity challenge in Enfield and right across the UK. I am wholly in agreement with my right hon. Friend on that.

We have the most unequal skills and education system in the developed world and it is our productivity performance that best provides the index for that continued structural failure. The purpose of the debate is to explore the role that education must play in tackling our poor productivity. That is not to deny that the purpose of education is far broader. What is more, the productivity challenge cannot be solved by higher skills alone. Arguably, Governments of all stripes have overly focused in the past on pushing the supply side of the equation, yet at a very basic level our education system must seek to equip all our young people with the skills they need to thrive in this most competitive of centuries.

More and more, our economic strength will come to be defined by the quality of our human capital. The Royal Academy of Engineering forecasts that the UK needs an extra 50,000 science, technology, engineering and maths technicians and 90,000 STEM professionals every year just to replace people retiring from the workforce.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 15th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nicky Morgan]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his welcome. He is also right to pay tribute to the teacher from Dixons Kings Academy who was stabbed last week. Members will be relieved to hear that his injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

The hon. Gentleman asked about the Education and Adoption Bill. I am sure that he will have seen the answer to the written parliamentary question tabled by the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan), which stated that we intend to publish the definition of “coasting schools” when the Bill reaches its Committee stage. I am glad to hear that he wants action to tackle failing schools, and I wonder whether he stands by the comments that he made in February 2011, when he said:

“I think when a school is not delivering for its pupils it’s quite right that you have a change of governance.”

I hope that he will remember that as he supports our Bill.

[Mr Speaker]

I must gently point out that we cannot have the Front-Bench exchanges taking up an excessive proportion of the time. I want to get Back Benchers in, and pithiness is of the essence.

[Tristram Hunt]

I will be very pithy, Mr Speaker. The Secretary of State does not have a handle on her own Bill. One week before we are being asked to vote on the Bill, she cannot explain the first words of the first clause on its first page. She cannot tell us what the words “coasting schools” mean. It is great, inspiring teachers who turn around coasting schools, but teacher vacancies in crucial subjects are soaring. If she cannot tell the House what her Bill means, will she listen to the headteachers when they tell her that the Tories’ teacher recruitment crisis is undermining the efforts to turn around coasting schools?

[Mr Speaker]

May I say in the nicest way at the start of this Parliament, without discrimination between the sides, that this must not happen again, because it is not fair on Back-Bench Members, for whom topical questions are especially designed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 16th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. It is of course disorderly to refer to the Gallery, but I feel sure that the occupants of it will be revelling in the praise that the Secretary of State has generously conferred on them. On this occasion, his disorderly conduct is readily excused, but only on this occasion.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

I fully associate myself with such disorderly conduct in the House and congratulate those inspiring school and college leaders who have rightly been recognised by Her Majesty the Queen. Teaching is a moral mission, and it should be celebrated as such.

In 2010, the Department for Education was warned of threats to schools in Birmingham, but for four years, on the Secretary of State’s watch, his Department failed to act. The chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is now urging the Government to provide greater public assurance that all schools in a locality, regardless of their status, will discharge the full range of their responsibilities. When will the Secretary of State accept that micro-managing schools from behind a desk in Whitehall does not work, and that we need a proper system of independent, local accountability?

Birmingham Schools

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I think that the shadow Secretary of State is bringing his remarks to a close in this sentence.

[Tristram Hunt]

The Education Secretary speaks of requiring all schools to promote British values; all well and good. Among the greatest of British values is an education system that welcomes and integrates migrant communities, builds successful citizens in a multicultural society and secures safety and high standards for all, and the Education Secretary is failing to do so.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 9th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Education Secretary’s study will be complete when he recognises that it is not appropriate to name Members in the Chamber. I know he has been here only eight years. He will get there eventually.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

Nearly 1 million young people are unemployed in this country and school leavers are desperate to make the right decisions about their futures, yet, as the Chair of the Education Committee has pointed out, the Government are overseeing the destruction of professional careers advice for 14 to 16-year-olds. Why does the Government’s National Careers Service make 17 times as many interventions for adults as it makes for young people? Does the Secretary of State really believe that his careers strategy is delivering for today’s schoolchildren?

Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 5th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister of State is not giving way. He gives every indication at this stage of wishing to plough on, and that is his entitlement.

[Michael Fallon]

Of course we will listen in Committee to the debate on each clause, but the Labour party is going to have to be a lot more persuasive than it has been this afternoon.

Higher and Further Education

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. The Minister is clearly not giving way. I think that much we have established.

