Contributions
444 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Student LoansMy hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. We need to open up access to apprenticeships. That is why the Government are making this investment, and it is why we have set…18 Mar 2026HANSARD Student LoansOf course I recognise the critical role that FE colleges play in supporting children into the creative industries. That is why this Government are backing FE colleges after the…18 Mar 2026HANSARD Student LoansOpposition Members were accusing me of talking about the past, but I think I was nine years old when that was going on. I do not regret the real focus on opening up access to…18 Mar 2026HANSARD Student LoansWe want young people to have a choice: to go to university, to study, to take up an apprenticeship or to earn and learn. We want that range of routes to be available and for young…18 Mar 2026HANSARD Student LoansWe are committed to opening up those routes to lifelong learning, and we are setting out plans on that. I welcome that intervention.18 Mar 2026HANSARDEducationMy hon. Friend will know that we have recently announced support to local authorities like Kent in order to address 90% of their deficits. We are building three new special…16 Mar 2026HANSARDEducation… We are building two new special schools and a new alternative provision in Kent and putting in place £3.7 billion in capital investment, and the allocation for Kent will be…16 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI thank the hon. Member for inviting me to speak to families in her area. The conversations that I have had have so often been about parents battling for years to get the support…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI thank the hon. Member for Dorking and Horley (Chris Coghlan) for his powerful and sobering speech, and for securing the debate. He and I have talked before about his research,…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesAs I set out, we have appointed a SEND adviser who is offering that challenge to Surrey county council. We will continue to monitor the situation very carefully and I await the…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesFollowing the letters that the hon. Member and others wrote to the Secretary of State, she instructed further intensive activity in Surrey, including a number of deep dives into…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesAttached to the schools White Paper and the SEND consultation document is our own analysis of children’s rights and all the areas where we are strengthening them. I want to be…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI thank my hon. Friend for sharing that tragic story. Of course I would be willing to meet him to discuss it further. These are stories of failure, and we need to do better for…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesThat is a truly tragic case. Of course, I cannot comment without knowing the full circumstances, but I encourage the hon. Member to write to me. There are two ways that the…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI will give way one final time.03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI confess that I think I have committed to go to every constituency in the country, but I will do my best. [ Laughter. ] I cannot promise that every single ask will be responded…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesIt is really important to say to families that we are expanding their support and their rights. There will be new legal duties on schools to develop these new layers of support,…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI very often hear that exact story: too much support is locked behind a diagnosis that takes years, or behind a bureaucratic process. The reforms that we have set out move…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesThat is such a critical point, and we have heard too many stories about long travel times, and how having to be in transport provokes stress for children, which holds them back.…03 Mar 2026HANSARD SEND Provision: Local AuthoritiesI thank my hon. Friend for his long-term advocacy on this critical issue and for how much he has inputted into our work to improve the system. I am glad that he asked that…03 Mar 2026