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Debate on bill on Monday, 14 January 2008, in the House of Commons, led by Ed Balls. The answering member was Lord Gove.

Education and Skills Bill

Education and Skills Bill. Second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Programme motion on proceedings in Committee, report, third reading and other proceedings agreed to on question. Money resolution agreed to on question.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
470 c657-760 
Session
2007-08
Department
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Legislative stage
Second reading
Procedure
Programme motions
Money resolutions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c745-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for City of Durham (Dr. Blackman-Woods), who is passionat...
Ed Balls | 470 c662-3 (Link to this contribution) I tell my hon. Friend what we will do—we will undertake one of the biggest overhauls of the curricul...
Show all contributions (237)
Helen Jones | 470 c662 (Link to this contribution) I urge the Secretary of State not to listen to the siren voices speaking against the Bill. Exactly t...
Ed Balls | 470 c662 (Link to this contribution) I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. We will never abolish the new deal. In fact, the extension...
Dawn Butler | 470 c661-2 (Link to this contribution) At any one time, 10 per cent. of young people are categorised as NEETS. Can my right hon. Friend ass...
Ed Balls | 470 c661 (Link to this contribution) I do not think so. The fact is that absences are down and the number of NEETS is down, although it h...
Ed Balls | 470 c661 (Link to this contribution) I can indeed do that. As my hon. Friend knows, schools that have engaged in specialisms in recent ye...
Lord Boswell of Aynho | 470 c661 (Link to this contribution) I have no problem whatever with the Secretary of State's aims and aspirations, and have a great inte...
Ed Balls | 470 c660-1 (Link to this contribution) I will come in detail to that point in a moment. I am not sure, when the hon. Gentleman refers to th...
Lord Willis of Knaresborough | 470 c660 (Link to this contribution) For 20 years, I was a head before coming into this school—[Laughter.] And it has been downhill ever ...
Ed Balls | 470 c664 (Link to this contribution) No, there is no danger of that whatever. We are taking forward reforms in primary, secondary and ear...
David Evennett | 470 c663 (Link to this contribution) I always listen with great interest to the Secretary of State. Skills shortages in this country are ...
Ed Balls | 470 c664 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. There has been real progress in Swindon on increasing the number of apprent...
Anne Snelgrove | 470 c664 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that the measures that he was describing before he started taking in...
Robert Flello | 470 c663 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend share my concern about transport? Schools—particularly new-build schools u...
Ed Balls | 470 c663 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Minister for Schools and Learners has asked me to point out that he is in discuss...
Ed Balls | 470 c663 (Link to this contribution) I will not take a second intervention from my hon. Friend. However, I assure him that the Minister f...
Lord Beith | 470 c663 (Link to this contribution) How will that happen in an area where the nearest college of education is 50 miles away?
Ed Balls | 470 c663 (Link to this contribution) In every area we will require that the full range of choice is made available. We are giving six yea...
Speaker | 470 c658 (Link to this contribution) Before the Secretary of State replies, I must tell hon. Members that interventions should not be as ...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c658 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way so soon in his speech. The Government's overa...
Ed Balls | 470 c657-8 (Link to this contribution) I thought that I would need to make this point clear for the benefit of observers outside the House;...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c657 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State began by saying that he wanted to provide educational opportunity for all, bu...
Ed Balls | 470 c658 (Link to this contribution) It may have been long, Mr. Speaker, but it was a helpful intervention, and I am happy to discuss tha...
Speaker | 470 c658 (Link to this contribution) That is why I do not want long interventions.
Ed Balls | 470 c657 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time. The Education and Skills Bill is a landmark...
Oliver Heald | 470 c659 (Link to this contribution) A lot of the poorest children whom we have heard about already get to 16 unable to read, write or ad...
Ed Balls | 470 c659 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) represents a constitu...
Ed Balls | 470 c660 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little more progress and then take some more interventions. Before I get on to the de...
Ed Balls | 470 c659-60 (Link to this contribution) I will tell the hon. Gentleman what I am going to do. I am going to keep investing in education. I a...
Bob Spink | 470 c658 (Link to this contribution) On the requirement to address the needs of poorer children, may I congratulate the Secretary of Stat...
Ed Balls | 470 c659 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is a champion of apprentices in the House, so he will know that although the numb...
