argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): I can. The £1.3 billion we are investing in schools will ensure that the formula provides a cash increase of at least 1% per pupil by 2019-20 for every single school, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency, with gains of up to 3% per pupil per year for the most underfunded schools that need to catch up. For the time being, local authorities will still be responsible for finalising the distribution of funding to individual schools in their area, in consultation with those schools, but the money will be provided for all schools to gain from the new national funding formula.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): I recognise the points that the hon. Gentleman makes. I was committed to making sure that we protected the funding for children with additional needs under this formula, and that is what I hope we will be able to do. It is, indeed, particularly important for communities such as his own.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): The final part of the process is to set out the Government’s response to the second stage of the consultation. We will do that very shortly. It will include a number of further final steps in relation to the formula, including for primary schools. I will set that out at the time.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In Oxford West and Abingdon, many schools are struggling to meet the needs of pupil premium students in particular. The funding formula has historically been especially low in my constituency. What will the Secretary of State do to address this issue?
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): We are bringing forward the funding formula because there is a long-standing inequity in our schools funding that many Governments have dodged tackling. We cannot expect all schools to achieve the same high standards when so many of them are funded on a very different basis from one another. I believe that we are doing the right thing in bringing forward this fair funding formula. I will set out the final terms of that formula shortly. I am very proud that we have finally been able to take this step. I thank the many Members of this House who have given their input and feedback to the consultation.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In Oxford West and Abingdon, many schools are struggling to meet the needs of pupil premium students in particular. The funding formula has historically been especially low in my constituency. What will the Secretary of State do to address this issue?
Stephen Daniel Double (Conservative, Centre-right): Schools in rural areas have been underfunded for many years under the current formula. Can the Secretary of State assure me that the matter of sparsity will be given due consideration in the revised formula and that schools in places like Cornwall will start to close the gap on the national average?
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In Oxford West and Abingdon, many schools are struggling to meet the needs of pupil premium students in particular. The funding formula has historically been especially low in my constituency. What will the Secretary of State do to address this issue?
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): Sparsity was part of the consultation on the funding formula. It is important that we make sure that rural schools, which often face unique challenges, are protected through the formula, and that is what I am seeking to do.
School Funding — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Thank you, Mr Speaker. In Oxford West and Abingdon, many schools are struggling to meet the needs of pupil premium students in particular. The funding formula has historically been especially low in my constituency. What will the Secretary of State do to address this issue?
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): Schools will do better out of the funding formula than they would have done had the Labour party won the last election. The Labour party only guaranteed a cash freeze, but we are going beyond that. Schools will do better under this Government than they would have done under a disastrous Corbyn Government. We are proud of the raising of standards in schools during our term in office. Nine out of 10 schools are good or outstanding, and that is something that we should be talking up, not talking down.
Education and Training: Access — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Anne Frances Milton (Conservative, Centre-right): People of all ages, backgrounds and incomes must have the opportunity to get the skills that they need. Last year, more than 655,000 people aged 45-plus participated in further education. To help older adults from low-income backgrounds, we provide full funding for English and maths, and courses for unemployed people, support through community learning and advanced learner loans for those with specific financial hardship. Loans to help remove cost barriers associated with upskilling are important, because they enable those on lower incomes to acquire the skills that they need.
Education and Training: Access — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Anne Frances Milton (Conservative, Centre-right): There is absolutely no question of this Government writing anybody off. In fact, social mobility is at the heart of everything that is driving our policy. I would point out other areas where the Government are putting in substantial amounts of money. The Government are spending up to £5 million on the returner programmes to enable people to retrain and upskill, particularly in social work and our allied health professions. This is important for people who have taken a career break because of caring responsibilities. We set an ambition in our document "Building on the Industrial Strategy" to make sure that we have a proactive approach for people to learn throughout their lives.
Education and Training: Access — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Last month, following the unprecedented and, thankfully, unsuccessful legal action to prevent publication, Ofsted was able to publish its damning report on learndirect. Given that other FE providers in a similar situation might have had their contracts terminated, is the Minister really comfortable with handing over £45 million of public money to a training provider that has been deemed inadequate in outcomes for learners? What message is she going to send to learners, and when is she going to get her eye on the ball?
Anne Frances Milton (Conservative, Centre-right): I take exception to the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion that I do not have my eye on the ball; I most certainly do. In addressing this issue, we have been focused on precisely what he mentions: the needs of learners. It is essential that learning provision and apprenticeship training are of the highest quality for both learners and employers. If any provision is judged to be inadequate, we will take action to protect learners. In this case, the provision judged to be inadequate by Ofsted—apprenticeships—is no longer offered by learndirect.
Education and Training: Access — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Last month, following the unprecedented and, thankfully, unsuccessful legal action to prevent publication, Ofsted was able to publish its damning report on learndirect. Given that other FE providers in a similar situation might have had their contracts terminated, is the Minister really comfortable with handing over £45 million of public money to a training provider that has been deemed inadequate in outcomes for learners? What message is she going to send to learners, and when is she going to get her eye on the ball?
