1. What assessment he has made of the social and economic value to schools and pupils of learning outside the classroom. (81755)

The Government fully support learning outside the classroom, and whilst we have made no formal assessment, we recognise the important contribution it can make to engaging and supporting pupils in their education. We believe that schools should have the freedom, however, to use their professional judgment to determine how learning outside the classroom best meets the needs of their pupils.

Will the Minister give an indication of whether his Department will look at allocating a percentage of the pupil premium for this particular area?

The whole point of the pupil premium is to give extra resources for schools that can be used exactly as they see fit for their own pupils. If a school wants to use a large or a small part of the pupil premium for that activity, that is entirely a matter for the head and the school.

Learning outside the classroom includes encouraging healthy eating through breakfast clubs, but new research suggests that one in eight breakfast clubs closed this year and that half of those remaining are under threat. What would the Minister say to the chief executive of Greggs, which funds breakfast clubs for 7,000 disadvantaged children across the country, who recently questioned the coalition’s priorities and the fact that it is able to find £250 million to fund weekly bin collections but is unable to pledge support for the rising number of children coming into school hungry?

I was in Leeds recently, where I awarded on behalf of the Prime Minister a big society award to the founder of Magic Breakfast, which is a voluntary organisation providing breakfasts and doing some fantastic work—in that case, with a local bagel maker renowned in the city. It is providing fantastic breakfasts for the kids, and I was lucky to see this great job being done rather well. In other places like Liverpool, however, which is run by the Labour party, the decision has been taken to reduce some of the breakfast clubs. That is a matter for local authorities; other places are doing it well, and the hon. Lady should look at some of these innovative schemes rather than look to the Government to provide everything.

2. How much he plans to allocate in funding for the pupil premium to (a) Harlow constituency and (b) England in 2011-12. (81756)

We are planning to allocate £625 million to schools and local authorities in England in 2011-12. The allocation for the Harlow constituency is £1,012,112.

I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent news about how the pupil premium is helping the most vulnerable children in my constituency. Will she look at incentivising schools like Burnt Mill in Harlow that are using the pupil premium to focus on improving maths and English?

I am delighted to hear about that school using the pupil premium in that way. It is good to hear from head teachers examples of how they are spending the money and the impact it is making on the ground. I wonder whether the hon. Gentleman would invite the head teacher to write to me to tell me more about the detail of the work that that school is doing and its impact on pupils, as we are looking to try to publicise examples of good practice and it would be helpful to hear what is happening in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency?

Although the pupil premium has some merits in theory, what we shall see in reality over the next few years is the biggest cut in education funding since the 1950s. Is this not simply a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul?

I am glad to hear some grudging acceptance from the Opposition of the benefits of the pupil premium, which focuses money on the most disadvantaged students and gives schools freedom to spend it as they choose. I have just heard an example from my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) of where that is making a substantial difference. I remind the hon. Gentleman that there is a flat cash settlement per pupil, and that an additional £2.5 billion has been made available for the pupil premium.

Schools in my constituency are to receive a welcome £1.5 million from the pupil premium. At a meeting with representatives of the local primary school last Friday, I learnt that some primary schools will be working together to spend that money in the best possible way for their pupils. Does the Minister agree that that is a smart way of trying to get the best out of the pupil premium?

Trying to encourage smaller schools in particular to work together on best practice, especially if they have similar catchment areas, is an excellent initiative. It is helpful to hear about what is happening on the ground.

3. What assessment he has made of the findings of the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on Trends in Education and Schools Spending. (81757)

13. What assessment he has made of the findings of the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on Trends in Education and Schools Spending. (81767)

17. What assessment he has made of the findings of the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on Trends in Education and School Spending. (81771)

I read the IFS report with interest, and found its arguments thought-provoking.

The report shows that education spending is being reduced dramatically. Head teachers in Rochdale and throughout the country deserve our praise for their hard work in dealing with the cuts that are being made by the Government of whom the Secretary of State is a member. Will he take this opportunity to apologise for describing head teachers as whingers?

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for praising head teachers in Rochdale. Head teachers everywhere are doing a fantastic job with limited resources. The one thing that I hope I shall be able to work with the hon. Gentleman to ensure is that head teachers can make those resources go even further by allowing their schools to convert to academy status.

The report shows that capital spending on schools was the fastest-growing component under Labour, but that we shall see the biggest cut under the Secretary of State’s plans. In Barrow, a vital development is currently being upheld at the planning stage by Conservative councillors. Will the Secretary of State guarantee full funding for the project if those planning objections are dismissed?

I think that the hon. Gentleman probably means “held up” rather than “upheld”. However, we shall do everything possible to ensure that not just the planning system but building regulations are reformed so that necessary investment in schools is accelerated, and we shall do everything possible to ensure that resources are there for those in the most need.

In the light of the IFS report and the understandable concerns that it will have raised among my constituents who have children at school, can the Secretary of State assure Harrow schools that have just become academies that there will have been no real-terms cut in direct Government spending by the time of the next election?

All schools that have become academies have the chance to spend their money directly on the priorities that are close to them. Obviously every school will have different funding results over the next four years, but, overall, cash spending on schools is protected, and schools should also benefit from the pupil premium.