Joan Walley | 470 c659 (Link to this contribution) I broadly welcome the changes introduced today. In Stoke-on-Trent, we probably have more young peopl...
Ed Balls | 470 c659 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. We can deliver the commitments in the Bill only if we make ...
Speaker | 470 c683 (Link to this contribution) May I remind all right hon. and hon. Members that Mr. Speaker has imposed a 15-minute time limit on ...
John Denham | 470 c759 (Link to this contribution) No, I have given way to the hon. Gentleman, I have quoted him enough and I should make some progress...
Lord Gove | 470 c759 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Charles Walker | 470 c740-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the chance to speak in this important debate. I have no idea whether the Bill will...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c740 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that information and I have now finished my remarks.
Lord Knight of Weymouth | 470 c739-40 (Link to this contribution) By way of further reassurance for my hon. Friend, I can confirm that not only do people have to have...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c739 (Link to this contribution) I say hooray to that. I am pleased that the Minister has made a great stride in the right direction ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c741 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a strong point about those who have no skills. However, there was a tim...
Douglas Carswell | 470 c735 (Link to this contribution) I am flattered that the Minister should intervene on me twice—and I say yes in a sort of Jeremy Paxm...
Lord Knight of Weymouth | 470 c739 (Link to this contribution) We commissioned Jim Rose to carry out the review, and he came out firmly in favour of synthetic phon...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c739 (Link to this contribution) I hope that in this Chamber we can persuade Ministers to say to civil servants, ““We are going to go...
Nick Gibb | 470 c738 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making an interesting speech and I agree with most of it. How would he address...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c735-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to speak on this Bill and to welcome it. I am one of those old-fashioned socialists...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c746-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend, whose intervention shows that we must have honesty in the statistic...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c747 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State looks puzzled. I invite him to come to Bournemouth. He should meet representa...
Roberta Blackman-Woods | 470 c742-5 (Link to this contribution) I apologise for not being in the House earlier; constituency matters kept me away. I am therefore gr...
Charles Walker | 470 c741-2 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point: 20, 30 or 40 years ago, people could leave school unabl...
John Denham | 470 c746 (Link to this contribution) The figure we give for apprenticeships is entirely people who are working for employers while they f...
Lord Willetts | 470 c746 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an entirely accurate and well argued point. The only reason why the Secretary o...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c746 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that reply, but it does not explain the concern of the H...
Helen Jones | 470 c752 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a carefully researched speech and has been helpful to the House by decl...
Lord Willetts | 470 c751-2 (Link to this contribution) I am familiar with the Geddes axe, but although there may have been public expenditure pressures, th...
Lord Willetts | 470 c751 (Link to this contribution) We have had a long and thoughtful debate with valuable contributions from all parties, but I would l...
David Chaytor | 470 c749-51 (Link to this contribution) I think that the hon. Gentleman is deceiving himself. He was defending the status quo and defending ...
Lord Willetts | 470 c749 (Link to this contribution) What we were doing last week was defending the principle of lifelong learning, which involves reskil...
David Chaytor | 470 c748-9 (Link to this contribution) I speak in support of the Bill. I congratulate the Government on taking this courageous step, which ...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c748 (Link to this contribution) I was moving on to mention comments made by organisations with which Labour Members will be well fam...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c747-8 (Link to this contribution) If the Secretary of State wishes to object, he should please either intervene or take up my offer an...
John Denham | 470 c759 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has stated:"““Diplomas were supposed to be about improving vocational education n...
Lord Gove | 470 c759 (Link to this contribution) Can the Secretary of State refer to any occasion on which I have been in any way critical of the exi...
John Denham | 470 c756 (Link to this contribution) This has been a good debate, although in the past quarter of an hour or more the hon. Member for Hav...
Lord Willetts | 470 c753-6 (Link to this contribution) I understand the hon. Lady's genuine commitment to that, but after 10 years of a Labour Government a...
John Denham | 470 c756-8 (Link to this contribution) I apologise if replying to this point means that I cannot refer to all Members' speeches, but the re...
David Laws | 470 c756 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State says that the Liberal Democrats are not willing the means. Does he agree that...
Lord Willetts | 470 c752 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) has explained himself fully and answered every qu...
Roberta Blackman-Woods | 470 c753 (Link to this contribution) In the interest of making common cause, will the hon. Gentleman accept that the measures in the Bill...