[Matthew Hancock]

It was very clear.

My hon. Friends the Members for Burnley (Gordon Birtwistle) and for Mid Derbyshire (Pauline Latham) effectively made the case that we all have a responsibility to let everybody know that no one will pay a penny in their fees until they are earning over £21,000. Let that message go out from here. My hon. Friend the Member for Burnley was typically passionate, and my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Derbyshire showed strong support for Derby university and for apprenticeships.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Monday 27th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are all deeply grateful to the Minister of State.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

T7. May I welcome today’s decision by the Secretary of State to allocate £2.7 million to English Heritage to encourage schoolchildren to access local history sites, which is often the best way of helping young people to understand history? Does he now regret the Government’s decision to slash English Heritage’s funding by one third and the absurd decision to leave Stoke-on-Trent, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, off the list of pathfinder sites?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am sure the hon. Gentleman is very grateful for the Minister’s tribute.

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

16. What assessment he has made of the effect of higher tuition fees on the level of university admissions in the next academic year.

Prevent Strategy

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Tuesday 7th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab)]

I am glad that the Home Secretary mentioned the extreme right wing. In Stoke-on-Trent, we have dealt with alleged terrorist conspiracies from both Islamic fundamentalists and far-right white fascists. I am also keen on her announcement of actions regarding the internet. Many young British Muslims are heading towards radicalisation via the teachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, gained over the internet. May I urge her to make the security services go on the front foot against some of the stuff that is coming over the internet?

Finally, may I urge the Home Secretary to proceed with caution on defining British values? The history of Britain also involves the denial of democracy, the denial of the rule of law and the denial of equal rights in many nations around the world, and for Home Secretaries to define what is and is not Britishness is treacherous territory.

[Mr Speaker]

I am very impressed that the hon. Gentleman is still breathing.

Fixed-term Parliaments Bill

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Tuesday 18th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Simon Hart]

The hon. Gentleman is suggesting that fixing the term at five years automatically favours the Government of the day, whereas it can of course have the opposite effect. Does he agree with me, as did some of the witnesses who appeared before our Committee, that by tying themselves into a five-year fixed term, the Government might find that the election coincides with a rather dismal period in the opinion polls, giving great advantage to the Opposition? I thought that that evidence was given to the Select Committee—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We are grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but his intervention is getting rather long.

[Tristram Hunt]

I take the hon. Gentleman’s point, but the benefits of a fixed-term schedule outweigh those potential risks. I regard four years as within the rhythm of this country, as it is within the rhythm of other European as well as Westminster-style democracies— Canada, Denmark, the American presidential term, Germany, Sweden. The change to five years is for the good of the coalition, not the nation.

The Deputy Prime Minister referred to and quoted the Chartists again in today’s Question Time, but the Chartists believed in annual Parliaments, not in extending the term to five years. As we have heard, the Liberal Democrats used to believe in four-year terms—before the allure of office moved them to change their minds. May I suggest that the coalition listen to a real coalition leader, the late Herbert Asquith? On introducing his own cut to the parliamentary term, he spoke of securing a House of Commons that is

“always either fresh from the polls which it gave it authority, or—and this is an equally effective check upon acting in defiance of the popular will—it is looking forward to the polls at which it will have to render an account of its stewardship.”—[Official Report, 21 February 1911; Vol. XXI, c. 1749.]

That seems to be the perfect combination. I will move on quickly, as others wish to speak.

I do not feel that the Government have dealt with the problem of exclusive cognisance very effectively, so it still poses the danger of judicial interference. This Bill fits all too neatly into the Government’s overarching constitutional reform strategy: coalition first, country second. Whether it be packing the House of Lords, increasing the number of Ministers by 10%, undermining the Union by slashing 25% of constituencies in Wales, or overriding historic or geographic settlements in new parliamentary boundaries, it is Clegg and Cameron first, country second. That is the abiding weakness of coalition Government. The tragedy is that if this Bill is passed, we will have five years of it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Tristram Hunt and John Bercow

Thursday 24th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Tristram Hunt]

The Minister will know that Stoke-on-Trent is blessed with many things, and among them are the great canals of England: the Trent and Mersey and the Caldon canal, where we recently had the Hanley regatta. In order to become a proper third sector organisation, British Waterways needs an appropriate financial settlement following the comprehensive spending review and a longer contract with Government to replace annual grants. Can British Waterways’ property endowment be put in a charity-locked mechanism, so that the Treasury does not sell it down the canal, and we can be assured that, as an example of the big—

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, but I think that we have the gist of his question.