argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), and a particular pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), who I think kicked this sorry excuse of a Bill into next week I congratulate the hon. Members for Glasgow North West (Carol Monaghan) and for Kingston and Surbiton (James Berry) on their maiden speeches today. It’s a lovely feeling when you’ve nailed it—I know what it’s like I come to this debate as a governor of Thorpe St Andrew school—an outstanding local authority school; I am very proud of it. I will direct my contribution to the education component of the Bill, starting with what I believe is one of its overarching aims, namely, to build on the work of the Education Act 2011. If that Act could be described as the ignition of an engine to drive the dismantling of our public education system, this Bill is intended to turbocharge it—as the PM might say, "Fire up the Quattro, Nicky!" In my constituency of Norwich South, the vultures are not just circling in anticipation of the Bill’s passage; they are already hacking away at the juiciest cuts. The Inspiration Trust has its beady eye on the Hewett local authority school and the £60 million of land that it sits on—land that belongs to the people of my city, not to what is little more than a corporation masquerading as a so-called educational charity. A secretive, unaccountable corporation in all but name, it has links to the very heart of this Government in the form of Theodore Agnew—a Conservative party donor and non-executive board member initially at the Department for Education, but now at the Ministry of Justice. I am sure that irony has not been missed by the parents and pupils of Hewett, who have seen little in the way of justice when it comes to having a say in their school’s future. That situation will be faced by many more communities if the Bill is passed in its current form In saying that, I recognise that there are good and decent academy chains out there, such as the academies run by the Co-operative Academies Trust, which are genuinely accountable and act in the public interest to improve the education of our children. Alas, the Inspiration Trust is not one of them. The Bill worsens rather than improves the chances of holding it to account.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the other problems with the Bill is the lack of academies and sponsors who are able and willing to take on the number of schools that the Government intend to convert? The Co-operative can take on only so many schools. Is he concerned that the schools he describes in his constituency may have little choice other than to be forcibly taken over by the trust that he mentioned?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes an important and alarming point. Like many other trusts, the Inspiration Trust has already gobbled up tens of millions of pounds worth of public land and buildings and now, emboldened by the Bill, it finds its appetite whetted for yet more pickings Last year, using freedom of information requests, an investigation by The Guardian revealed that academy schools have paid millions of taxpayer pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): Given the case that my hon. Friend described from his constituency, does he agree that there are real points of concern in the Bill about the weaknesses of consultation not just on academy status, but on the identity of the sponsors?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is right: there is neither sufficient consultation nor sufficient scrutiny Even a report for the Education Committee, with its Government majority, has said that "checks and balances on academy trusts in relation to conflicts of interest are still too weak." Sadly I see nothing in the Bill to remedy that, and much to make it worse The Committee also questioned the so-called not for profit branding being used by many trusts and called for more regulation and greater transparency. Instead, the Bill offers less of both and fast-tracks academisation, removing any form of consultation and robbing communities even of the enfeebled fig-leaf consultations that the Academies Act 2010 offered A great Member of this House, the late Tony Benn, suggested five questions to ask those in power. I would ask them of the Inspiration Trust and many other academies. What power have they got? The answer: too much. Where did they get it from? From those on the Government Benches. In whose interests do they use it? Judging by the money that Theodore Agnew is pumping into the Conservative party, I speculate that it is not in ours. To whom are they accountable? According to the Education Committee, no one in particular. And the most important question of all: how do we get rid of them? We cannot I see nothing in this Bill that seriously challenges that glaring lack of democratic accountability. As Tony Benn said: "Anyone who cannot answer the last of those questions does not live in a democratic system."—[Official Report, 16 November 1998; Vol. 319, c. 685.] That goes to the heart of my argument about why we must oppose the Bill. This is not just a smash and grab on our public schools, their buildings, equipment and the very land they sit on, but an attack on the values that we on both sides of the House should hold dear—the values of democracy, accountability and transparency, especially when dealing with the allocation and use of public funds and giving local communities a real say in their children’s education A total of 145 academies are currently rated as inadequate, but nothing in the Bill deals with that. With the Education Committee this year saying that there was no evidence academisation in and of itself has improved educational standards, we have to question why the Bill is before the House. I cannot believe that it is on the basis of a fair and open-minded assessment of the best interests of our constituents and their children. It is their interests that I represent, however, and in their interests that I shall vote against the Bill and, instead, vote for the Opposition amendment. I urge the House to do the same.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): I, too, congratulate hon. Members who have made their initial contributions in today’s debate. It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friends the Members for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh), for Ilford North (Wes Streeting), and particularly for Norwich South (Clive Lewis). He and I between us have doubled Labour’s representation in the east—from not a lot to, sadly for us, not quite enough The Bill claims that schools should do better, and no one is going to disagree with that, but the real question is whether the Bill provides the best way to go about it. Representing an education city, where nearly 1,500 young people are attending schools rated as "less than good", if one trusts that definition, I find that to be a question well worth asking. The trouble is that the Bill does not address some of the obvious problems, such as inadequate funding. As a Cambridgeshire Member, I can hardly stand up today without pointing out the chronic long-term underfunding from which Cambridgeshire schools have suffered by comparison with other areas. It is worth pointing out