Lord Willetts | 470 c753 (Link to this contribution) I shall, but we are up against time constraints.
Dawn Butler | 470 c669 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman in favour of the education maintenance allowance?
Lord Gove | 470 c669-70 (Link to this contribution) Yes, absolutely—[Interruption.] Well, the Secretary of State is the one who is paying for it. We are...
Lord Gove | 470 c668-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Secretary of State for his speech. I enjoyed all 40 minutes of it. [Hon. Members: ““Thir...
Ed Balls | 470 c668 (Link to this contribution) I will not take any more interventions. It is not too late, however. I urge Opposition Members to d...
Lord Gove | 470 c669 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We all benefit from the experience that he secured in the workpl...
Philip Davies | 470 c669 (Link to this contribution) I agree wholeheartedly with what my hon. Friend says. Is not the crux of the matter the fact that th...
David Laws | 470 c667 (Link to this contribution) Will the Secretary of State give way?
Ed Balls | 470 c666-7 (Link to this contribution) That is the last intervention I will take, and the Schools Minister has told me that that is a requi...
Ed Balls | 470 c667-8 (Link to this contribution) No. Both the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats are now embarrassingly out of step with th...
Dawn Butler | 470 c672 (Link to this contribution) Is your heart in the right place?
Lord Gove | 470 c672 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, who has a distinguished record in higher education, makes a very good point about th...
Lord Boswell of Aynho | 470 c672 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a distinguished and very interesting speech. Does he agree that one of the ...
Lord Gove | 470 c671-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful that the hon. Lady is enjoying the speech. I am seeking to make it clear that we belie...
Dawn Butler | 470 c671 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on a great speech. He is building up to a conclusion that the Oppo...
Lord Gove | 470 c671 (Link to this contribution) Yes, ceteris paribus, as the Under-Secretary reminds me from a sedentary position. Perhaps with his ...
Lord Gove | 470 c670-1 (Link to this contribution) I take the hon. Gentleman's point, but I believe that there are ways other than compulsion by which ...
Lord Willis of Knaresborough | 470 c670 (Link to this contribution) Let me refer the hon. Gentleman to another community—that of young people with disabilities. Roughly...
Lord Gove | 470 c672-3 (Link to this contribution) It is up to the hon. Lady to decide. As I was arguing, the more people who secure high level qualif...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c673 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that that age group could include parents? People aged 16, and somet...
Lord Gove | 470 c673 (Link to this contribution) Excellent, some would say—I think that it was very good; I would give it a B-plus. In it, he defined...
Lord Gove | 470 c674 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. We are all concerned about the rate of teenage pregnancy, and I n...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c674 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making rather glib use of the term ““liberty””. I am sure he will recall the w...
Lord Gove | 470 c674 (Link to this contribution) We may now hear an argument from the hon. Member for Luton, North.
Lord Gove | 470 c674 (Link to this contribution) That is a very noble point, but I think the hon. Gentleman misunderstands Sir Isaiah Berlin. It is r...
Lord Gove | 470 c674-5 (Link to this contribution) I am disappointed that the Secretary of State is incapable of making his own arguments and once agai...
Ed Balls | 470 c674 (Link to this contribution) The CBI says that it is necessary to extend compulsory education to those aged 18. Does the hon. Gen...
Lord Gove | 470 c674 (Link to this contribution) —and I know that the Secretary of State will produce a powerful argument now.
Lord Gove | 470 c676 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman takes that view, he should take the matter up with the Leader of the House, wh...
Robert Flello | 470 c675 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with interest to the hon. Gentleman's speech. Will he clarify something for me? He se...
Lord Gove | 470 c675 (Link to this contribution) We first asked the Secretary of State to come up with his own arguments, but he could not do so and ...
Ed Balls | 470 c675 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that people on both sides of the House will try to avoid being glib. In response to our Gr...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c720 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. The third special school in my constituency is called Ravensbourne. It has quite a number o...
Lord Willetts | 470 c720 (Link to this contribution) He does that to me all the time.
John Hayes | 470 c722 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman is a student of these matters. Does he agree that it is worth conside...
Gordon Marsden | 470 c721-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Upminster (Angela Watkinson), who always speaks...
Paul Robert Holmes | 470 c725-9 (Link to this contribution) Like many who have spoken, I begin by saying that I agree very much with most of the principles and ...
