Engagements — House of Commons, 2019-03-13
Topic: Education
Questions: The whole House will want to send its condolences to the families of the recent victims of knife crime, including 17-year-old Jodie Chesney, who was tragically murdered in my borough of Havering. When two thirds of those carrying a knife escape a custodial sentence and one in five repeat offenders avoids prison, what assurances will the Prime Minister give that we are serious about getting tough on knife crime, and does she understand why so many people are fed up with soft sentencing?; As our hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) said, nearly a fifth of people convicted on a second or subsequent time for possessing an illegal knife are spared a prison sentence. We would not accept that for firearm offences. Will the Prime Minister look again at sentencing guidelines and practice to ensure that anyone carrying an offensive weapon gets the sentence they deserve?; On Friday, some of the excellent headteachers in my constituency sent their pupils home with letters detailing to parents how their budgets have been slashed by 8% and how they are struggling to make ends meet. On three separate occasions since September 2018 they have asked for a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss school funding shortages in Kent, but they have been refused. Will the Prime Minister please ask the Secretary of State to meet Ms Spinks, Ms Hines, Mr Wright, Mr Cooper, Ms Butcher, Ms Knoupe, Mr Pywell and others as a matter of urgency?; I think that the whole House could unite in agreeing that the Prime Minister has put an enormous amount of hard work and energy into trying to resolve the European Union issue, and we certainly wish her well and hope that she gets better soon. Has the Prime Minister had an opportunity to look at amendment (f) on today’s Order Paper, tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green), the former Deputy Prime Minister, and signed by many Conservative remainer MPs and Conservative leaver MPs, and by the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Unionist party and Labour Members? I believe that the amendment could unite those on the Conservative Benches and attract support from the Opposition. Has the Prime Minister had an opportunity to consider whether she would be able to support the amendment?; Monday will mark 40 years since the Golborne mining disaster in the constituency of Leigh. The disaster resulted in the tragic death of 10 miners, which still reverberates throughout our community and affects the families of those involved. Will the Prime Minister send her support for the commemoration service on Sunday and recommit, in their honour, to increasing work safety standards and providing all the necessary support to our ex-mining communities?;   Given that no-deal Brexit is the Government’s default position, will the Prime Minister kindly inform the House that she will instruct the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make available whatever funds are required to ensure that the country is as best prepared as possible in the event that we do leave on a no-deal basis?; The Prime Minister routinely deflects questions on child poverty, insisting on absolute rather than relative measures. Can she assure the House that if the figures published later this month on her own preferred measure of absolute poverty show that child poverty is rising, she will at last join those of us calling for a pause to universal credit?; As a former technology entrepreneur, I have seen the barriers that face aspiring women seeking to start up new businesses, yet we know that £250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women can start and scale up businesses at the same rate as men. Therefore, does the Prime Minister welcome Alison Rose’s review into female entrepreneurship, and will she call for the banks to adopt those recommendations without delay?; Last year, 690 children were attacked or threatened with a knife in the west midlands. Parents are terrified. Police officers across the country agree that there is a link between the knife crime epidemic and the Prime Minister’s decision as Home Secretary to cut 20,000 police officers from our streets. Is she the last person standing to deny that link?; Thank you, Mr Speaker. I think she loves you more than me these days, because she is also a Labour supporter—albeit that you are of course independent.On behalf of me and my lovely mum, I point out that there are parts of the country, from Sheffield to Staffordshire and Sussex, where pupils receive less money per head than pupils in other parts of the country. I know the Prime Minister values a good education—she went to the same school as my mother, who became a teacher. Therefore, for me and my lovely mum, we want three things: first, more funding for our schools; secondly, on special educational needs, we need more focus and priority on stopping academies excluding pupils unnecessarily because of their targets; and thirdly, the lowest-funded areas should be funded first when we get this right.
Theresa Mary May (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I was tempted to start by saying that I suspect his mother and I were at the school at a different time—[Interruption.] Oh, he says it is true. Good I recognise that we have asked schools to do more. We have responded with £1.3 billion extra investment in our schools this year and next, so the core schools budget will rise by around £2.6 billion in total, and the Government are protecting overall per-pupil funding in real terms. Every school is attracting at least 1% more per pupil by next year, and thousands of schools will attract significantly larger gains of up to 3% per pupil per year That investment will mean more children having the chance of a better future, but the quality of education also matters. I commend my hon. Friend’s mother, who I understand was a teacher, for the work she has done in education. I say thanks from the whole House to all our teachers up and down the country for the work they are doing in education.