The IFS report sets education spending in the context of the national economy as a whole. Will the Secretary of State remind the House of the comparator between the size of the education budget each year and the size of the net annual debt interest bill left to this country by the Labour party?

My hon. Friend has made another welcome point. The truth is that any reductions in spending across government are a direct result of the mismanagement of the last Government and the economic mess that they bequeathed to us.

The IFS report shows that the Secretary of State is undertaking the largest cut in education spending since the 1950s, and that education capital will be cut by an eye-watering 57%. Can he tell us how that 57% cut compares to the average capital spending cut across all other Departments?

I am reminded by my hon. Friend the Minister of State with responsibility for children and families that it should be “compares with”, not “compares to.” The truth is that under the last Government capital spending was poorly allocated and wastefully squandered, and we are now ensuring that money goes in particular to those primary schools in desperate need that were neglected when the hon. Gentleman, unfortunately, was not in government but so many of his colleagues were.

The right hon. Gentleman’s English may be better than mine, but his maths certainly is not, because, as he knows, the cut is double the average cut—a truly terrible spending settlement for education capital. With youth unemployment now over 1 million, will he join me in pressing the Treasury to bring forward capital investment in schools, as set out in Labour’s plan for jobs? Does he agree that that would not only be good for education, but it would be good for jobs and economic growth?

The hon. Gentleman is, indeed, very good at arithmetic; if only he had been in the Treasury over the last five years when so much money was wasted by a spendthrift and profligate team of Ministers who had not a care for prudence, economy or the next generation. If he believes in a plan for jobs and growth, he should support the deregulation measures that will be in the autumn statement; he should support the Chancellor in making sure our economy is competitive again, and he should support the education reforms we are introducing, which will ensure that our children go on to become the best educated and the most enterprising in the world.

4. What estimate he has made of the change in average expenditure on schools in real terms per student following the introduction of the pupil premium. (81758)

Average funding per pupil for 2011-12 has been kept cash-flat at £5,082 per pupil, plus the pupil premium. The pupil premium totals £625 million this year, rising to £2.5 billion in 2014-15. It provides £488 for each free-school-meal child and looked-after child. In addition, the children of families in the armed services will attract £200.

I thank the Minister for her answer. According to recent research, a London child living in one of the country’s most deprived neighbourhoods in 2010 had a 75% chance of finishing above the bottom quarter of the national results at age 16. Without the London weighting attached to the pupil premium, how will the Government ensure these high standards are maintained in constituencies such as mine?

I absolutely agree that the figures for attainment for children on free school meals and looked-after children are woefully inadequate at present. That is why we have introduced the pupil premium. I should also say that in the hon. Lady’s constituency per-pupil funding is higher than almost anywhere else in the country. A substantial amount of money is already going into her constituency, therefore, as well as a significant amount of money through the pupil premium, which will rise to £2.5 billion nationally by the end of the spending review period. I would therefore encourage her to ask her schools how they are spending that money, and I would be very pleased to hear the detail of some of the best practice being followed by them.

My hon. Friend rightly sets out the benefits of the pupil premium. Does she agree that one of them is that it targets disadvantaged pupils wherever they are in the country, unlike general funding formulas, which the Government are looking at and which under previous Administrations have, perhaps, neglected some children in some parts of the country?

Absolutely. I represent an inner-London constituency so I see very high levels of deprivation there, but there are also high levels of deprivation in rural areas, which is often unseen either because it is in pockets or because people might perceive that because an area is leafier it must also be wealthier. Many rural schools, including in my hon. Friend’s constituency, will benefit from the pupil premium and will be able to focus their efforts on raising the attainment of all their pupils.

I have written to the Minister’s colleague the Secretary of State about a specific issue relating to transient populations clustered in particular areas, such as north-east Sheffield, where as many as 25% of primary school pupils and about 15% in one secondary school do not claim the usual benefits that entitle their school to receive the pupil premium. I therefore take the unusual step of asking the Minister to come to Sheffield and to my constituency, so as to examine this issue and then reformulate the pupil premium so that such schools can be supported and helped?

Obviously, I have not seen the right hon. Gentleman’s letter to the Secretary of State, but I would be happy for either me or a colleague to come to see the specific issues in his constituency. I recognise the challenges of having a transient population and ensuring that all those families are claiming their benefits and are registered for free school meals. The Department is beginning a series of work to encourage schools to make sure that all families are signed up to free school meals.

I very much welcome the introduction of the pupil premium, but is the whole system not completely reliant on the schools correctly identifying and registering pupils who are eligible for free school meals? How successful does the Minister believe schools are in identifying these vulnerable pupils?

It varies according to area. We know that there is some tail-off at secondary school level, which is one of the reasons why our funding consultation touched on whether or not to introduce measures, including “ever” free school meals. That was about picking up children for the pupil premium who had previously been on free school meals, because there is some drop-off as they move from one area to the next. As I said, we are beginning some work to encourage parents to sign up. Not all parents want to sign up for the lunch, but they may well be keen to sign up if they know that their school will get extra money.