Peter Soulsby | 470 c729-30 (Link to this contribution) Another teacher, I am afraid, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Newly qualified, I started teaching in the early 1...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c718-20 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. Drama and dance are helpful. I am glad that the profil...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c720 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has taken the words out of my mouth.
Douglas Carswell | 470 c733-4 (Link to this contribution) The Minister well knows—I have written to his Department—that the decision to build Bishop's Park co...
Lord Knight of Weymouth | 470 c733 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said that ““they”” are trying to close the school, implying that the Government w...
Douglas Carswell | 470 c733 (Link to this contribution) With great respect to the hon. Gentleman—I agree with his views on many things, not least Europe—I p...
Lord Knight of Weymouth | 470 c734-5 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way to me a second time. The mistake that he makes, w...
Douglas Carswell | 470 c734 (Link to this contribution) From a sedentary position, the Minister says that that is wrong. I am happy to dispute the statistic...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c733 (Link to this contribution) Many Conservative Members have said that the Government should not be doing this and that there shou...
Douglas Carswell | 470 c732-3 (Link to this contribution) I believe that the Bill is another piece of legislation designed primarily to make the Government ap...
Peter Soulsby | 470 c730-2 (Link to this contribution) I entirely understand the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. I have experienced similar situat...
Paul Robert Holmes | 470 c730 (Link to this contribution) I recall one particular student, a very bright girl whom I taught, who would not stay on. Her mother...
Oliver Heald | 470 c708 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I do. I could not agree more with the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West and others—I think t...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c707 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a powerful point. Does he agree that numeracy has an enormously important role ...
Oliver Heald | 470 c707 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention, but if we take only the Leitch figures, which are that 15 per c...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c708 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. Does he agree that those most likely to incur t...
Oliver Heald | 470 c707-8 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more. Numeracy is a basic life skill and we need an education system that, at the ...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c706 (Link to this contribution) Yes, some are, but the ones about whom I am talking are not. They are very bright. The question is: ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c707 (Link to this contribution) The problem is more widespread than the hon. Gentleman suggests because only seven years ago Lord Mo...
Oliver Heald | 470 c706-7 (Link to this contribution) It is right that there should be no ceiling on young people's educational ambitions, but there needs...
Oliver Heald | 470 c718 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that drama can do a lot in that regard and that it should be encouraged?
Angela Watkinson | 470 c717 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the aims of the Bill. We seemed almost immediately to reach consensus in welcoming the fac...
Joan Ryan | 470 c714-7 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the opportunity to make a few remarks about this important Bill. First, I apologise for be...
Dai Davies | 470 c712-4 (Link to this contribution) As the Secretary of State said at the beginning of our debate, this is an extremely important Bill. ...
Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 470 c710-2 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with what my hon. Friend said. I am from a coal-mining constituency where the fir...
Speaker | 470 c710 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the hon. Member for Sedgefield (Phil Wilson) replies, my second piece of advice to the...
Robert Flello | 470 c710 (Link to this contribution) To develop that point, there are communities where, traditionally, once people got to a certain age ...
Lord Wilson of Sedgefield | 470 c709-10 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for allowing me to speak in this debate on a key piece of Government ...
Oliver Heald | 470 c708-9 (Link to this contribution) If there is an improvement, I welcome it—it is certainly overdue—but I must wonder whether they are ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c708 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will find that the completion rate has risen, from 25 per cent. under his party's...
Geoffrey Robinson | 470 c696-7 (Link to this contribution) Yes, indeed. Excellent. Then we will have unimpeded progress to the Second Reading. There are many i...
Gordon Marsden | 470 c697 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree with the caution expressed by my hon. Friend, but would he care to comment on an ex...
David Laws | 470 c692-4 (Link to this contribution) We have been stuck in this important territory for quite a while, in my speech and in those of other...
John Denham | 470 c694 (Link to this contribution) This may help me to get my thoughts together for my concluding response. The hon. Gentleman talks ab...
David Laws | 470 c694-5 (Link to this contribution) We will come back to that in Committee. I welcome those very sensible aspects of the Bill, but it is...
Paul Rowen | 470 c695 (Link to this contribution) On that cost-benefit issue, does my hon. Friend accept that a likely effect of the compulsion will b...
David Laws | 470 c695-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is exactly right. We must make sure that the qualifications and accreditation are rel...
