argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Young People in Care — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen James McCabe (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate the Chairman and members of the Education Committee, many of whom have spoken today, on the report, which is a model of the well-argued, thought-provoking body of work that we have come to rely on from the Select Committee system. It has proved helpful in focusing attention on the types of accommodation available to young people aged 16 and over who are cared for by local authorities—a population of about 14,000, representing about 20% of the total population of looked-after children, The Children Act 1989 requires that young people aged 16 and over should be given a personal adviser to help them to progress to independence. That involves helping them to make choices, and ensuring that their pathway plan and review actually happen, and that the plan includes the skills needed for independent living. The Select Committee cites the children’s rights director as saying that almost half—49%—of care leavers thought that they had been badly or very badly prepared for independent life. Key deficiencies include a lack of basic skills such as cooking and financial management The report made me wonder whether there is too much focus on the post of personal adviser, and not enough on the task. Foster carers and other significant adults should principally perform those tasks, as they are the people with whom the young person already has an important relationship. I know that the Minister, too, has reflected on that. I was struck during a recent visit to Hackney’s fostering unit by the impressive work that it does, and its use of social pedagogy as a tool for development. The Minister is on the record as saying that the personal adviser is a function, rather than a specifically appointed person, and that there is nothing in the regulations or guidance to stop local authorities using resources such as foster carers or people who work in children’s homes as personal advisers.
Young People in Care — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Lisa Eva Nandy (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s generosity in giving way, especially as I could not be here for the start of the debate. I was interested in his use of the word "relationship". Does he agree that a key point about the system that we have constructed for children in care is that often it does not see or value those crucial relationships in young people’s lives? At the time when they most need them the system often drives a coach and horses through them. Does he agree that if we were serious about helping children, sustaining them through the hardest period in their life, we would restructure the system so that it could see, support and value those relationships with key trusted adults, whoever they are?
Young People in Care — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Social Welfare
Stephen James McCabe (Labour, Centre-left): I said that I had some doubts. The hon. Member for Calder Valley said that the difference is that there is not necessarily the same stability with regard to children’s homes. The situation is not guaranteed in the same way. Fostering arrangements, by definition, tend to be stable. The turnover of staff and other children at a children’s home means that the situation may not be the same. That is my major reservation.
Young People in Care — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Government Operations
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): On what my hon. Friend is saying about our recommendation for a framework of individual regulatory oversight, I confirm that we recommended that the DFE consult on setting one up. Does he agree that that is a sensible way forward?
Young People in Care — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Government Operations
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): I do not want to tease the Minister, but if a large number of authorities across the country can achieve a 100% reduction, the best practice is out there and authorities know how it can be done. Is it not time just to say, "Do it"?
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to you, Mr Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to hold this debate, which, in my opinion, is much needed, given local anxiety about the situation of Durham free school and the strong interest in its future I begin by expressing great sympathy for the parents and children facing this most unfortunate set of circumstances, but I called the debate to put in the public domain factual information about why the school is facing an announcement by the Secretary of State of her intention to withdraw its funding. Members will know that I have had concerns about the free school for some time, partly because it has been so difficult to get accurate information about it and its funding. However, even I was surprised by the response from the Secretary of State to my question last Monday. I thank her and the Minister for the honesty and decisiveness of her response.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): This report is probably the worst I have ever seen during my years in education. I have been inundated by e-mails from parents who still think it is a great school, that there have been inappropriate conversations with children and that there is some sort of political agenda, yet a Conservative Secretary of State has taken the decision to close a school that is part of the Government’s flagship policy. Does my hon. Friend think that the inspectors could get it so badly wrong in such circumstances?
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): Tomorrow the chief executive of Ofsted is due to appear before the Select Committee on Education. Parents will want us to hold him to account for the decisions made at Durham and in Sunderland, where just last week Grindon Hall free school was also put into special measures. Does my hon. Friend think there are any particular challenges we should be laying at his door tomorrow?