The facts are that the Institute for Fiscal Studies report says that in this financial year nearly three quarters of primary schools and more than 90% of secondary schools will see a real-terms cut in their budgets, even after including this so-called “additional pupil premium”. Is the Minister embarrassed about the way she has been conned by her coalition partners or was she only too willing to sell our schools short?

Perhaps I can quote the IFS report back at the hon. Gentleman, because it says that the most deprived schools are likely to see real-terms increases in funding per pupil in 2011-2012. It is perhaps sometimes worth reading the detail of a report and not merely quoting back headlines.

5. What assessment he has made of the effect on schoolchildren of a lack of high-speed broadband access in schools. (81759)

Broadband is important in supporting teaching in schools. The Department for Education does not collect data on broadband speeds in schools, but evidence suggests that almost all schools in England have access to broadband—speeds will vary, depending on location. Most schools choose broadband provided by local authorities or regional broadband consortiums, which are able to aggregate demand across a region, take account of rural schools and offer services suited to the needs of education.

I am grateful for that answer. In Byers Green and Binchester in my constituency there are broadband not-spots—they are surrounded by areas that are well served—and so children are told to do homework, using broadband, that they simply cannot do. Will the Minister either lobby his colleagues to ensure that broadband is accessible throughout the country or take steps to make sure that secondary schools stop requiring children to do homework that they simply cannot do?

I am grateful for the hon. Lady’s comments. A BECTA survey in 2009 showed that only 2% of primary schools and 1% of secondary schools regarded their broadband speeds as very slow. There is record spending on broadband at the moment and the Government have allocated £530 million over the Parliament for broadband, which is available to local authorities to help improve broadband in their areas.

6. If he will bring forward proposals to place schools under a statutory duty to provide high-quality and impartial careers guidance. (81760)

The Education Act 2011 places a duty on schools to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance for pupils in years 9 to 11. This provision will commence from September 2012 and will be underpinned by statutory guidance.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his answer and I very much welcome the Government’s progress on launching the national careers service. Does he agree that it is vital that we use the service effectively to promote vocational training?

My hon. Friend will know that I visited his constituency to look at the excellent work that has been done on vocational training. The purpose of the independent advice and guidance is to ensure that people get advice appropriate to their needs. For too long, we have assumed that the only route to prowess came through academic accomplishment. The Government believe that the work of people’s hands matters too, and that those with practical tastes and talents deserve their place in the sun.

The Minister knows that face-to-face contact and advice on careers is essential. Is it not the case that up and down this country schools are giving up on having a highly trained careers person in them and there is no access to an external schools careers service? Is that not sad for the kids in this country who do not have good, well-connected parents to give them the advice that they crave?

What preceded the position the Government have adopted was the Connexions service. I am not saying that Connexions did no good, but it certainly was not up to scratch. The skills commission inquiry said that it did not ensure that young people had good advice, Ofsted identified inconsistencies in provision and, as you know, Mr Speaker, Alan Milburn specifically called in his report for a national careers service. Of course face-to-face guidance matters, but it is not all that matters.

New apprenticeships have grown by 56% in my constituency over the past year and are vital to our future. Will my hon. Friend confirm that he will ensure that under any future arrangements for careers guidance in schools opportunities for apprenticeships are fully promoted?

Absolutely. My hon. Friend knows that the work the Government have done on apprenticeships has been outstanding and it is due to the support, encouragement and advice of hon. Members like him that that work is cutting through in the constituencies in the way that he describes. It is not just our constituencies: the shadow Secretary of State’s constituency has seen a 69% increase in the number of apprenticeships and I know that he will want to take the first opportunity to rise to the Dispatch Box and congratulate the Government on that.

During the passage of the Education Bill, the Minister spoke movingly of the scope for the careers guidance service to be a driver of social mobility and quoted a survey that found that 27% of state school pupils have received bad careers guidance, set against 6% of private pupils. The model he has developed for careers guidance leaves 16 to 19-year-old school leavers with only a web or helpline service and does not transfer any of the money from careers guidance to schools for face-to-face services: how many private schools is he aware of in which teenagers receive only a web-based or telephone advice service?

I welcome the hon. Lady’s question on this subject, because she, too, will want to know that in her constituency, apprenticeship numbers are also up by 69%. To answer her question directly, it is absolutely right that schools make a judgment about the mix of provision that suits their pupils. She is right, too, that private schools typically buy independent, impartial advice and that is the kind of advice that all children deserve, which is why we are changing the situation.

7. What steps he is taking to ensure adequate funding for rural primary schools. (81761)

The Government recognise the vital contribution made by rural primary schools to their communities. We believe that in many parts of the country, the current funding has not supported rural areas properly. Our recent consultation on reforming the funding system looked carefully at how small schools should be supported and we aim to consult further on more detailed proposals in the spring.

It is a fact that small rural primary schools cost, on average, 50% more to fund. With vastly reduced resources, that is a huge challenge for local authorities. What precisely is my hon. Friend doing and going to do to support funding for such schools given their importance in constituencies such as mine?