Geoffrey Robinson | 470 c696 (Link to this contribution) I am very pleased to take part in this debate on a Bill that I am sure will be seen as historic and ...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c705 (Link to this contribution) In Birkenhead this year, 38 young people left school with no qualifications whatsoever. The cost to ...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c703 (Link to this contribution) ?save-line2? I hope that the hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr. Evennett) will forgive me...
Angela Watkinson | 470 c703 (Link to this contribution) Would the right hon. Gentlemen include in that group the very young children—those of primary school...
Geoffrey Robinson | 470 c697-9 (Link to this contribution) I will follow my hon. Friend down that interesting route to some extent, but not too far. I merely s...
David Evennett | 470 c700-2 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be able to participate in this important debate on education and skills, and to foll...
Robert Flello | 470 c705 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with great interest to my right hon. Friend's speech. To what extent do you feel that...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c704 (Link to this contribution) That is a second group. We have a supporters' group in Wirral and it is chilling and humbling to mee...
Geoffrey Robinson | 470 c704 (Link to this contribution) The House is aware of my right hon. Friend's capacity to think outside the box; perhaps it is not su...
David Laws | 470 c692 (Link to this contribution) The reason I supported that legislation—which I am not sure the Secretary of State was so keen on wh...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c691 (Link to this contribution) I have two points. First, the hon. Gentleman seems to assume that there has been a vote in the parli...
David Laws | 470 c690-1 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. No doubt the Secretary of State will be able to cite other names who are in favour of this e...
Oliver Heald | 470 c691 (Link to this contribution) It is my understanding that the Liberal Democrats' position is that adulthood should start at 16—tha...
David Laws | 470 c691 (Link to this contribution) Yes. One of the characteristics of my party, for good or for ill, is that we have votes on such issu...
Ed Balls | 470 c691 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Laws | 470 c691 (Link to this contribution) My thinking is that it will be extraordinarily bizarre when the Secretary of State or his representa...
Ed Balls | 470 c692 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has some consistency. He is opposing the current reform, just as he opposed the n...
David Laws | 470 c692 (Link to this contribution) I will give way, and then I will move on to other issues.
David Laws | 470 c689-90 (Link to this contribution) Whether there will be a 2009 or 2010 date depends on what confidence, or foolishness, the Prime Mini...
David Laws | 470 c688 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. I think he is suggesting, like the right hon. Member fo...
Kelvin Hopkins | 470 c688 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that, like me, the hon. Gentleman has visited many schools; indeed, I have been involved i...
David Laws | 470 c687-8 (Link to this contribution) Instead of looking at Sheffield MPs in 1916, when there was a very different age of majority in very...
Ed Balls | 470 c687 (Link to this contribution) My point was that the Fisher Act advocated and legislated for part-time education to 18.
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c689 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for not giving away immediately, because my question now makes m...
David Laws | 470 c688 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. I think there is common ground in all parts of the House, certainly among Liberal Demo...
Dawn Butler | 470 c684 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that this Bill, along with the children's plan and the Every Child Matters...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c684-5 (Link to this contribution) I hear what my hon. Friend, who is a member of our Committee, says. I understand where she is coming...
Robert Flello | 470 c685 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one way to make sure that young people from more challenged family ba...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c685-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend tempts me down a path that I will take. One of my few reservations about the Bill rel...
Lord Gove | 470 c682-3 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State cannot shake his head—that is what the CBI argues. It is specifically concern...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c683-4 (Link to this contribution) Given the time constraints on Back Benchers, which are longer than usual, I shall plunge in and say ...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c686 (Link to this contribution) I accept my hon. Friend's goal that people should expand their horizons and fulfil their best self. ...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c686-7 (Link to this contribution) I shall have to look more closely at the research because it is contradictory, but I believe—as the ...
David Laws | 470 c687 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the Chairman of the Children, Schools and Families Committee; he made an ...
Lord Gove | 470 c681 (Link to this contribution) Clearly, the Secretary of State has still not answered the question. We look forward to a proper ans...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c681 (Link to this contribution) That part of the Bill is immensely important, and the hon. Gentleman might know that I also have dou...
Lord Gove | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps we can get enlightenment at last from the Secretary of State.
Ed Balls | 470 c681 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give clarification, though the subject is for Committee. Under the court's normal pow...
Lord Gove | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) That raises the question of why individuals who are determined not to attend should comply. We will ...