Rebecca Faye Clark (Pow) (Conservative, Centre-right): As the Minister is aware—I thank her for her swift involvement—Somerset Skills and Learning is experiencing a severe shortfall in funding. It provides invaluable services for adult learning, especially for people with low incomes, as well as providing grants for a range of other organisations, such as Compass Disability and Neroche Woodlanders—the latter is running a mental health project—in my constituency. Could I have the Minister’s assurance that the situation will, in some way, be ameliorated so that the courses can continue?
Education and Training: Access — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Last month, following the unprecedented and, thankfully, unsuccessful legal action to prevent publication, Ofsted was able to publish its damning report on learndirect. Given that other FE providers in a similar situation might have had their contracts terminated, is the Minister really comfortable with handing over £45 million of public money to a training provider that has been deemed inadequate in outcomes for learners? What message is she going to send to learners, and when is she going to get her eye on the ball?
Anne Frances Milton (Conservative, Centre-right): I praise my hon. Friend and her colleagues from Somerset for promptly bringing this to my attention. We met last week, and we have a meeting with the Education and Skills Funding Agency later today. I should mention, although it is not pertinent to this particular issue in Somerset, that procurement in transitional arrangements represents only 13% of the budget. My hon. Friend and other colleagues have made strong representations about the work that is done in Somerset.
University Technical Colleges — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): We are committed to ensuring that many more young people have access to high-quality technical education, and UTCs have an important role to play in this. However, the experience of the UTC programme has been mixed to date. Our priority is to support existing UTCs, so that they are able to offer good education. We are learning lessons from those that are open at the moment, and we will publish application arrangements for new UTCs in the coming weeks.
University Technical Colleges — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): I certainly add the Department’s and my congratulations to the hon. Lady’s. That is an important achievement, and we are strongly committed to the UTCs, which will help the Government in our ambition of creating parity of esteem between technical education and more academic routes.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): Our assessment has seen great success in the 12 early delivery areas: more than 15,000 children were able to benefit from the 30 hours entitlement ahead of the offer rolling out in full, taking huge pressures off families’ lives and budgets.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): I was very pleased that by the third day of term last week—Wednesday, when we had the urgent question—71% of parents had found a place for their child. We are looking at the picture up and down the country, and where there are situations of insufficiency, we have made available £100 million of capital funding, which will fund an additional 16,000 places where we need them.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): Parents in Dudley South will welcome the offer of 30 hours of free childcare. With the scheme being rolled out across the country, will the Minister confirm how many applications for places have now been made?
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Labor
Questions: Back in 2015, David Cameron promised that the 30 hours would, in his words, be “completely free”. Every nursery I speak to in Cambridge tells me that it is having to cross-subsidise and often charge for extras, including lunch. Will the Minister tell us in what sense that is completely free?
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): May I make it clear yet again that the 30 hours entitlement is free? Additional hours, lunch and other add-ons can be charged for, but they must not be a prerequisite for taking up the 30 hours.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Back in 2015, David Cameron promised that the 30 hours would, in his words, be “completely free”. Every nursery I speak to in Cambridge tells me that it is having to cross-subsidise and often charge for extras, including lunch. Will the Minister tell us in what sense that is completely free?
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): When it is fully up and running, how many working families will be able to take advantage of the 30 hours of free childcare, and on average, how much will it be worth per year per child to each of those families?
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: Back in 2015, David Cameron promised that the 30 hours would, in his words, be “completely free”. Every nursery I speak to in Cambridge tells me that it is having to cross-subsidise and often charge for extras, including lunch. Will the Minister tell us in what sense that is completely free?
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): We saw some—I think, deliberately—inaccurate reporting this week in the Sunday Mirror, which forgot completely that we are going to have three intakes in the year. As I have said, we have had more than 200,000 this time, and we will have a new intake in January and another one after Easter. This offer is worth £5,000 per child, a great fillip for families who want to get more hours at work.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Labor
Questions: Back in 2015, David Cameron promised that the 30 hours would, in his words, be “completely free”. Every nursery I speak to in Cambridge tells me that it is having to cross-subsidise and often charge for extras, including lunch. Will the Minister tell us in what sense that is completely free?
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that during the roll-out in the pilot areas 23% of mothers and 9% of fathers could take additional hours. More importantly, people who could not get work at all because of the cost of childcare can now be in work, earn money and supply a better lifestyle for their families.
Overseas Students — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on the financial contribution of overseas students to English universities and the classification of such students in Government immigration statistics.
Andrew James Bridgen (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend has said, international students provide a wealth of benefits to our universities. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the UK higher education sector remains a welcoming place for students from foreign countries?
Overseas Students — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on the financial contribution of overseas students to English universities and the classification of such students in Government immigration statistics.