My hon. and learned Friend makes a good point. The current methodology was inherited from the previous Government and the funding system is based on historical and out-of-date assessments of need. The system is illogical, unfair and opaque and that is why we have had the first phase of the consultation and will be taking its findings to face further, more detailed consultation and proposals will be made in the spring. I hope that he will contribute to that process on behalf of his schools.

9. What steps he is taking to tackle the shortage of primary school places in (a) Hendon constituency and (b) England. (81763)

This year, we have made available £1.3 billion to fund school places in England. The London borough of Barnet’s share in 2011-12 is £12.8 million.

I congratulate the Secretary of State on tackling a problem that was neglected by the previous Government and I thank him for and congratulate him on the free schools initiative, which has provided Etz Chaim with an opportunity in Mill Hill. Does he agree that London has always had a problem with school places? Recently, I had correspondence with a constituent who has found that although her son was given a place at a nursery school, he was not given the opportunity to have a place in a reception class. That means that he will have to walk more than two miles even though there are seven other primary schools in the immediate area of Hendon.

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. One of the dreadful problems we inherited from the previous Government was a failure adequately to prioritise capital to ensure that there were new school places in areas of population growth. As we know, population growth is exceeding all expectations, which is why we need to do everything possible to reform planning rules and building regulations to ensure there are more new schools.

I should like to thank the Secretary of State for following up on the grant we got from the previous Government to create extra primary school places in Slough with another grant to create more of the primary school places we need. Shortly, my constituency will face a serious shortage of secondary school places, but many children who live nowhere near Slough are educated in our secondary and grammar schools. Will he consider looking, in the school admissions code, at places that educate children from a long way away but that do not provide places for local children?

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for essentially advocating that we subsidise the expansion of grammar schools. I look forward to that becoming the policy of Labour Front Benchers.

10. What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the introduction of the English baccalaureate. (81764)

A survey of nearly 700 schools has shown that the English baccalaureate is having an immediate impact by increasing the number of pupils electing to take up a key set of academic subjects and by reversing declines in entry to subjects such as French, German and history, which we know are valued by universities and the wider public. The survey showed that 47% of pupils studying for their GCSEs in 2013 are taking academic subjects leading to the English baccalaureate, compared with just 23% entering that combination of subjects in 2011. That figure of 47% takes us back almost to the 49% who took those subjects when Labour came to office in 1997.

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. Is he concerned that the impact of the English baccalaureate will undermine the value of excluded subjects such as divinity or religious education, which play an important part in providing students with a well-rounded English education?

Religious Education is an important part of the school curriculum, which is why it is compulsory up to age 16 and why it will remain so under this Government. The E-bac is small enough, with six or seven GCSEs, to allow time for the study of subjects such as RE, music, art or a vocational subject while also studying the E-bac combination of GCSEs that are regarded as the facilitating subjects. That will keep options open for longer and will widen opportunities.

Does the Minister recognise that the E-bac will be inappropriate for some of the pupils represented in the figures he has just read out, but that schools will have to push their pupils towards taking that approach because of the retrospective and quite sloppy way in which all this has been introduced? What message does he have for teachers who want to motivate pupils using a wider curriculum if the E-bac is not appropriate for them?

No student should be entered for a subject that is not in their best interests. The E-bac is small enough to allow schools to offer a range of options, including a vocational or other subject that is motivational for that student while still taking the E-bac subjects if they are suitable for that pupil.

11. What his objectives are for the principal revisions to the school admissions code. (81765)

The White Paper, “The Importance of Teaching”, announced that we would consult on a simplified and easier-to-understand schools admissions code to overhaul a system that is too often complex, confusing and unfair for parents. The revised schools admissions code is another contribution to our continued drive to reduce the bureaucracy facing our schools and local authorities while retaining the key safeguards that will ensure a simpler, fairer and more accessible admissions system for all parents.

Much of the local opposition to the Lindley Moor development in my constituency was based on the pressure on already oversubscribed local schools. Will my hon. Friend join me in insisting that section 106 money allocations to local schools as part of those plans really do go towards easing the pressure on local school places?

Local authorities have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places for all children of school age in their area and the Government are supporting local authorities in the fulfilment of that duty. Kirklees council received £17.2 million of capital for 2011-12 and a further £0.5 million as a result of the additional £0.5 billion basic need funding that was announced recently. On section 106 funding, the Government are consulting on changes to the community infrastructure levy to make it more responsive to local needs, including the need to ensure that there are enough school places.

12. What steps he is taking to tackle the shortage of primary school places in (a) Enfield North constituency and (b) England. (81766)

Of the £1.3 billion available to fund additional school places in England, the London borough of Enfield’s share is just under £16 million.

Enfield council recently announced a strategy to cope with the increasing demand, but it gives no specific consideration or role to free schools. What advice can the Secretary of State give to those interested in setting up free schools who face this purely ideological barrier?

It is a great pity that Enfield Labour council is not as supportive of free schools as it should be. Both the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg), the shadow spokesman for education, and I have visited superb free schools in Enfield, and I hope the Labour local authority there moves with the times and supports those free schools in doing a fantastic job for children in disadvantaged circumstances in a borough that deserves better.