that, partly as a consequence of foolish decisions made in the past by Conservative county councils, today’s young people should not be made to pay for the political errors of previous generations. As the Government consider the national funding formula, I urge them to create a long-term change that will correct this imbalance. The last Parliament saw some limited progress in that area, and produced a welcome, although relatively small, sum for Cambridge schools. This progress, however, will need to be improved massively if we are to bridge the funding gap that has so weakened investment in schools for decades I would ask—I am not entirely sure that it will be achieved—for any changes made to be done in an equitable way across the country, rather than being just a further cash grab at other parts of the country that have already suffered and lost out heavily. I would ask, too, that any such funding changes do not reduce the minimum funding guarantee for the most disadvantaged schools, where such an impact would again mean the worst-off schools disproportionately bearing the brunt of Government meddling in education I suspect that that point will resonate with many of the people I meet in schools—the headteachers, teachers and support staff to whom I speak regularly. The problem with the Bill, as so many others have noted, is that further structural change is not what is needed to improve schools. What we need are good teachers, good leaders, good support staff and a whole team highly motivated, well rewarded and well regarded. Sadly, we are a long way from that. As we have heard, a record number of teachers left the profession last year, and, as a combined result of these incessant cuts, the attack on morale and the exodus of over-worked teachers, even in a prosperous city such as Cambridge, 7% of the teaching workforce is unqualified, and in some schools, it is double that number.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Christian John Patrick Matheson (Labour, Centre-left): Is my hon. Friend aware that these problems are not just happening in Cambridge? The headteacher of one school in the Chester area has for financial reasons been unable to appoint a qualified modern languages teacher, while a music teacher who happens to have a French A-level is teaching early-years French. The head of modern languages in that school has expressed concern to me that the children affected might be lost to languages for ever. That is entirely because of a lack of qualified teachers—and that is due, in turn, to a lack of resources for appointing them.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is shameful that in one of my schools one in seven teachers is unqualified, and parents are horrified by that. I entirely endorse his comments Another issue that is not addressed in the Bill is the bizarrely named Priority School Building programme, which appears to be neither a priority programme nor a building programme. As we discovered last week, its rate of achievement is running at something like 5%. In my constituency, we have the rare occurrence of a new build that is currently under construction, but to such an incredibly low standard that the school has had to sell off its own assets to fund a widening of the corridors. The original plans would have made them so narrow that it would have been a depressing building. Far from lifting standards and inspiring pupils in a disadvantaged area, it would have made the situation worse.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): At Tang Hall School in my constituency the children are freezing in the winter. They have to wear hoodies, and they are still not warm. Will that not have an impact on standards in that school, and should investment not be put into improving school buildings to improve standards?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): Indeed it should, and that resonates with those of us with long memories who remember what life was like under the Conservatives 20 years ago. We thought we’d got past that, didn’t we? If improving schools rather than cutting costs were the Government’s aim, they would be building to the highest standards, not the lowest I will conclude by reflecting on the acute pressure on school places, another issue that has not been addressed. In Cambridgeshire, which is a high-growth area, we expect to see a massive increase in numbers in the coming years. Is it not extraordinary that this pressing issue barely gets a mention in the Bill? It is not just a Cambridgeshire problem, because the situation is similar across the country. Why are the Government not addressing it A discussion on education is always welcome, but the Bill fails to address the issues that matter. Frankly, the problem is not so much coasting schools as a Government who do not understand the problem and so inevitably get the wrong answer—we could say, a Government who require improvement.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Kate Ofunne Osamor (Labour, Centre-left): We have heard much discussion from Members on both sides of the House today, and a lot of questions have still not been answered. We are still trying to find out what "coasting schools" actually means. That term is central to the new powers provided in the Bill. Does the Minister not feel that the definition of that term should have been included in the Bill, so that we could be clear about the exact powers that we are voting on One of my biggest issues with the Bill is the huge number of powers that are being passed over to the Secretary of State, many of which are to be taken up by the regional schools commissioners, who have performance targets as part of their remit. Is there not a conflict of interest if those commissioners are to be rewarded for academising schools?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Clive Anthony Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): The regional schools commissioners report to the headteacher boards. In my constituency, one person who has been appointed to the headteacher board is Dame Rachel de Souza, who will now be making decisions on which schools will be academised and where there will be free schools. Does my hon. Friend not feel that there is something inherently wrong with that?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Louise Margaret Haigh (Labour, Centre-left): The debate is not just between my hon. Friend and the Minister. A great many other stakeholders should be involved in the process when academies want to take over schools, not least parents and governors. Does she agree that it is appalling that parents have been completely removed from the consultation process in academies?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Daniel Stephen Zeichner (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that there is something curious—I welcome it—about the development of regional schools commissioners? Some of us will remember that, when the process first started, many of us suggested that things could not continue with everything being done from the centre. We now have regional schools commissioners. Does she agree that we might end up with that being further sub-divided—we might end up with something that is remarkably like local education authorities?