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): It is a welcoming place, as attested to by the fact that this year, for the sixth year in a row, we have 170,000 international students coming into our system, which is a record number. We want that to continue. The work of the British Council contributes to that, as does the work of the GREAT campaign. I will be in India in November drumming up business for our universities, and I expect that other Ministers will do so too.
Overseas Students — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Home Secretary on the financial contribution of overseas students to English universities and the classification of such students in Government immigration statistics.
Jo Johnson (Conservative, Centre-right): The right hon. Gentleman raises an important question. We must ensure that our offer for international students is competitive in all respects and that they feel they will get the kind of provision that suits their needs and opportunities to learn in a workplace environment. We will study his comments with interest.
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): We are committed to supporting social mobility across the country, including in those areas that face the greatest challenges and have the fewest opportunities. At the vanguard of this approach, we are investing £72 million in 12 opportunity areas based in social mobility cold spots. We are working in these areas with local partners to improve educational attainment, to build opportunity and to broaden horizons for children and young people across early years, schools, and further and higher education.
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Labor
Adam Afriyie (Conservative, Centre-right): One of the best gifts we can give young people is a job with prospects for a decent career. It helps with mental health challenges and gives them a sense of belonging to society. When we look at this part of our history, I think we will discover that one of the greatest achievements has been the reduction in unemployment among young people. Does the Secretary of State agree we must continue to do all we can to help people to transition, at the appropriate point, from full-time education to work?
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): I was agreeing with all the points the hon. Lady was making on how important it is to tackle low education standards in those schools and to make sure we take swift action to have the schools rebrokered so that standards can go up, but I fundamentally disagree with her that standards are falling. Standards are going up. In fact, the place in our United Kingdom where standards are the worst and falling is Wales, where Labour is in control. I really think that before pointing the finger at England the Labour party should be apologising to Welsh children, who are missing out because of a flawed and failing education policy.
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Robert Henry Halfon (Conservative, Centre-right): In terms of social mobility, students in alternative schools are significantly disadvantaged, as a minuscule proportion get good GCSEs. What more can the Government do to give students in alternative provision the chance to climb the educational ladder of opportunity?
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight this area. We have sought to raise standards more broadly across schools in England, and it is now important that we take those learnings—on what works and best practice—and see them spread around the alternative provision approach and system. I am determined to make sure that no child misses out on an excellent education because of the school they happen to be in, whether in Wakefield or any other part of our country.
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): We are taking swift action in Wakefield to make sure that we rebroker those schools, but, more broadly, I have to say I wish the Labour party had been as passionate about raising standards when it was in government. What children across our country actually got under Labour was falling standards and grade inflation, and what employers got was young people coming into work without the basic skills. Do you know where we still see that, Mr Speaker? It is in Wales. We will continue to raise standards in England, but perhaps Labour would be better placed to look to the area where it is in control.
Social Mobility: Disadvantaged Areas — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Questions: Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is essential that our young people have different routes open to them through which to succeed? In that spirit, what vision does she have for the future of technical education in this country?
Justine Greening (Conservative, Centre-right): We have been passionate about making sure that children who post-16 and post-18 want to pursue a route that is not purely academic have every bit as gold standard an education as their peers who want to follow more academic routes. That is why we are introducing T-levels. They were announced earlier this year in the Budget, which the CBI called a "breakthrough" Budget for skills. It will not just be good for raising attainment among and developing the potential of those young people; it is critical for our businesses that they have these skills. This is a win-win situation.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): The provision of 30 hours of free childcare is already working across the country. A recently published independent evaluation of the early roll-out programme shows that more than 80% of providers are willing and able to offer the extended hours. The Department will be investing an additional £1 billion per year by 2019-20 into the free entitlement, including more than £300 million per year to increase the national average funding rates paid to local authorities.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): As I have pointed out, we carried out a pilot to show that this could work. We also got a review of childcare costs done that was described as "thorough" and "wide-ranging" by the National Audit Office. We have increased the minimum funding rate to £4.30 per hour, which means that £4.41 is paid for three and four-year-olds in Ipswich and £5.20 for two-year-olds.
Free Childcare — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Social Welfare
Questions: What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.; What assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's policy on 30 hours of free childcare on the financial viability of childcare settings.
Robert Goodwill (Conservative, Centre-right): The most-disadvantaged children get 15 hours at age two, and we have the early-years pupil premium to help with those children as well. We are closing the attainment gap. The hon. Gentleman talks about worklessness. This funding for working parents means more people getting into work and taking the jobs that this successful economy is creating.
Reception: Starting Age — House of Commons, 2017-09-11
Topic: Education
Nicolas John Gibb (Conservative, Centre-right): We remain concerned that some summer-born children, particularly those born prematurely, are missing the reception year when the essential teaching of early reading and arithmetic takes place. However, it is important for us not to cause any unintended consequences elsewhere in the system, and we are therefore giving careful consideration to how we might make any changes. Further information will be available in due course.