Inevitably, the provision of school places in neighbouring boroughs such as Enfield will have a knock-on effect in places such as Waltham Forest. The Secretary of State is aware that a quarter of all responses to his consultation on the national schools funding formula came from Walthamstow, from parents and governors in my constituency who are desperately concerned that we are facing a shortage of 1,200 places as a result of the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future project. Will Ministers agree to meet parents and governors from my constituency to talk about the desperate shortage of places in Waltham Forest and what can be done?

I am not surprised that we had so many representations from Waltham Forest, and Walthamstow in particular, given that the constituency representative for Walthamstow is The Spectator parliamentarian of the year award-winner as campaigner of the year.

We congratulate the hon. Lady.

As the Secretary of State knows, there is a shortage of primary school places right across the country. Does he agree that the situation is made considerably worse when the local education authority shows an inability to undertake forward planning? Thirty primary schools in Colchester have waiting lists. Will his officials please chase Essex education authority to get on with providing schools in my constituency?

Consider it chased.

14. What progress has been made by the Munro review implementation working group. (81768)

The Government’s response to the Munro review was informed by an implementation working group convened for that purpose. We continue to work with a range of partners to take forward these important reforms. We will consult early next year on the revision of statutory guidance. More flexible assessment processes are being trialled in eight local authorities. Ofsted has consulted on new inspection arrangements and we have published a work programme on safeguarding children in the NHS.

The Minister started off well, publishing the minutes of the implementation working group on the website. Unless the working group has not met since, the last minutes are for May 2011. Will he give me an update on the report that he asked for on the funding implications of the Munro review?

I set up the implementation working group specifically to translate the Munro review recommendations into practical things that we could implement before we published the Government’s response, so they informed the Government’s response which we published before the summer. We have used members of that implementation group to inform the work that we are doing on all those aspects that I mentioned and others. My intention is to reconvene the implementation working group early in the new year to monitor the progress that we have made and see what more we need to do.

15. What his policy is on converting primary schools into academies. (81769)

I am in favour.

I am pleased that we have got the Secretary of State to answer the question. I am in favour of head teachers, governors and local education authorities having a real debate about how to get primary schools to improve. How will the Secretary of State take account of special educational needs and outstanding Ofsted reports? Would he or one of his Ministers meet me, the local education authority and the heads about the schools which, it seems, will be forced to become primary school academies?

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her point. As she knows, education standards in Stoke-on-Trent have not been good enough for too long, and we particularly need to tackle underperformance at primary level. We need to find the right sponsors to help those primary schools turn round, but we can do so far better if we collaborate with the local authority and co-operate with local Members like herself and the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt), who are passionate about change. I will make sure that a Minister makes time to talk to her and her parliamentary colleagues.

18. What steps he is taking to improve the teaching of numeracy and literacy in primary schools. (81773)

Good-quality teaching is fundamental to improving numeracy and literacy. We are reviewing the national curriculum to ensure an enhanced focus on literacy and numeracy. We will recruit more high-quality graduates and ensure that all newly qualified teachers have the skills to teach well, particular in teaching reading through systematic synthetic phonics. We are supporting existing teachers, for example by making match funding available for phonics materials and training and by increasing the number of specialist maths teachers.

I thank the Minister for that answer. In 2009-10, one in five trainee teachers failed their basic numeracy and literacy tests, with thousands failing on their second attempt. What steps is he taking to ensure basic academic rigour in the teaching profession?

I agree completely with my hon. Friend’s comments. That is why we have announced that, from September 2012, a person must pass a literacy and numeracy skills test before starting teacher training and will be allowed only two resits, rather than being able to take the test an unlimited number of times. From September 2012 we will also raise the pass mark and carry out a complete review of the test’s contents to ensure that we are properly testing the literacy and numeracy of those teaching in our classrooms.

The top-performing countries in maths, such as Singapore, hardly use calculators at all in primary schools. Britain uses calculators more than any other country and is ranked 28th in the world in maths. Does the Minister think that there is a correlation?

I read my hon. Friend’s article in The Sunday Times this weekend with great interest. She made some very important points. She has championed the importance of high-quality maths teaching in our schools and knows the importance of maths not just for an individual’s ultimate opportunities, but for the economy as a whole. I hope that she will continue to contribute to the national curriculum review of maths.

21. What estimate he has made of the likely size of the Sure Start children’s centre network by the end of the 2012-13 financial year. (81776)

Local authorities have a duty under section 5A(1) of the Childcare Act 2006 to ensure that there are sufficient children’s centres to meet local need. Many local authorities are reviewing their provision, and they must consult before making any significant changes. The situation changes constantly and it is not possible to predict accurately the position at the end of the 2012-13 financial year. The early intervention grant provides enough funding to retain a network of Sure Start children’s centres.

The Minister recently visited Little Stars children’s centre in my constituency and was impressed by the quality and commitment of staff to the service. Will she commend the Labour council leader for prioritising Sure Start, despite the savage cuts handed to it by the Government, and urgently reconsider the Government’s decision to remove ring-fencing?