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Government Operations
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): It is important that the chief executive of Ofsted establishes very clearly that the inspections were carried out in a suitable way and following the correct guidance, and therefore that there should be public confidence in their outcomes, because I know that a number of colleagues have received letters from a variety of people calling into question the veracity of the Ofsted inspection.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Sharon Hodgson (Labour, Centre-left): As my hon. Friend will know, Grindon Hall Christian school is in my constituency. Following on from the intervention by our hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham), I would like to ask her, on behalf of the hundreds of parents who have written to me, whether she agrees that Ofsted has questions to answer about the inspection, to ensure that the public can have confidence in Ofsted, which is something that the parents who have written to me do not have.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): It is important that we maintain confidence in Ofsted, which I hope will get—as I am sure it will—challenging questions from the Select Committee tomorrow. Again, I hope that Ofsted is able robustly to defend the way in which it carried out these inspections Clearly a number of parents are very upset and want the school to stay open. I genuinely sympathise with them, but given the inadequate rating, I am not clear on what grounds it can do so.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): That is a very interesting intervention given that I started the debate by asking for information about the decision to be in the public domain. I understand that the decision taken by the Secretary of State was based not only on the Ofsted report, but on the detailed assessment carried out late last year by the Education Funding Agency and representatives from the Department for Education and the free school unit. I know that the school is concerned about aspects of the Ofsted inspection, but there are many more aspects of that inspection that need to be taken into consideration. Given the inadequate rating, I am not clear on what grounds the school can challenge, but I understand that it has until next Tuesday to set out its case In addition to being clear about the extensive nature of the information on which the decision to remove the school’s funding was based, I want to see what lessons can be learned from this sorry saga, whether or not the school remains open. First, I am totally unclear about why this school was given approval to start up in the first place in a city that has good quality schools and surplus places. Community acceptance of the free school was not helped by the fact that this new school of 30 pupils was expected to be set up on the site of a school that had just closed down because it was not considered to be financially viable with 400 pupils. Numbers at the free school remained low, even though as soon as it was established the local authority was obliged to inform parents in the area that it was their nearest school, and that if they wanted free school transport they would have to send their children to that school—they did not have a choice.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to my hon. Friend and parliamentary neighbour for giving way. Does she agree that another scandalous aspect is that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been sunk into a school in an area, as she rightly says, of surplus places, where other local schools, such as the excellent St Leonard’s, which serves both her and my constituency, are crying out for resources? Is it not a scandal that just last Saturday this school was spending taxpayers’ money on a half-page advert in The Northern Echo? Is that a good use of public money?
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend reiterates a point that I have made many times. I have been greatly concerned about the amount of money the school has received, how it has been spent and the impact of that on other schools in the community Secondly, on lessons learned, how much money has the school received so far and has any analysis been made of how that money could have been better spent to assist local schools, especially as they had to accommodate the 400 children from the closed school with no additional resources? Why did the Department think it was better to support a free school for the few rather than invest in the planned academy, which would have supported many more children One of the first things the then Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), did on the election of the current Government was to cancel the academy for Durham city that was very much needed locally and that was supposed to raise standards for the school that closed. This is particularly concerning in the light of findings by the National Audit Office that "the primary factor in decision making has been opening schools at pace, rather than maximising value for money" Surely it was wrong to put ideology before evidence-based education policy The shadow Secretary of State picked up on that in highlighting the deficiencies now emerging from the Swedish system, which saw a radical expansion of free schools, accounting for a quarter of all pupils by 2013. This seems to have come at a great cost for those pupils, as Sweden saw a massive drop in standards during this period. In 2003, Sweden was ranked 17th in the global league table for mathematics; now it is ranked 38th. I hope that the Department is keeping a good check on what is happening to overall standards for schools such as Durham free school I regret the accusation that some of us are turning this into a political issue. That is not the case. I want a rational debate about the school’s future. When parents approached me in 2011-12 for support to set up the free school, I did what I think was the right thing and pointed them to the Department so that they could get the information and support they needed. I do not know whether that happened in practice. What I do know is that when things go wrong, we need decisive action. I know that the local authority is trying to work with the school and with parents by offering alternative places. It is interesting that we always expect local authorities to step in and sort out problems; perhaps we should consider giving them a much bigger role in the management of all schools The main thing that I wanted to do this evening was put my concerns on record. I look forward to hearing what the Minister will say about how they will be addressed, but I hope that, before he speaks, I can crave the indulgence of the House and allow my hon. Friend the Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass) a few minutes in which to comment on the issue from the point of view of the Education Committee.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Pat Glass (Labour, Centre-left): I shall speak very briefly. My main purpose is to thank the Secretary of State and the Minister for the decisive and swift action that they have taken in this case I have been raising issues relating to Durham free school with the Department for Education, and with its former Secretary of State, for several years, both in the Education Committee and in the Chamber. I find it disappointing that the former Secretary of State chose not to take action, and that, until very recently, he was praising a school which—let us not forget—has failed and has been found to be inadequate in every respect, including safeguarding. That is why I am so grateful for the swift action that has—finally—been taken I consistently raised the financial and educational questions that surrounded the opening of a free school in a city where there was already a sufficiency of both surplus places and good and outstanding schools. I said many times, "You cannot spit in Durham city without hitting an outstanding school." There were surplus places in that city, and I could not understand the reasoning behind the setting up of another school. I also consistently raised the fact that the school had never been more than half full in years 7 and 8, that the cost per pupil was therefore in excess of £80,000, and that applications to Durham county council for places in other schools from the parents of existing pupils had been regular and even excessive since the day on which the free school had opened in September 2013 However, my real concerns—I raised them with the Secretary of State in, I think, November, which is why I think that progress has been swift—related to staffing at the school. There are good teachers there who will find it difficult to secure alternative employment, and I am sorry for that. However, as a former senior education officer in the north-east, I was aware that there were very high levels of teachers working at Durham free school that I knew had already undergone competency procedures with other local authorities. A head teacher in the region told me that the school had become a haven for every crap teacher in the north-east. I am sorry if that is unparliamentary language, but that was what he said I am concerned about the £4 million that the school has cost in 15 months. I am concerned about the negative impact that the school has had not only on its own intake, but on all the other schools in the City of Durham. I remind Members that it was judged to be inadequate in every respect. Those children have lost 15 months of their education that they will never get back, and for that reason I am extremely grateful for the actions that the Minister has taken. This has gone on for too long, and I am pleased that he has pulled the funding agreement to ensure that it goes on no longer.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Kevan David Jones (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister mentions choice. In Durham there is choice. There is the very good St Leonard’s Catholic school, there is a choice of very good secondary schools, and a good proposal was put forward for an academy backed by the local FE college. This Government cancelled that. We should have added to the choice, instead of taking the ideological step of introducing this free school, which was not needed in the area.
