Engagements — House of Commons, 2017-03-22
Topic: Education
Questions: Telford is a story of transformation and progress. From the ironmasters of the first industrial revolution through to a new revolution in high-tech manufacturing at Telford’s T54 today, it has helped to build Britain. As the Government deliver on the democratic will of the British people and trigger article 50, will my right hon. Friend tell us how Telford will prosper from Brexit and from her plan for Britain?; For centuries, Prime Ministers have taken a close personal interest in the effectiveness of Dover and the channel ports as gateways to and guardians of the kingdom, so may I ask my right hon. Friend to take a close interest in making sure that Kent ports are ready for Brexit on day one, and not just in terms of customs, but with the M20 lorry park on schedule, and the A2 upgrade and the lower Thames crossing being taken forward? Mr Speaker, will you join me and the Prime Minister in wishing Dame Vera Lynn a happy 100th birthday this week and thanking her for her service to the white cliffs and to the nation?; With her strong commitment to defence, does my right hon. Friend agree that we must stem the outflow from our shrinking forces? I urge her to reconsider the policy that she inherited of encouraging service families to get on to the housing ladder on the one hand, while on the other hand increasingly focusing the Army in areas where there is no affordable housing, and then applying the new landlord tax arrangements to buy for let.; The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be 95 years old in December. In that UK, Scottish economic growth is a quarter of that of independent Iceland and a third of that of independent Ireland. Given that the Prime Minister supports Irish independence and the benefits that that has brought to Ireland’s economy and population, why does she oppose it for Scotland? Will she show Scotland the respect that the EU showed the UK in regard to a referendum?; Last week, with cross-party support, my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) and I set up the all-party group on Lyme disease. This debilitating disease is a growing problem across the country, including in my constituency, yet awareness of it among the public and GPs is incredibly low. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that her Government do all they can to raise the profile of the disease and to resolve the problems surrounding both diagnosis and treatment?; During yesterday’s Adjournment debate, the Minister of State, Department of Health, the hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr Dunne), said that the issue in hand was above his pay grade. On the basis that the Prime Minister has the top pay grade, can she give us a clue about when we will see the long-awaited and very late tobacco control plan?; A substantial number of Ministers took the opportunity to visit Cumbria recently and saw for themselves not only its beauty, but its industrial strengths and potential. If the Government’s industrial strategy is to succeed, places such as Cumbria need to be part of that success. Will the Prime Minister ensure that Cumbria gets the infrastructure investment that it requires to ensure that it really does fulfil its potential?; The Prime Minister is in denial. Today’s report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies confirms that schools are already facing“the largest cut in school spending per pupil over a 4 year period since at least the early 1980s”, and that, as a result of her new national formula, funding is being diverted from schools with very high levels of deprivation. Every single school in my constituency will lose an average of £584 per pupil. Has the Prime Minister failed at maths, or failed to read her own manifesto?; Can my right hon. Friend confirm that, following the forthcoming debate on the restoration and renewal of Parliament, all Members, including Ministers, will have a completely free vote on what is a House matter? Does she understand that many of us believe that in these times of austerity, we should not be frontloading billions of pounds of expenditure on ourselves at the expense of schools and hospitals, but should carry on the work and stay in what is the iconic image of the nation?; Air and road pollution, brought about mainly by diesel engines, causes 40,000 early deaths in this country, while also causing severe lung diseases such as bronchitis and asthma among young people and children. Hafodyrynys Road in Crumlin, which is in my constituency, is the most polluted road in the United Kingdom outside London. It is an absolute disgrace. Most of the pollution is caused by heavy goods vehicles such as lorries and trucks, which travel along the road spewing out noxious gases on to residents. Will the Prime Minister commit herself to ensuring that hauliers will start using newer diesel engines, cleaner technology and cleaner energy, so that everyone, including young people, can enjoy a better quality of life, especially on Hafodyrynys Road?; The compensation paid by Network Rail to train operators for delays far exceeds the amounts that the passengers who experience the delays are claiming because the ticket refund process can be cumbersome. Will the Prime Minister insist that train operators ring fence that money, and spend it on automated smart ticketing so that customers can tap on and tap off their train, and receive money in their bank accounts for the delays that they have been caused?; Last week the Electoral Commission imposed on the Conservative party its largest ever fine for breaking crucial election rules. What did the Prime Minister, her Cabinet and her aides know about any of this activity, and who was responsible for designing and signing off all this? Does she agree that this was at best wilful negligence and at worst pure electoral fraud?; Last week, through no fault of her own, Amy and her young daughter became homeless. After months of looking for a flat, she finally went to Merton Council, which told her that it could only offer her temporary accommodation in Birmingham, 140 miles away from her job, her daughter’s school, and the friends and family who make it possible for her to be a working single mum. May I ask the Prime Minister how it can be right that in one of the richest cities in the world, where Russian oligarchs and Chinese banks own scores of properties and leave them empty, a London-born working family like Amy’s have not a room to live in?
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is right. As I said earlier, the issue of the funding formula for schools was ducked for too long—it was certainly ducked by the last Labour Government. We have started to address it: we have been looking at the formula, and we have brought forward a proposal. We will look at the consultation responses and respond in due course. She is also absolutely right about the Labour party. Its education policies would mean fewer opportunities in schools, and its economic policy would mean less funding for schools.