Commons
Proceedings
23 February 2026
4 contributions
Kinship Carer Identification
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Tom Collins) for securing a debate on this important matter. Like him, I recognise the enormous contribution that kinship carers make to children’s lives. This Government are committed to helping more children grow up in safe, stable and loving homes …
I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. It is because of stories exactly like that one—from aunts, uncles, grandparents and other relatives across the country who often step into these children’s lives at sometimes no notice, waking up one morning to find that they are now responsible for ver…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
28 January 2026
Local Authority Children’s Services
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. I thank the hon. Member for Woking (Mr Forster) for securing the debate and for his powerful and heartfelt contribution. I have met him on a number of occasions, and I am sure we will continue to meet to discuss these and other related i…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
19 January 2026
5 contributions
Topical Questions
The hospitality industry is hugely important. Nothing has been decided on defunding apprenticeships yet. I recognise all my hon. Friend’s points, and we share her ambition that the apprenticeship system in the future is entirely designed around progression, as well as one-off learning.
I compliment my hon. Friend’s local leadership in High Peak. To support our ambition of 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, we are expanding foundation apprenticeships, launching a £140 million pilot with mayors to better connect young people with local apprenticeships, and fully funding …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
19 January 2026
2 contributions
Children’s Care Home Providers: Financial Oversight
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will introduce a financial oversight scheme for children’s social care. That will increase the transparency of children’s social care providers so that we can make accurate, real-time assessments of financial risk so that local authorities can step in and ta…
I welcome the hon. Member’s interest in this issue, and the reports from the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee. Children’s social care issues looked at through the prism of profit making in children’s homes demonstrate how much radical reform we need for children’s social care.…
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
19 January 2026
3 contributions
A-level and T-level Enrolments
More than 260,000 state-funded pupils took at least one A-level in the summer of 2025, and we expect that to remain steady in the future. T-levels continue to grow: at the last count more than 25,000 students embarked on them, which represents an increase of nearly 60% on the previous year’s figure.…
I thank the hon. Member for his leadership on these issues through the all-party parliamentary group on sixth form education, and for his local leadership as a constituency MP. I can reassure him that we will manage the transition carefully as these changes are introduced. We stand behind T-levels, …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 January 2026
3 contributions
Universities: Statutory Duty of Care
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher.
I recognise the profound pain felt by families who have lost loved ones in higher education. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) for securing this debate, and I pay tribute to his constituents Bob and Mag…
I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting that. I welcome his intervention, given that he has not had a chance to mention Kieran’s story and Manjo’s experience as his mum in a speech.
We want to move fast, which is why we published updated terms of reference for the taskforce just last month. They se…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Debate
12 January 2026
Higher Education: Government Support
I would like to express my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba) for securing the debate. He has a dedicated record of 15 years of service as a youth mentor, and has worked as a school governor, overseeing the education of young people, so he provides an in…
Commons
Westminster Hall
5 January 2026
Length of the School Week
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. Happy new year to one and all. I congratulate the young person who started this petition for securing this debate; it is always good to see pupils actively involved in thinking about the world around them and campaigning for the change th…
Commons
Debate
8 December 2025
3 contributions
Self-employed Adoptive Parents: Statutory Support
I thank the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) for securing this debate and highlighting these important issues. Having spoken to her in our first week in this place as newly elected Members of Parliament, I know she cares deeply about these issues, and I welcome her bringing them to t…
I am pleased that the parental leave and pay review is looking at these issues as part of its work, and I encourage Members to engage with the review as it continues.
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance is clear that where self-employed adopters do not qualify for any statutory paymen…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
5 contributions
Topical Questions
I thank my hon. Friend for her question. My noble Friend the Minister for Skills is working across both Departments to ensure that we bring the very important work on careers and early entry to work programmes together across the Government. I have myself seen great collaboration between both Depart…
My hon. Friend himself was an apprentice before entering this place, and he welcomed the Secretary of State to his constituency to open a construction technical excellence college not that long ago. The main thing that I took away from the Budget last week, which is extremely welcome, is that we wil…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
3 contributions
Free School Applications
As was mentioned earlier, the Government took the sensible, pragmatic decision to pause a number of free school applications in order to consider real concerns about value for money and to make sure new places are created in parts of the country that need them.
