Results 1-20 of 2,874 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Nick Gibb

Bill Presented: Clause 126 — General Duties (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: I want to test the House's opinion on amendment (a).

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: My experience of speaking to academy providers is that the problems they have faced over the past five or 10 years have come mostly from Labour authorities.

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: Dr. Moynihan was saying that he was in favour of an agency, but not this agency. He does not want the YPLA to be the body overseeing the academies movement.

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: When we debated the issue in Committee, I tabled an amendment to enable a different organisation to be established to run the academies. The question is whether the academies should be run from within the Department or whether they should be overseen by a stand-alone non-departmental public body. There are arguments on both sides. We are considering them, and the hon. Gentleman will be the...

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: You are quite right, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I mean the amendment to Lords amendment 178. It does what I have just described, however. The minority members of the YPLA could then deal with the YPLA's responsibilities. At least our amendment would enable us to be sure that this body would understand the issues facing academies, and would be sympathetic to them. It is not a matter of one sector...

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: Does that mean that, before the Bill went to the other place, it was the Government's intention to allow the YPLA to enter into funding agreements with new academies?

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: During the Bill's time in the other place, a number of amendments were tabled, as the Minister has explained, to the clauses relating to the YPLA, but none of them has answered our fundamental concern about its suitability to carry out academy arrangements—that is, for the YPLA to be used as the oversight body for academies. This is very important. The Government have amended clause 75...

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: Our advice goes way beyond local authorities; it goes to livery companies, parent groups, co-operative teachers, educational foundations and Church groups that want to set up a school. If there is a Conservative Government after the next election, we will make it much easier for any of those groups to set up schools in any area they choose—regardless of the attitude of the local authority.

Bill Presented: Clause 75 — Academy arrangements (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: I am quite sure that all local authorities in this country, whether they be Conservative authorities or not, work closely with the Government, but the thrust of Conservative policy on this issue is very clear to all local authorities. It is that the impetus for creating a new academy will come from those groups that I have identified. That is where the impetus will come from, and a...

Bill Presented: Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill (11 Nov 2009)

Nick Gibb: May I put the Minister out of his misery? What we want to do—what our policy says we would like to do—is to have as much information as possible made available to parents about the results that a school produces. Whatever those qualifications are, they should be published by the school to give parents the maximum information.

Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: Agricultural Land (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Gibb: What acreage of agricultural land is owned by the Church Commissioners.

Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: Agricultural Land (15 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Gibb: The Archbishop of Canterbury wants more food to be grown locally and has attacked organisations driven solely by the desire to make money. Is it not therefore paradoxical that the Church Commissioners, which he chairs, wants to concrete over 300 acres of prime agricultural land to the west of Chalcraft lane in my constituency? When challenged, the commissioners say they want to build on that...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Standards (Primary Schools) (12 Oct 2009) has video

Nick Gibb: The Minister will know from the written answer that he gave me in July that fewer than half of 11-year-olds in the poorest decile in the index of multiple deprivation achieved the basic standard in reading, writing and maths, compared with three quarters who achieved that in the top 10 per cent. Frankly, whether it is a quarter or a half of 11-year-olds who are failing to grasp the basics,...

Teaching Standards (England) (7 Jul 2009)

Nick Gibb: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) on securing this important debate and on his excellent, informative speech. I agree with most of the thoughtful speech made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Field), who is clearly passionate about standards and schools in his constituency. The standard of teaching that...

Teaching Standards (England) (7 Jul 2009)

Nick Gibb: I am attracted to the concept of training more teachers on the job through programmes such as the graduate teacher programme, which a number of teachers go through, but there is scope for expanding that programme. I take issue with the hon. Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) about some teachers in the independent sector not having formal qualifications. The problem is not...

Teaching Standards (England) (7 Jul 2009)

Nick Gibb: Can the hon. Lady recollect from her teacher training days what training she was given in behaviour management in the classroom?

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Sexually Transmitted Infections (15 Jun 2009) has video

Nick Gibb: I welcome the right hon. Lady to her new position. In her discussions with the Secretary of State for Health about the spread of infectious diseases in schools, what discussions has she had or will she have, following the chief medical officer's prediction last week of a huge surge in the number of cases of swine flu when children go back to school in the autumn? What is her assessment of the...

[Mr. Bill Olner in the Chair] — Fire Safety (Schools) (19 May 2009)

Nick Gibb: I congratulate the right hon. Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney), whom we have just learned was one of the "Three Amigos", on securing both the debate and a new granddaughter, Ian. The Department for Communities and Local Government estimates the average cost of fires in schools at £58 million a year, whereas the Arson Prevention Bureau puts the UK total higher still at about...

Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: Agricultural Land Holdings (7 May 2009) has video

Nick Gibb: What the Church Commissioners' policy is on their agricultural land holdings.

Oral Answers to Questions — Church Commissioners: Agricultural Land Holdings (7 May 2009) has video

Nick Gibb: According to the secretary of the Church Commissioners, the primary objective is to make money. To that end, to the shock and horror of the people of Bognor Regis, the commissioners intend to concrete over 300 acres of beautiful and highly productive agricultural land to the west of Pagham and Bersted in my constituency. The commissioners have also attempted to triple the rents of tenant...