I very much enjoyed my visit to Hull and was extremely impressed by much of the work being done on the ground, particularly the innovative and fascinating work that a number of centres have been doing to link children’s services with health. As I have said already, I commend local authorities that are prioritising children’s services on the ground. That is certainly the message that we have given out clearly to local authorities.

A recent newspaper article suggested that the Minister’s Department did not know what impact there has been on the services provided within children’s centres. I hope she will agree that services are more important than the centres themselves. What research will she carry out on that, and will she ensure that good practice is publicised?

The Department has commissioned an ongoing evaluation of children’s centres in England, so any changes that are made as a result of Government policy, particularly the move to payment by results and changes in other services offered by children’s centres, will certainly be picked up by the evaluation.

Last week the Department finally admitted that the Government’s damaging cuts to early years are resulting in services being withdrawn and children’s centres being decommissioned and having to close their doors to parents, but we all know that those figures are just the beginning. Councils are now looking ahead to the next financial year, with the reserves drained and the easy cuts having already been made. How many centres will have to close before this out-of-touch Government and out-of-touch Secretary of State admit their mistakes and save our Sure Starts?

Our survey suggests that there have been six closures and 124 mergers since last year, out of a total that started at 3,631, so there has been a 3% change in the number of Sure Start children’s centres, demonstrating that most local authorities are not only doing the best in what are, I recognise, very difficult circumstances, just as they are for the Government. Those authorities are prioritising services on the ground and that is certainly what we are encouraging them to do, as we ask them to publish the information on what they spend, under the new transparency requirements that the Government have introduced. Similarly, payments by results will focus them much more on outcomes.

22. What assessment he has made of the findings of the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on trends in education and schools spending. (81777)

I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave a wee while ago.

The report says that spending on 16 to 19-year-olds’ education has fallen by more than 4%. At the same time, an Association of Colleges report shows that half of all colleges have seen a significant drop in enrolment by 16 to 19-year-olds, including in some cases a drop of up to 15%. Does the Secretary of State think that the two are by any chance related?

I absolutely do not, given that the changes in 16 to 19-year-old funding do not affect colleges. They primarily affect schools, as schools are brought into correlation with colleges. The good news is that the very best colleges—those that are outstanding—are recording an increase in the number of students, and overall that is part of a very happy picture of rising participation.

23. What plans his Department has to allocate funding to the national citizen service beyond 2012. (81778)

The pilots that have been run this year and will be run next year are funded through the Cabinet Office, and we will discuss with it and the Treasury how the scheme is then rolled out to the 60,000 and 90,000 places that we have forecast for subsequent years.

A recent Education Committee report highlighted the alarming disappearance of youth services throughout the country. Does the Minister accept that replacing long-term youth services, which were particularly good for most disadvantaged children, with an eight-week programme does not constitute a strategic vision for young people? What will he say to those young people who feel absolutely betrayed by the decision that his Government have taken?

Of course the hon. Lady is completely wrong in her premise. The national citizen service, as I have just described, has been funded from a completely separate source from that of youth services—coming through local government and the Department for Education. She knows my concerns about how certain local authorities are treating youth services as a soft target for some of their cuts, and this Government will publish shortly our “Positive for Youth” policy, which will send out some very strong messages about the value of well-targeted, quality youth services run in partnership and under new models, because for too many years they were just not reformed under her Government.

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities. (81745)

The Minister of State, Department for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Brent Central (Sarah Teather), recently announced that we will spend more money to ensure that all disadvantaged two-year-olds have access to 15 hours of pre-school learning. Consultation is now taking place to ensure that the most deserving children get the best possible start in life, and I encourage all Members to contribute.

Over the past year there has been a 10% increase in the number of children in reception classes in the London borough of Croydon, with further increases predicted in September 2012 and September 2013. I warmly welcome the almost £8 million that my right hon. Friend announced last week, but at the risk of sounding like Oliver Twist I also hope that there will be further such tranches of money in future.

My hon. Friend not only sounds like Oliver Twist, but displays a sense of “Great Expectations” about what I can get out of the Chancellor—[Hon. Members: “‘Hard Times’!”] Well, really it is a “Tale of Two Cities”: the City of London under Labour, under-regulated and, sadly, not paying the taxes that it should have; and the City of London under the Conservatives—at last getting the resources into the Exchequer which, I hope, on a serious point we can give to the children in Croydon, who do need more school places.

T4. Has the Secretary of State yet woken up to the depth of anger among teachers, illustrated by a head teacher in my constituency, just coming up to retirement, who tells me that she feels cheated by a Government who want her to work longer for less, when she has already delivered her half of the bargain? (81749)

First, I say to the right hon. Gentleman that if the head teacher in his constituency is coming up for retirement, she will be pleased to know that, under the coalition Government’s proposals, she will be not be affected by any change to her pension whatsoever.

T2. Leicestershire county council is currently reviewing the availability of school walking routes, including the one to Humphrey Perkins high school from Sileby to Barrow in my constituency. The county council considers that route to be reasonably safe, but the head teacher, the parents, the pupils and I do not. Will the Minister tell me the Government’s view on when safety becomes more important than the simple availability of a route? (81746)

I am aware of my hon. Friend’s interest in this issue. I recently met the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), with another hon. Member and one of his councillors who were raising the same point. I simply point out to my hon. Friend—I am very sympathetic to this point—that local authorities are under a duty to make travel arrangements where the nature of the route to school is such that the child cannot be reasonably expected to walk in reasonable safety. Councils should not be re-designating roads without having done a safety check, and we should be asking some questions.

