Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-03-29
Topic: Education
Questions: Pupils and parents deserve good schools and real choice in education, including schools that are focused unashamedly on academic rigour. Will my right hon. Friend tell us when the Government will open applications for the new wave of free schools, and will she confirm that they will be genuinely free to be run as they wish, serving the local community and creating schools that work for everyone?; The Royal Air Force is preparing to fly Typhoons from RAF Coningsby in my constituency to Romania to support our NATO allies on the border with Russia. That is happening as President Putin is locking up his political opponents and crushing calls for democracy. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, as we leave the European Union, the United Kingdom will continue to lead NATO in defending that vital border, and will she pay tribute to the members of the armed forces who safeguard our democracy at home and abroad?; Improving vocational and technical education is vital in closing our productivity gap, so can the Prime Minister assure me that vocational education will enjoy equal status with academic education, so that as we leave the EU our young people can be equipped to build the high-skilled economy of the future?; The Treasury Committee says that for many small companies, having to fill in a tax return every three months will mean facing disaster, and the Federation of Small Businesses says that the extra annual cost is likely to be at least £2,700 a year—yet another burden on business from this Government. The Prime Minister got it wrong on national insurance; is she going to backtrack on tax returns as well?; I welcome the additional money that the Government have given for adult social care, but it is important that we also look at long-term solutions. As part of the long-term review, will the Prime Minister look at some of the cases in my constituency, and at the issues with how the system works for Northamptonshire County Council and Northampton general hospital?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have just said to the right hon. Gentleman, we said that we would protect school funding, and we have; there is a real-terms protection for the schools budget. We said that we would protect the money following children into schools, and we have; the schools budget reaches £42 billion, as pupil numbers rise, in 2019-20. But I also have to say to him that it is about the quality of education that children are receiving, with 1.8 million more children in good or outstanding schools than there were under the Labour Government Time and again, the right hon. Gentleman stands up at Prime Minister’s questions and asks questions that would lead to more spending. Let us look at what he has said recently: on 11 January, more spending; on 8 February, more spending; on 22 February, more spending; on 1 and 8 March, more spending; and on 15 and 22 March, more spending. Barely a PMQs goes by that he does not call for more public spending. When it comes to spending money that it does not have, Labour simply cannot help itself. It is the same old Labour: spend today and give somebody else the bill tomorrow. Well, we will not do that to the next generation.