Commons
Debate
27 April 2026
5 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
On Friday, after Labour MPs had repeatedly blocked a social media ban for under-16s, we had a new proposal from the Government. It was not a serious response to the issue we are facing. It gave the Government three years to take unspecified action on social media, which was nowhere near good enough.…
My right hon. Friend, as ever, is absolutely correct. As on the smartphone ban in schools, we have been fought every step of the way. I am just glad that right at the end of proceedings, we have managed to have a constructive discussion and to get to where we wanted to be right from the beginning.
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
22 April 2026
10 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I want to start with some good news. After a year of resisting—insisting that a statutory ban on smartphones in schools was, to quote the Prime Minister, “unnecessary”—the Government have finally given in and we have got what we have been asking for: a statutory ban on smartphones in schools. Minist…
As ever, my right hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why we need an explicit commitment from the Minister today. I will be delighted if she is able to give that—it would be fantastic. If there is agreement from Members across the House, everyone will be very relieved.
We have gone through the…
+8 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 April 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
We learnt last week that in the tragic Southport case, when the headteacher warned about the killer’s increasing extreme behaviour, the social worker accused the headteacher of racially stereotyping the pupil as
“a black boy with a knife”.
The result was that the warnings were rewritten in many ca…
If the Secretary of State wants to start keeping children safe online, then we will stop our objections—but she is refusing to do that. In another example of so-called progressiveness, local authorities across the country are, unbelievably, trying to stop exclusions when children are bringing knives…
Commons
Debate
15 April 2026
4 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
Since I last stood at this Dispatch Box to argue, again, that we should stop ignoring the evidence and act to ban social media for under-16s, 12 individuals in California have done something remarkable. They have begun to turn the tide against the use of social media by children. On 25 March, a jury…
As ever, my right hon. Friend is entirely correct. The evidence is irrefutable, and the Government need to get on with it.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
18 March 2026
17 contributions
Student Loans
I beg to move,
That this House calls on the Government to set the interest rate on Plan 2 student loans at a level which ensures that balances will never rise faster than RPI inflation; further calls on the Government to stop the freeze on repayment thresholds; and also calls on the Government to c…
The hon. Gentleman is missing the fact that Labour has made it worse. Even now, the Chancellor has changed her tune—no surprise given the track record of this Government. She now says that the system is “broken”, but young people are apparently not at the “front of the queue”. I did not see that on …
+15 more contributions in this session
Commons
Debate
9 March 2026
12 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I am delighted to address the 13 amendments sent back to us by the other place this evening. The volume of Lords amendments reflects the strong feelings in both Houses about the deficiencies in the Bill, but there is a chance tonight to make change for the better. At the moment, the Government seem …
With pleasure.
+10 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
2 March 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
Under what circumstances does the Secretary of State think it is appropriate for a five-year-old to socially transition?
The answer should have been “never”. That is what our guidance said, and that is what the Government’s guidance should have said.
In our universities, gender-critical feminists have been kicked off campus, while today the ayatollah is being celebrated as a martyr at University College London. This …
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
2 March 2026
Supporting Children with SEND
Last week, I asked the Secretary of State a specific question about SEND funding during her statement, which she failed to answer, so I will try again with the Minister today. The £4 billion for SEND announced last week, to be paid over three years, which the Secretary of State described as “new mon…
Commons
Debate
26 February 2026
2 contributions
Bereaved Children: Government Support
The hon. Member is making a powerful speech, and we are all honoured to hear it.
May I say what a privilege it has been to be part of this debate, and how much I admire all those who have spoken about their personal stories? I do not underestimate for a second how difficult it is, but suffering a catastrophic event and trying to make other people’s lives better is about the most…
Commons
Debate
23 February 2026
Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving
I thank the right hon. Lady for advance sight of her statement, and her officials and advisers for briefing me over the weekend. I pay tribute to those who have pulled together a 300-page document, which I will now attempt to scrutinise in the five minutes that I have available to me today.
I turn …
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Topical Questions
It is a disgrace that a Jewish Member of this House had his visit to a school cancelled following pressure and intimidation from pro-Palestinian protesters. That is abhorrent antisemitism. Over the weekend, the Secretary of State announced a welcome investigation into the trust, alongside Ofsted act…
I am grateful for the right hon. Lady’s words. Bristol NEU publicly celebrated the cancellation of the visit from the hon. Member for Bristol North East (Damien Egan), describing it as a “win” and boasting that it sent a “clear message”. Over the weekend, the head of the NEU claimed that the visit t…
Commons
Debate
4 December 2025
Camden Nursery Sexual Abuse Case
This is an utterly horrific case. I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement, and I thank her officials and advisers, who took the time to brief me on it.