T5. Research suggests that continuous teacher training offers the surest route for school improvements. What steps is the Secretary of State’s Department taking in conjunction with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to ensure that university departments are opening up to local schools, so that teachers are up to speed with the latest scholarship and can inspire their pupils? (81750)

That is a typically acute point from the hon. Gentleman. One of the things we are doing is to invite the new group of 100 teaching schools that we have designated to play a closer role in collaboration with universities. Just last week, I was talking to the Royal Society about how important it is that universities and learned societies ensure that the best teachers can become accredited as masters in their field so that they remain up to speed with developments in their subject.

T3. The Minister has made great headway in ensuring that looked-after children are not sent beyond their local authority boundary. However, 30 children from Greenwich have been placed in South Thanet in addition to the number it has placed before, and the number from Lewisham has increased by 15 in the past six months. I wonder what more we can do. (81748)

I am well aware of my hon. Friend’s genuine interest in that matter and she has been to see me with other colleagues. When we brought in the new guidance earlier this year, I wrote to every director of children’s services to remind them of their obligations to house looked-after children as close to home as possible. I have taken the matter up again with the office of the Mayor of London and will be making further representations to those London boroughs that particularly impact on south-eastern seaside resorts such as her own. They should not have to take such large pressure.

T8. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Wolverhampton will be one of the biggest losers from the Government’s new national funding formula. Schools in my constituency stand to lose 10% of their funding, whereas schools in Buckinghamshire will gain 10%. Why is the Secretary of State so determined to take from the poor to give to the rich? (81753)

The Institute for Fiscal Studies projections were based on its guesses. However, something it has said about reality rather than the future is that, at the moment, this Government are ensuring that schools educating the poorest receive the most, because our pupil premium will be worth £2.5 billion by the end of this Parliament. That is something the Government the hon. Lady supported last time round never did.

T7. Is the Secretary of State aware that many, many parents of children with special needs who were struggling to find a suitable school will be very pleased that he has decided to extend the free schools programme to special schools? How many special schools does he estimate will be free schools within the next few years and how many children does he estimate that will help? (81752)

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for her point. We need to ensure that all children who have special needs are better educated and we particularly need to ensure that the energy and enthusiasm of people in the third sector are galvanised. At this stage, I cannot give her a firm figure on how many students and schools are involved; all I know is that a small bridgehead will expand over the course of this Parliament.

The Secretary of State will no doubt be delighted to hear that, on Friday, I visited the university technical college in Walsall and, credit where it is due, it was fantastic. He will also be pleased to hear that tomorrow I am meeting Lord Baker to discuss my campaign to bring a UTC to Dudley. Sadly, only one of the 70-odd UTCs that will open nationally is currently in the black country. Will the Secretary of State meet me too, so we can discuss how we can open a UTC in Dudley and deal with the urgent need to drive up vocational standards and bring new jobs and industries to the area?

It would be a joy.

So many members of the Cabinet, including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, owe their start in life to private education. Many other European countries have many more bridges between private and state education, with, for instance, the state paying the salaries of teachers in private schools. Will the Secretary of State confirm that he has not ruled out new, imaginative ways of helping ordinary people to access private education?

I try never to rule anything out; life is too short. To return to the Oliver Twist metaphor that we had earlier, I want to ensure that we do not just save Oliver and leave the Artful Dodger and the rest of Fagin’s gang to the wolves, but ensure that every child in poverty is helped. It is therefore important that we all put pressure on independent schools to live up to their charitable foundation by sponsoring academies and doing more for all children in need.

The findings of the Institute for Fiscal Studies on Rotherham metropolitan borough indicate that secondary school education will take a spending cut of between 11.8% and 13.4%. Given that Rotherham is still in the highest 20% of deprived areas in this country, what has happened to the concept of “We’re all in it together”?

As a deprived area, Rotherham will, over the lifetime of this Parliament, benefit increasingly from the pupil premium. The report to which the right hon. Gentleman refers is a projection—a guess. The IFS is a fantastic think-tank, but it is speculating, not stating.

Let me point out that every single question from Opposition Front Benchers during the course of this Question Time was a plea for more money; not a single question was about the case for reform. In a nutshell, there we have the problem with today’s Labour party: an outstretched hand demanding more cash but not a single thing to say about raising standards.

Here is a question about reform, not extra cash. With early adopter schools that are well equipped to convert to academies already on the pace in becoming free-standing academies, what extra support, advice and guidance can my right hon. Friend give to the middle area of schools that are considering moving to being an academy but have not yet got up the nerve to make that change?

All I would say is this, “Come on in. The water’s lovely.” In Bedford and Bedfordshire, schools that have converted to academy status have already seen their standards increase, and their head teachers have been able to ensure that money is spent on the pupils’ priorities, not the bureaucracies’ priorities. I am looking forward to working with my hon. Friend and all Bedfordshire MPs to ensure that more schools convert to academy status and, in so doing, raise standards for all children.