Lord Gove | 470 c681-2 (Link to this contribution) That is an interesting point. I suspect that it is part of another debate, which I shall enjoy havin...
Lord Gove | 470 c681 (Link to this contribution) I should be absolutely delighted to have such a debate, whether in Opposition or Government time. I ...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c681 (Link to this contribution) The debate must go beyond concentrating more resources on the poorest children. If they do not go to...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c679 (Link to this contribution) There are reservations about the sanctions that can be introduced in legislation, but the hon. Gentl...
Lord Gove | 470 c679-80 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Chairman of the Select Committee. I should point out that the individual who ra...
Tobias Ellwood | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) Can my hon. Friend update the House on how well the Government are meeting their truancy targets?
Lord Gove | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. As I said earlier, approximately one in 10 of those who should be...
Oliver Heald | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that it would require a significant change in the law for a court not to b...
Lord Gove | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, who has considerable legal and constitutional experience, makes a good point. I am g...
Lord Knight of Weymouth | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, we will discuss the matter in Committee. However, to help the House, I point out that the...
Lord Gove | 470 c676-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend—[Interruption.] My hon. Friend has more direct experience of running small businesses...
Barry Sheerman | 470 c676 (Link to this contribution) Before we got on to the discussion about the CBI, the Opposition spokesman was making a useful and i...
Lord Gove | 470 c677-9 (Link to this contribution) I wish to make a little more progress now. I should refer at this stage to one curious consequence ...
Ed Balls | 470 c677 (Link to this contribution) In my speech I read out the comments of both the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce, and I agr...
Lord Gove | 470 c677 (Link to this contribution) The Secretary of State certainly showed disrespect to my hon. Friend, but I shall take that interven...
Lord Knight of Weymouth | 470 c679 (Link to this contribution) I agree that we need to ensure that everything is right before the age of 16 in order to engage youn...
Lord Gove | 470 c679 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister believe that with compulsion we will secure 100 per cent. attendance at ages 17 an...
Ed Balls | 470 c665 (Link to this contribution) I do not find it an odd contradiction at all. I will come to some odd contradictions in the hon. Gen...
David Laws | 470 c665 (Link to this contribution) Surely the Secretary of State understands the difference between individuals who are otherwise treat...
Ed Balls | 470 c665-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. Under the Bill, local authorities, when they take over the running of Conne...
Joan Humble | 470 c665 (Link to this contribution) May I return my right hon. Friend to the point he a moment ago about the importance of information, ...
Philip Davies | 470 c664 (Link to this contribution) We may disagree about the value of forcing people to stay on in education when they do not want to, ...
Ed Balls | 470 c664-5 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, who is not here at the mo...
Chris McCafferty | 470 c666 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend referred to a visit he made on Friday evening to Connexions in Brighouse, in my...
Ed Balls | 470 c666 (Link to this contribution) I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I know that she has taken a close interest in Connexions i...
Lord Willis of Knaresborough | 470 c666 (Link to this contribution) From 2001, the Connexions service has offered careers education and guidance to students who were no...
Gordon Marsden | 470 c722-5 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point, with which I have an enormous amount of sympathy. ...
David Laws | 470 c689 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for making that point. I am sure that he is right about the talents...
Lord Gove | 470 c680 (Link to this contribution) That raises the question of whether the system is one of genuinely strong enforcement.
Lord Gove | 470 c676 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the Chairman of the Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families, and then...
Lord Gove | 470 c676 (Link to this contribution) That is a very important question. My view is that we are increasingly recognising that at age 16 so...
Ann Coffey | 470 c661 (Link to this contribution) On disadvantaged young people's participation in education, secondary schools in my constituency suc...
John Hayes | 470 c720 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend introduced me to the excellent work done in her constituency in support of employment...
Speaker | 470 c705 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind the hon. Gentleman that he should talk in the third person if he is addressing his r...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 470 c704-5 (Link to this contribution) During my hon. Friend's speech, it was chilling to hear him give the time scale according to which t...
Brian Binley | 470 c676 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the Secretary of State is clutching at straws when he uses the CBI's ...
Subjects
Education Curriculum Discipline Disadvantaged Carers Age Apprentices Finance Qualifications Private education Literacy Special educational needs Training Vocational education Truancy School leaving Numeracy
Legislation
Education and Skills Bill 2007-08
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk