argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Kinship Carers — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Anthony Edward Timpson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right to raise the important and often crucial role that working grandparents play in proving childcare and supporting working families. As a Government we recognise that fact. That is why we have announced plans to extend the current system of shared parental pay and leave to cover working grandparents, thereby providing much greater choice for families trying to balance childcare and work. We will bring forward legislation to enable this change with the aim of implementing it by 2018.
Kinship Carers — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Anthony Edward Timpson (Conservative, Centre-right): We have taken such a strong interest in these issues for all the reasons that the hon. Gentleman set out, because kinship carers are performing a role that would otherwise have to be performed by the state. That is why, whether through the discretionary housing fund or through the work that we are doing with the Family Rights Group and others to encourage family group conferences, we are trying to help those families where at all possible to keep children living with them, thereby helping to save not only taxpayers’ money, but those children’s futures.
Kinship Carers — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
David John Barrington Burrowes (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the significant financial pressure from placement breakdown on the formal fostering system, will the Minister support a kinship reform grant, similar to the adoption reform grant, which has a significant impact, to show that the Government are matching the intent with the money to support kinship care?
Kinship Carers — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Anthony Edward Timpson (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend will be aware of the already impressive impact the adoption support fund has had on helping families trying to care for some of the most vulnerable children in our society. It is clear that such a positive approach across the board will help many other families struggling in similar circumstances to bring about those excellent outcomes. The special guardianship review, which is under way, and the improvements to social work reform will help to deliver better pre- and post-placement support for all those children who need it.
Kinship Carers — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Anthony Edward Timpson (Conservative, Centre-right): In the previous answer, on the support that we have offered on adoption, I touched on some of the other support that is available to kinship carers in their own local authority area. That is why through Ofsted inspections of local authorities and through the family and friends statutory guidance we have made sure that there is a greater emphasis on the support that we know works for kinship carers. More importantly, the announcement on shared parental leave will help many of those families who have a grandparent who works and who is helping with childcare, by providing the flexibility they need to have a much better balance between having a family and having good childcare in place.
Kinship Carers — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Anthony Edward Timpson (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the importance of ensuring that we have the right support in place for kinship carers and that any changes are thought through carefully, and that is exactly what we have done. He will know that the two-child policy is not being introduced until April 2017, and that any extra support that kinship carers receive from their local authority is disregarded when it comes to the benefit cap. Extra support is available in exceptional circumstances to protect kinship carers from those changes from April 2017. All these things have been thought through, but of course we are happy to consider them as they are implemented.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government remain committed to implementing our manifesto pledge to make funding fairer. We are protecting the schools budget, which will rise as pupil numbers increase, and we have made significant progress towards fairer funding for schools, with an extra £390 million for underfunded areas this year, which we have now confirmed will be included in budgets for next year as well.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Michael Louis David Fabricant (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend will know that schools in Staffordshire receive about £320 less per pupil than the English average. At the risk of boring you, Mr Speaker, I raised this matter in 1992, and I raised it during Prime Minister’s questions with Tony Blair, who was very sympathetic but also did nothing, and when I raised it in the previous Parliament, I was told that it was being blocked by the "wicked Liberals" and David Laws. Well, now we are in government, so what are we going to do about it and when will it happen?
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree, Mr Speaker The Minister for Schools recently met colleagues in Staffordshire to discuss school funding, which I hope they found useful. My hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant) was unable to attend, but I know that he was there in spirit. As I have said, we have protected the per pupil funding in Staffordshire so that schools will continue to receive the additional £130,000 they received in 2015-16, but I am determined to make further progress on this.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nigel Paul Huddleston (Conservative, Centre-right): Under current arrangements, per pupil funding in Worcestershire is £4,231, whereas in nearby Birmingham it is £5,218. When my right hon. Friend visits Worcestershire in a couple of weeks, will she be able to deliver some good news to my constituents about upcoming arrangements that will narrow that gap?