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Catherine Elizabeth West (Labour, Centre-left): Does my hon. Friend agree that Councillor Simmonds has also added to the debate about school places, particularly in London, where he is a representative? So many parents raise with us daily, in surgeries and emails, their worries about their three and four-year-olds. Indeed, we also need to be predicting that when they turn 13 there will be a secondary school crisis.
Education and Adoption Bill — House of Commons, 2015-06-22
Topic: Education
Tristram Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Will he now provide us with the legal definition of a coasting school, given that we are voting on his Bill in exactly 13 minutes? What is the legal definition?
Security — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Tom Greatrex (Labour, Centre-left): I thank the Secretary of State for her reply. When did she last discuss with the Home Secretary the issue of the National Crime Agency and its taking up functions in Northern Ireland? What assessment has she made of the effects of the delay on fighting organised crime in Northern Ireland?
PSNI — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What recent steps she has taken to ensure that the Police Service of Northern Ireland has adequate resources to guarantee security for the people of Northern Ireland.
Rosemary Elizabeth Cooper (Labour, Centre-left): The letter bomb sent to the PSNI headquarters earlier this month is a shocking reminder of the great sacrifices made by officers across Northern Ireland. How closely is the Secretary of State monitoring the resource needs of the PSNI?
PSNI — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Law and Crime
Questions: What recent steps she has taken to ensure that the Police Service of Northern Ireland has adequate resources to guarantee security for the people of Northern Ireland.; How can the PSNI possibly meet its resource requirements to keep the peace when it has to make budgetary savings of over £51 million by the end of this financial year?
Ivan Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): The Conservative party seems to want to introduce new protocols to the House, believing everything in The Sun and demanding that the Labour party take responsibility for problems that are clearly the responsibility of the Government Yesterday, the Secretary of State was unable to tell us how long it would take the PSNI to review the case of all those covered by the on-the-runs scheme. When will she be able to answer that question? In lieu of the creation of a new architecture to deal with the past, what will the PSNI be doing in the meantime to deal with some of the unresolved murders?
Voluntary Sector — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Social Welfare
Peter Hain (Labour, Centre-left): Do the Government agree that the provision of a special pension for those severely injured during the troubles who were unable to build up an occupational pension of their own, long argued for by the WAVE trauma centre’s injured campaign group and included in the Stormont House agreement, should be supported by all parties, and that questions around who should be eligible for that pension can be resolved to ensure that those who were severely injured through no fault of their own are not denied the opportunity to have some financial independence as they grow older?
Historical Records — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: What steps she is taking to safeguard records relevant to the work of the Historical Investigations Unit, the Independent Commission for Information Retrieval, inquests, and other inquiries into the past.
Stephen Pelham Pound (Labour, Centre-left): Further to the question by my hon. Friend the Member for Foyle (Mark Durkan), I am sure that the whole House welcomes the new architecture proposed as a result of the Stormont House agreement. Will the Secretary of State give us some indication of the time scale and, crucially, say whether it will require legislation in this House? Frankly, the victims’ families have waited too long—they need answers and they need them now.
Stormont House Agreement — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Macroeconomics
Ivan Lewis (Labour, Centre-left): The Stormont House agreement states that corporation tax devolution will not take place until 2017, subject to various conditions, so will the Secretary of State tell the House what tangible benefits the economic pact has so far delivered to Northern Ireland’s economy? When did she last meet the Business Secretary and the Foreign Secretary to talk about how the UK Government can support Invest Northern Ireland?
Youth Unemployment — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Labor
Pamela Nash (Labour, Centre-left): I welcome those youth unemployment figures. However, Northern Ireland’s youth unemployment figures remain significantly higher, at 19.2%, than in the rest of the UK. That has a big impact not only on those young people, but on the security of Northern Ireland. Why have the Government allowed this situation to persist, and what will they do to stop it?
Iraq Inquiry — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Government Operations
Frank Field (Labour, Centre-left): Given that the current Cabinet Secretary said in 2009 that, in his judgment, the inquiry would take a year and that there will have been two general elections before we see the report, might I ask the Prime Minister to write to the chairman to get a date for when the report will be handed to the Prime Minister and then published?
NHS (Government Spending) — House of Commons, 2015-01-28
Topic: Government Operations
Christopher Michael Leslie (Labour, Centre-left): We know that the Conservative party has tried to distort funding formulas across the country by stealth. In fact, they have not done it stealthily; it has been pretty bleeding obvious. Given how local government funding formulas have been skewed—away from areas of need, and in a gerrymandering fashion—I certainly agree that such a situation must be reviewed.