Any parent who has ever sent their child to nursery has had a physical reaction to this news. It is just so unspeakably a…
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
There is a good reason why we have an independent economic forecaster in this country. That is because, thankfully, it does not let the Government get away with saying that £6 billion can be absorbed across Government at a time when the spending review has already allocated all the money. So let us …
The right hon. Lady can rail against the forecasts, the Tories, her own leaky Back Benchers and probably, privately, the Treasury all she likes, but the spending review has set departmental budgets for the year in question. There is not £6 billion down the back of the sofa, so unless she can say whe…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
5 November 2025
3 contributions
Curriculum and Assessment Review
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement. I also thank Professor Francis for her work—any criticism of today’s announcement is directed not at her, but at the Government’s response to her review.
I welcome some of the measures announced today. I am pleased that the Governme…
That formula works, with English schools storming back up the global rankings.
We on the Conservative Benches will always stand up for rigour, evidence and the life-changing power of high standards. We will fight Labour’s education vandalism every step of the way.
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
20 October 2025
Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement.
I will start with V-levels. If they are a continuation of the reforms that we began to simplify the post-16 qualification landscape, I welcome it, but without the White Paper it is hard to understand whether that is the case. There …
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
The Education Secretary talks about wanting to improve outcomes for white working-class boys, yet disadvantaged children in Wales are being failed by the very model that she wants to introduce here in England. Is it not the case that the best thing she can do for white working-class pupils is to sto…
What we did for 14 years was improve school standards. Not content with destroying standards, this afternoon the Secretary of State will, according to media reports, introduce a new lower-level qualification targeted at white working-class pupils. That is simply watering down standards for some of o…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
Methanol Poisoning (Travel Advice)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require travel advice issued by the Secretary of State and other persons to include guidance about the risks of methanol poisoning; and for connected purposes.
I have been working closely on this issue on behalf of one of my constituents, Ch…
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
I completely support the Secretary of State’s opening words, and my thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the devastating incident.
Government documents state that the first step in achieving their primary school readiness mission is meeting their target of recruiting 6,500 teachers. …
This is farcical. Will the Secretary of State finally admit that the original pledge to hire 6,500 teachers included primary school teachers, and that the Government are now abandoning their pledge? The reality is that, according to their own website, there are 400 fewer teachers than last year.
Commons
Oral Questions
21 July 2025
Classroom Disruption: Smartphones
In the other place, Baroness Smith of Malvern, a Minister in the Department for Education, said:
“There is no clear scientific consensus on a negative impact from screen time and social media use on the mental health and neurological or functional development of children and young people.” —[ Offic…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
Early Years Providers: Government Support
Thank you. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Pritchard. I congratulate the hon. Member for Sherwood Forest (Michelle Welsh) on securing this interesting and thought-provoking debate. It is nice to see a degree of unanimity across the Chamber about the importance of early years hi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
7 July 2025
Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life
When the right hon. Lady was in opposition, she criticised every announcement simply because it came from the Conservatives. Take childcare: she called the hours model that she talked about today “broken”. She said that she would have a new childcare system, and that its creation would be
“like the…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
16 June 2025
2 contributions
Topical Questions
It is a pleasure to welcome my old primary school teacher Mrs Case to the Chamber today—I hope we all remain on our best behaviour. My question is very simple: does the Education Secretary believe that primary school teachers are indeed teachers?
I am grateful for the confirmation that the Education Secretary does accept that primary school teachers are indeed teachers, but why is she then saying that they no longer count towards her manifesto pledge to recruit 6,500 more teachers? Is it because, contrary to the Department’s social media pos…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
16 June 2025
Smartphones in Schools
The Secretary of State may dismiss banning smartphones in schools as a gimmick, but teachers, health professionals and parents are all calling for action to reduce children’s screen time. Every day we have new evidence of the harm that screens are doing, so why is the Education Secretary ignoring th…
Commons
Proceedings
22 May 2025
2 contributions
School Teachers’ Review Body: Recommendations
(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement on whether the Government will be accepting the school teachers’ review body’s pay recommendation for 2025-26.
Mr Speaker, this is absolutely outrageous. It is astonishing that we have had to summon the Government to the House today, but the Minister cannot even tell us what pay rise teachers will get and whether it is going to be funded. That does not allow us to scrutinise the matter in this House.
The Go…