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Alexander Cunningham (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome that decisive action, but Durham free school was receiving its bursary services from Grindon Hall Christian school, which itself has just been found to be in special measures. What measures will the Minister take to make sure all these free schools and academies—and everything else, for that matter—have appropriate financial systems and support and that we do not have one poor school trying to provide services to another?
Durham Free School — House of Commons, 2015-01-27
Topic: Education
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): What assessment was made before the school was opened of its ability to meet the numbers that would be required to make it a good and stable school going forward? It has consistently failed to attract the numbers of students that would be necessary, so we have had a situation of, first, 30 children in one year and then the combined two years of 90 children in a school that was built to cater for 700 or 800 students.
Academies: Exam Results — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
John Mann (Labour, Centre-left): That was a bit of a non-answer. If an academy is successful, parents are happy and so am I, but what if an academy is getting bad results and is on the way down? What powers are there for local people to enable them to have any influence whatsoever on the future of that academy?
Academies: Exam Results — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
Geoffrey Robinson (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will be aware of the Grace academy in Coventry. She facilitated a meeting with one of her Ministers and we are grateful for that, but she will understand—and I hope will therefore follow it up closely herself—that the proof of the pudding will be in the effective action taken to deal with the situation. We have no indication that it is improving and the career prospects of 1,000 young children are being put at risk.
Care Costs: Disabled Children — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent assessment she has made of the effect of the cost of child care on the household disposable income of parents with disabled children.
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): The cross-party parliamentary inquiry into child care for disabled children found that 92% of parents with disabled children reported difficulties in finding suitable child care for their children. As child care costs overall continue to rise, particularly for disabled children, that figure can only continue to grow. What is the Minister doing to ensure sufficient places for disabled children?
Care Costs: Disabled Children — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What recent assessment she has made of the effect of the cost of child care on the household disposable income of parents with disabled children.
Alison McGovern (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister’s words to parents of children with disabilities are just that. Can he explain the reality of the situation for families who have a child with a disability when the proportion of local authorities reporting that they have sufficient places for children with disabilities has fallen by seven points in just one year to only a fifth? That is the reality for parents of children with disabilities. Can he please explain what happened last year?
Teacher Work Loads — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
Kerry Gillian McCarthy (Labour, Centre-left): The Government’s own figures show that the average primary teacher is working 60 hours a week. Teachers in Bristol tell me that their work load is at an unsustainable level and that the accountability system in particular has reached absurd levels and demonstrates a profound lack of trust in teachers. Teachers are too often unsung heroes, under-appreciated and overworked. When is the Minister going to let them just get on and do their job?
Teacher Work Loads — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
Kevin Denis Brennan (Labour, Centre-left): As a former teacher, may I say that teacher work load really matters? The 10% increase that was shown up in the work load survey, which the Minister published only after being hounded for some considerable time by the Opposition, is contributing to low morale and to a looming teacher training and recruitment crisis. The response from the Government that he mentioned has been roundly rejected by teachers, thousands of whom have taken the trouble to tell Ministers of the negative impact of Government policy on teacher work loads. Do we not need a new beginning for teachers, with a Government who take seriously the impact that work load pressures are having on teacher morale and on children’s learning?
STEM Subjects — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
Chinyelu Susan Onwurah (Labour, Centre-left): Recent research found that more than a third of schools in Newcastle do not offer triple science at GCSE. Newcastle has a thriving digital and information and communications technology hub, and a history of fantastic scientific achievement such as the recent mitochondrial breakthrough. What is the Minister doing to make sure that every pupil in Newcastle can access triple science if they have the talent to do so?
STEM Subjects — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
William Roffen Esterson (Labour, Centre-left): The Minister says that he wants more young people to be taking maths and science subjects, but does he acknowledge that there is a chronic shortage of teachers applying for STEM subjects? Why has that happened, and what action are the Government taking to reverse this serious problem for young people and for the wider economy?
Policy Objectives — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): Any reputable organisation evaluating its success employs external consultants or impartial people, or at least consults its consumers. When I go round schools in this country, as I do very regularly, I find a devastated landscape. Does the Secretary of State agree? I find unaccountable schools, a top-down culture, a restricted curriculum, and a very low regard for this Secretary of State.
Policy Objectives — House of Commons, 2015-03-02
Topic: Education
Tristram Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): In 2010 the Conservative party manifesto promised to "close the attainment gap between the richest and poorest", so can the Secretary of State tell the House whether, over the past two years, since the roll-out of coalition policy, the attainment gap between pupils on free school meals and their better-off classmates has narrowed or widened?