On academies and capital expenditure, the Secretary of State will recall that I was recently in touch with him, yet again, about Woodlands school in Coventry, which, having narrowly missed out on Building Schools for the Future, has turned into an academy in its desperation for some support from the Government and now finds that it is still not eligible for any further capital expenditure. Will he look at that and do something about it?

The Priority School building programme exists specifically to help schools like Woodlands. At the moment, we are inviting bids from schools across the country and assessing those bids against each other. In due course, there will be an announcement about additional capital support for the schools in the worst condition.

Now that the Education Act 2011 has Royal Assent, the Minister will be looking at criteria for determining whether a school causing concern should be taken over by the governing body of another school. Can he assure me that these decisions will be made on the basis of the most up-to-date assessment of a school’s progress?

That is a very fair point. We want to make sure that we target our attention on schools in the greatest need. If a school has had a historically poor record but, for example, a new head teacher or a new chair of governors has turned it round in the past 12 months, of course we will interpret the criteria flexibly.

The Secretary of State did not answer the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Rother Valley (Mr Barron), which was about the distribution of funding under the Secretary of State’s direct funding plans. Rotherham secondary schools are set to lose out by £12 million in an area where we already have high and rising deprivation. This is simply wrong. Will he give a guarantee to local parents, students and teachers that they will not lose out like this?

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, but I should say that this matter is under consultation at the moment. I should also say that the Association of School and College Leaders, the National Association of Head Teachers and every representative of head teacher opinion says that the current funding system needs to be reformed. Once again I say to him—now that he is, sadly, no longer in the shadow Cabinet—that it is not enough for Labour Members simply to ask for more; they have to push for reform as well as demanding more cash.

On that note, school children in my constituency of Bromsgrove will receive £1,000 less per head this year than those in neighbouring Birmingham. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that is because under the previous Government school funding was allocated on the basis of party politics and not need?

As we say in Scotland, “Facts are chiels that winna ding.” The truth is that the current system of school funding is inequitable. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has made that case most powerfully recently.

In an earlier answer, the Under-Secretary of State for Education, the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) again deferred to Magic Breakfast, an excellent charity, to plug the massive funding gap that has been left by the Government taking away extended schools money. Magic Breakfast provides 200 schools with free breakfast, yet 3,000 breakfast clubs have been closed across the country and thousands more are under threat. What are the Government going to do about that?

Let me have another go. Just a few weeks ago, I met the former chairman of Greggs who set up the breakfast club. That company did so not on the basis of how much money the Government were or were not putting into it or because of Government policy, but because it thought that it was the right thing to do, it was in a position to do it and it was good corporate social responsibility. The company did it and it did not take Government money to ensure that companies could step up to the mark and do their bit.

As the Secretary of State knows, support in the community of Brandon for the Breckland free school is extremely strong. Will he assure me that all expressions of interest from parents, both on official forms and on the forms from the free school, will be taken into account when he makes a decision on whether that free school should go ahead?

I had the great pleasure of meeting the parents behind that free school application. They were a fantastic model of citizen action. The Department will do everything possible to ensure that their bravery, courage and energy in ensuring that their children get the best possible education are supported to the full.

A few minutes ago, the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning talked about the increase in the number of apprentices in various parts of Britain. In Bolsover, that started three years ago when the working neighbourhoods fund was used to increase the number of apprentices in our area. Now, with the 28% cut for the local authority and the working neighbourhoods fund due to finish next spring, there will be a loss of apprenticeships in that part of Britain. Will he have a word with his colleagues to sort that out?

As the hon. Gentleman knows, this Government have produced the largest number of apprenticeships in modern history. I am very happy to look at his constituency, but I have to tell him that according the latest statistics—not my statistics, but the official figures—apprenticeship numbers in Bolsover are up by 65%.

Will the Secretary of State take this opportunity to praise those teachers and head teachers who are going to put their pupils first and refuse to go on strike a week on Wednesday?

Once again, I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I stress that it is an important civil right to be able to withdraw one’s labour. I also stress that this Government understand the widespread anxiety and anguish of hard-working public sector professionals, who deserve a decent pension. However, let me also make it clear that it is wrong for teachers and head teachers to withdraw their labour, to deprive children of a day’s education and to make life more difficult for working parents—wrong, wrong, wrong.

It is reported that youth services are taking a 25% cut on average and we know that some youth services are disappearing altogether. Will the Minister tell us how many youth projects have closed, how many youth workers have been made redundant and what he will do to ensure that local authorities fulfil their statutory responsibilities?

I cannot tell the hon. Lady how many but I will tell her that this Government are funding 63 myplace centres, the latest of which I opened in Bognor Regis just last Friday. In the next few weeks, the Government will produce their “Positive for Youth” policy, which will point to the future of new partnerships, new forms of funding and new ways of working together to ensure that our young people get decent youth services and a decent offer up and down the country. Reform needs to come to youth services in this country because the model under the previous Government was not sustainable.

To make a statement, I call the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Mark Hoban.