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very much looking forward to my visit to Worcestershire. I cannot say what I will be saying at that point, but I know that my hon. Friend and other Members from Worcestershire, including my Parliamentary Private Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), have been campaigning tirelessly for fairer schools funding for some time, and I know that they will welcome the nearly £7 million extra per year that we have given to schools in Worcestershire. I look forward to working on this further.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I think that I can therefore welcome the hon. Gentleman’s support for the principle of fairer funding. As he will know, we are of course looking at all elements of funding as part of the forthcoming spending review, but we have made it clear that we are protecting per pupil funding in this Parliament, which means that the amount going to schools will go up as the number of pupils goes up.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I think that we can all agree that pupil premium funding has been hugely successful. It is absolutely right that over £2.5 billion is given to schools for additional funding to help those who are most disadvantaged, and schools, by and large, are spending it extremely effectively. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that obviously the school funding formula reflects both deprivation funding and pupil premium funding, which has since been introduced, but we absolutely want to ensure that the same pupils with the same needs attract the same funding. I reiterate that pupil premium funding has been very successful.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Neil Carmichael (Conservative, Centre-right): Given the scale and complexity of the issue, does the Secretary of State agree that we need some proposals relatively soon so that the Education Committee, for one, can examine them and be satisfied that they offer a long-term solution to a very significant problem?
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend, who chairs the Committee, is absolutely right that any solution must be for the long term. I can assure him that, were there to be any changes, there would be an extensive consultation, in which I hope members of the Committee as well as members of the public, including schools, teachers and parents across the country, would be involved.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I or one of the Ministers will be happy to meet the hon. Gentleman. I remind him that in the previous Parliament we put in an extra £5 billion into the system to build new places, and we have committed another £7 billion for new places across the system. Of course, his own party took out funding for 200,000 places at a time of growing pupil numbers.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): In a similar vein to questions from other hon. Friends, may I point out that pupils in Taunton Deane receive £2,000 less than the average per pupil nationally? I have the backing of thousands of teachers and parents on a petition for our fairer funding campaign. Can I give them any indication from the Minister that they will be listened to?
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that petitions and signatures are being collected up and down the country, as in my Leicestershire constituency, where fair funding is also a huge issue. I can assure my hon. Friend that I am extremely aware of these issues, as are Ministers across Government.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What steps her Department is taking to ensure a more equitable allocation of funding per pupil throughout England; and if she will make a statement.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will know that I cannot give any predictions about the forthcoming spending review until all the negotiations and discussion with the Treasury are concluded, but of course the issues of fairer funding that we have been discussing are a very important part of responding to the pressures on schools budgets across the country.
Mental Health Services — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of child and adolescent mental health services on the health, wellbeing and performance of young people in schools and colleges.; What assessment she has made of the effect of child and adolescent mental health services on the health, wellbeing and performance of young people in schools and colleges.
Nicky Morgan (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady speaks with great passion on an issue that she obviously cares about greatly. We have commissioned more places with educational psychologists this year than last year. She is absolutely right to say that a lot of this is about making sure that young people stay in education and that there are no barriers to them doing so. I am very happy to write to her with further details.
Post-16 Education — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Labor
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (Conservative, Centre-right): Since 2013-14, all 16-to-19 institutions have received a national funding rate, which we have held steady in 2015-16. We understand the financial challenges facing the sector and have therefore launched a national programme of area reviews to ensure that we have strong and sustainable institutions delivering high-quality routes to employment.
Post-16 Education — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman is not quite right, because the regional school commissioner, who is responsible for commissioning schools in his or her area, is always going to be part of the area reviews and can bring in the perspective of sixth forms in schools, but I do not think the hon. Gentleman would think it practical to include every single school with a sixth form in the review and actually achieve a result. We are determined to achieve a result in a short space of time so that we have strong, specialist institutions that are able to provide a high-quality education.
Post-16 Education — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.
James Michael Ellwood Berry (Conservative, Centre-right): Kingston college in my constituency has federated with Carshalton college in a neighbouring constituency. Will my hon. Friend congratulate their move to consolidate their efforts and to provide better provision for young people going into further education, and will he visit Kingston college with me?
Post-16 Education — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (Conservative, Centre-right): The reason I would love to visit is that that is a model example of what the sector should be doing. It is very important for hon. Members to remember that the sector is independent: Government cannot force institutions to merge, but we can encourage them to do so and show great examples such as that outlined by my hon. Friend.
