Contributions
1,309 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Tenth sitting)For all the reasons that I gave, it does apply. Ofsted requires a broad and balanced curriculum from every school, and the vast majority of the time the vast majority of schools…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Tenth sitting)I will if the hon. Member wants to correct what I said.04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Tenth sitting)I do not think those things are in conflict. My point was that the national curriculum, as it was set up, is quite loose. It did not have to be, it does not have to be now and it…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)She makes my point for me.04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)I do—I am so glad the hon. Lady asked that, because I asked the same question that she rightly did. Presumably, most of the 3.2% were on a journey towards qualified teacher…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Tenth sitting)That is a question for the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues on the Government Front Bench. He is at liberty to table a written parliamentary question, but I think he will find that it…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)It was 3.2%—so the proportion in fact shrank slightly over those 14 years. I therefore wonder what verdict Government Members, in their bid to avoid a race to the bottom, give on…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)I am at liberty to reveal that, after those 14 years, the proportion of the teaching workforce without qualified teacher status was 3.1%. [ Interruption. ] Then I thought—like the…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)The points that the hon. Members for Southampton Itchen and for Morecambe and Lunesdale made lead me to—you will be pleased to know, Sir Edward—the concluding section of my…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Tenth sitting)I am not sure that the hon. Lady’s Front-Bench colleagues will necessarily thank her for making that intervention. That view is held by some. Sir Christopher would rightly…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)I did say, “One last time,” but I cannot refuse my hon. Friend.04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)I agree with the hon. Lady 100%, just as I agreed with what the hon. Member for Southampton Itchen said entirely. Of course, there is not just a material difference between not…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)I think this is where the whole House comes together. The best of all worlds is to have someone who is both a subject specialist, with their own excellent academic record, and…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Southampton Itchen. I enjoyed his speech and I think he made several very good points, a number of which the Opposition would agree…04 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Ninth sitting)Of course, and for many people that is the right thing to do. There are mid-career and later-career programmes for coming into teaching and I want people to do those more and…04 Feb 2025HANSARD School Accountability and InterventionThere seem to be a lot of narrative resets around in Government at the moment, but I must say that I for one was thrilled and refreshed to hear the hon. Lady speaking about school…03 Feb 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Seventh sitting)If the Chair will indulge me, I will just read a brief extract of the statutory guidance: “Parents should not have to think about the cost of a school uniform when choosing which…30 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Eighth sitting)My hon. Friend’s intervention brings me to my final point. Apart from the cost issue, there is the simple question of access and of children being able to sit the GCSE. As there…30 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Eighth sitting)I join colleagues in finding troubling the level of detail to be required of home-educating parents. The amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough, Oadby and…30 Jan 2025HANSARDChildren's Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Eighth sitting)It is a very long-standing right in England for a parent to choose to send their child to school or to educate at home. It is a right that the vast majority of parents never take…30 Jan 2025