There is a very simple answer to that question: the last Government left us with crumbling school buildings and a limited capital budget to allocate across the entire school estate. We have to balance rebuilding crumbling school buildings—which, as the National Audit Office and others have highlight…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
2 contributions
Eton Star Sixth Form: Oldham
In 2017, the Government’s spending watchdog estimated that free schools would create 57,500 surplus places. This Government took the sensible, pragmatic decision to pause a number of proposed free schools due to real concerns about value for money. We recognise the need for clarity, and we will prov…
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. As somebody who was a teacher in Oldham, I know many of the institutions he is referring to, and I particularly know about the great work that is done by Oldham sixth-form college and the secondary schools in his constituency. We …
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
4 contributions
Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund
I appreciate the strength of feeling regarding the adoption and special guardianship support fund. Last month, I met campaigners, adopters and those running adoption services to discuss their views. This year, we have invested £50 million in the adoption and special guardianship support fund, and we…
I thank the hon. Member for drawing the attention of the House to a very powerful radio documentary, which I listened to last week. We do not have perfect data on this issue, but the data that we do have shows that cumulative adoption breakdowns have been at a rate of 4.8% over the past 12 years. I …
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
3 contributions
Post-16 Vocational Qualifications
Our curriculum and assessment review recommended the introduction of new V-levels, which will simplify the qualification landscape while giving students choice and flexibility. The Department for Education is now consulting on plans to introduce the qualifications. We are also proposing the introduc…
I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue, and I will be happy to ask my noble Friend in the other place to meet him. The qualifications that we are defunding are large qualifications that directly overlap with T-levels. The Government’s policy is very clearly to back T-levels as a goo…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
1 December 2025
2 contributions
Defence Technical College: Swindon
Rolling out technical excellence colleges is one way that Labour is rewiring our skills system, to unlock opportunity for our young people and drive growth for our country, and alongside techs for construction, clean energy, digital and advanced manufacturing, they will build the talent pipeline to …
I appreciate my hon. Friend championing the work of local businesses such as Rowden’s, and other defence industries across the UK, and I will gladly ask my noble friend the Minister for Skills, who I am sure would welcome the opportunity to meet him in the coming weeks.
Commons
Westminster Hall
11 November 2025
Sixth-form Provision: Bolsover
It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Natalie Fleet) on securing this important debate on post-16 education in Bolsover, and on championing the needs of young people in her constituency. She is a tremendous advocat…
Commons
Debate
3 November 2025
4 contributions
Care Leavers
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster Central (Sally Jameson) for securing this debate at the start of Care Leavers Month. She brings to this place her insights from the prison system, in which she saw the tragic and avoidable over-representation of the care-experienced community.
There h…
I thank my hon. Friend for that important intervention. As a country, we must reset the children’s social care system. We must move away from the crisis-led approach that the system has been stuck in for far too long, and towards earlier effective intervention for families. Local authorities need he…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
30 October 2025
3 contributions
Children’s Social Care
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I thank all Members for their contributions to this important debate. Particular thanks go to my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes). I acknowledge the Select Committee’s inquiry and important work, on which I will…
I thank my hon. Friend for raising what sounds like the very important idea for Georgia’s law. I would be really delighted to hear more from her about that. If there are aspects that I can take forward with Ministers in other Departments, I will do so.
Regarding information sharing, we are making b…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
29 October 2025
5 contributions
International Baccalaureate: Funding in State Schools
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. I thank the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) for securing this debate and all the Members who have contributed to it. The international baccalaureate can be a fantastic qualification for young people. I commend all the sta…
No, I do not agree with that. Combinations of A-levels allow young people to have a wide and rich curriculum. In fact, the large programme uplift changes that we are making prioritise choices of A-levels that extend beyond the standard three, up to five, to include advanced maths and other well rega…
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
8 contributions
Topical Questions
I thank the hon. Member for that important question. This is National Adoption Week, which I am sure Members across the House will want to celebrate, recognising the importance of adoption and the need to fill the adoption gap—about 1,500 adoptive parents for children are being waited for at the mom…
England is an international outlier by not requiring the registration of electively home-educated children, and we are remedying that with the Bill’s measures. Information on non-educational activities will not be required for inclusion in the registers. I will happily meet my hon. Friend to discuss…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
3 contributions
Vocational Training: Under-19s
We have cut red tape, put in record investment and tilted the system in favour of young domestic talent, and the proof is in the pudding. Apprenticeship starts, participation and achievement are up, up, up under this Government.
This is where I think the last Government got it wrong. We can be pro-further education, pro-technical education and pro-higher education; there is absolutely no need to trade them off against one another. Under this Government, we have 120,000 new training opportunities, up to 30,000 foundation app…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
4 contributions
Free Schools: Application Decisions
The Government’s spending watchdog reported in 2017 that planned free schools would add an estimated 57,500 more spare school places. We are taking a common-sense approach, so that we can prove value for money from every pound of taxpayer money spent.
My hon. Friend has been a vocal champion for St Joseph’s Catholic primary school since he entered this place last year. I want every child in the country to go to school in an appropriate building. His community wants certainty, and that is what we want too. An update will be provided later this yea…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Education
20 October 2025
6 contributions
International Baccalaureate
Funded institutions for those aged 16 to 19 have the freedom to decide how to use their funding for the provision they offer, including whether they offer the international baccalaureate.
The Government made big decisions at the spending review to increase the overall funding available to 16-to-19 courses. Next financial year, there will be an increase of over £800 million. [ Official Report , 30 October 2025; Vol. 774, c. 4WC.] (Correction) That means that per-pupil funding is going…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 October 2025
2 contributions
Child Risk Disclosure Scheme
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Blaydon and Consett (Liz Twist) for securing a debate on this important subject, and for her powerful and heartfelt speech.
We are here today because of Maya Chappell, a two-year-old girl whose life …
Of course I will.
All of us in this room agree that keeping children safe is a top priority. To quote my hon. Friend, the lives of the children we have been talking about were still important, still cherished and still worth protecting. To do that effectively, we need to share data, provide intensi…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
8 July 2025
Road and Rail Projects
People across Cumbria will warmly welcome the decision made by the Secretary of State about the dualling of the Pennine section of the A66, which will benefit the whole county. However, I wonder whether she might also say something about another scheme that is not yet at the same level of developmen…