Post-16 Education — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.; Wigan colleges are concerned that the Greater Manchester area review starts with the strong presumption that the merger of colleges is the only way forward. Will the Minister confirm that other ways to achieve financial stability for colleges and good outcomes for pupils will be given serious consideration if they present a strong case for that?
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (Conservative, Centre-right): We are certainly open to a whole range of options. As I say, ultimately, colleges themselves will determine what they think will work best. I do not agree with the hon. Lady that somehow there is anything necessarily to be afraid of from a merger. A merger can mean that people save a whole lot of administrative and management costs, so they can actually pour more money into paying teachers to do the job that we all want them to do.
Post-16 Education — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of recent changes in 16-19 funding on the (a) breadth and (b) viability of post-16 education.; Wigan colleges are concerned that the Greater Manchester area review starts with the strong presumption that the merger of colleges is the only way forward. Will the Minister confirm that other ways to achieve financial stability for colleges and good outcomes for pupils will be given serious consideration if they present a strong case for that?
Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (Conservative, Centre-right): We might want to look over the channel to see what happens to an education sector when the Government are not getting a grip on spending and on ensuring a strong economy. In Portugal, schools have been closed and teachers laid off. In Greece, teachers have faced a 30% cut in their salaries. We are ensuring a strong sector that is able to educate young people for a life of work.
Sure Start Children’s Centres — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she had made of the effect of the services offered by Sure Start children’s centres on the families who use those centres.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): It is crucial that we evaluate the impact of children’s centres for families. The Department for Education has funded the "Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England" research, and three interim reports were published in June 2015. I expect the full impact report to be published later this year, with a consultation to follow on how children’s centres can have the greatest impact for local communities going forward.
Sure Start Children’s Centres — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she had made of the effect of the services offered by Sure Start children’s centres on the families who use those centres.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady is an excellent and assiduous MP. I congratulate the Sure Start centre in her constituency on the excellent work it is doing. That highlights the fact that, to look at the future of children’s centres, we must look at more innovation and other ways of delivering services that work for local communities and satisfy local demand.
Sure Start Children’s Centres — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she had made of the effect of the services offered by Sure Start children’s centres on the families who use those centres.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): Labour Members continue to count buildings rather than services when they talk about children’s centres. One million families have benefited from children’s centre services. Free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds and for all three and four-year-olds is delivering the school-readiness that has seen record numbers of children ready for school, according to the early years foundation stage profile.
Sure Start Children’s Centres — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she had made of the effect of the services offered by Sure Start children’s centres on the families who use those centres.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): I welcome the hon. Lady to her new post. It is great to see that many of her predecessors are still in the shadow education team. It is wonderful that the new politics is being led by the same old faces I am proud of our record on children’s centres. We have seen record numbers of families receiving support, but there has also been a 50% increase in the number of health visitors and we have expanded the troubled families programme. We are on the side of the families that need children’s centres most, and we are doing something about it.
Tax Credits (Free School Meals) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will be aware that, in the rest of the UK, the majority of children who are entitled to free school meals have parents who are on out-of-work benefits. We are assessing the impact of the changes to tax credits, and there is nothing to suggest that people who currently receive free school meals will not continue to do so.
Tax Credits (Free School Meals) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals.
Samuel Phillip Gyimah (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman will be aware that eligibility for free school meals in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Government. The Scotland Bill will give the Scottish Government power to top up or reverse tax credits, or to raise taxes, but they are noticeably silent about what they will do to ensure that such eligibility continues.
Tax Credits (Free School Meals) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Education
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals.
James Whiteside Gray (Conservative, Centre-right): As the Minister correctly points out, free school meals in Scotland are a matter not for him but for the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Is it not odd to hear Members of the Scottish National party questioning the Minister about free school meals in England, when I cannot go to Edinburgh and question Ministers there about free school meals in Scotland?
Tax Credits (Free School Meals) — House of Commons, 2015-10-26
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to tax credits on the number of children accessing free school meals.
Andrew George Stephenson (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that welfare changes are an essential part of reducing the deficit, and far preferable to sacking thousands of teachers and closing schools, as we have seen in countries such as Greece and Portugal?