Results 1-20 of 4,783 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Beverley Hughes

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Free Nursery Places (Reading) (27 Apr 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. As he knows, free entitlement to early-years provision for three and four-year-olds is a universal offer that is taken up by almost all four-year-olds and more than 95 per cent. of three-year-olds. In Reading that equates to approximately 3,500 places, helping to give three and four-year-olds the best possible start in life.

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Free Nursery Places (Reading) (27 Apr 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I am afraid that I cannot give my hon. Friend that information because the figures before 1997 are not available, but we know that it was not a priority for the Government at that time: free provision was patchy and often depended on whether one had a good Labour council funding it, or whether one could afford to pay. This Government have been the first to introduce and to be committed to...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Free Nursery Places (Reading) (27 Apr 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: Frankly, that was nonsense. It is because this Government doubled the number of places for the under-fives that the private sector was able to expand in the way it did under the Government last year; there are now more than 1.3 million places. The funding that we are putting in for free entitlement is enabling those providers to stay in business largely. Certainly our independent research...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Free Nursery Places (Reading) (27 Apr 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: The £1.3 billion per year for the free entitlement is enabling many nurseries in the private sector to continue. We are committed to continuing that funding, along with the funding for Sure Start children centres and all the early-years provision in our maintained schools. The question that parents want answered is whether the hon. Lady, if a Conservative Government came to power, would...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Topical Questions (27 Apr 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: My hon. Friend has kindly corresponded with me on the subject. I think that Ofsted has agreed that the initial report was unsatisfactory, and that the issue now is the rather large amount of compensation being pursued because, for six days, the report was on Ofsted's website. As he knows, Ofsted is a separate Government department, answering directly to Parliament and not to my Department. I...

Extended School Programme (22 Apr 2009)

Beverley Hughes: I welcome the fact that my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck) has secured another debate on this subject. I have no problem with the number of times that she raises the issue because she and my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, East (Mr. Smith) have demonstrated today that they are fully supportive of what the Government are trying to do in this...

Extended School Programme (22 Apr 2009)

Beverley Hughes: Let me just finish this point, which relates to what my right hon. Friend the Member for Oxford, East said. Other local authorities are much more assertive in the outreach work that they do from children's centres, schools and Jobcentre Plus. They invest a great deal in their family information services and in training people so that staff on the ground really understand child tax credits and...

Extended School Programme (22 Apr 2009)

Beverley Hughes: On the latter point, I will write to my hon. Friend. I am not clear myself at the moment whether the Treasury can disaggregate figures on take-up according to the age of children in the family. It is a valid point, and I will investigate and write to her. I shall also write to my hon. Friend and clarify the figures that I used for the two authorities that cover her constituency. The...

Unplanned Teenage Pregnancies (Nottingham) (25 Mar 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) on securing tonight's debate. More fundamentally, I commend the leadership he has shown on the issues—not just teenage pregnancy, but early intervention and prevention, reducing inequality and poverty, and leadership of the local strategic partnership. His work on teenage pregnancy falls under that broader...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Myplace (Blackpool) (9 Mar 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: Myplace will transform the lives of thousands of young people in Blackpool, as it will those of tens of thousands of other young people across the country. Through £272 million of investment from 2008 to 2011, myplace is delivering world-class facilities for young people, driven by the active participation of young people themselves. Last week, I announced the second tranche of £180...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Myplace (Blackpool) (9 Mar 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: Yes, I will. It was a superb bid. It was strong in two respects, which is particularly important. The first strength was the partnership behind the bid, which means that a strong and secure revenue funding stream supports future work through the involvement of the primary care trust and the police. The second strength was the central involvement of young people that shaped the bid and decided...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Myplace (Blackpool) (9 Mar 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: That is very important. The partnerships putting in the bids—Blackpool's bid was strong in this respect—had to demonstrate how they would seriously involve young people from a range of communities, in particular those from the most disadvantaged communities. We know that the young people who cannot get these opportunities routinely through their family are the ones for whom the...

Cafcass (9 Mar 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: Baroness Delyth Morgan, the Under-Secretary responsible for the matter, holds regular quarterly meetings with CAFCASS to review the progress of its work. Her last meeting with the organisation was held on 10 February.

Cafcass (9 Mar 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I greatly welcome the hon. Gentleman's comments about the chief executive, who is rigorously pursuing performance improvement at CAFCASS at every level. People can complain to CAFCASS, which is a non-departmental public body, with a board that monitors how it works and that will receive those complaints. If he has a specific case in mind or a suggestion for strengthening the process, I would...

Opposition Day — [4th Allotted Day]: Child Protection (3 Feb 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I start by saying that I welcome the fact of this debate but regret the tone of it, which was set by the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton). We genuinely wanted a cross-party consensus that would demonstrate to the outside world the importance we all ascribe to keeping our children safe. We hoped that we could agree across the House on what more needs to be done to...

Opposition Day — [4th Allotted Day]: Child Protection (3 Feb 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I am sorry; I am going to finish. I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. I implore Opposition Members to rethink their position on the ContactPoint system. It is not of itself a guarantee, but without it we cannot be sure that we will not see another failure of information sharing leading to the death of a child. Systems have been intended to achieve that for 30-odd years and have still not done...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Child Abuse (26 Jan 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: National data show that 29,200 children were the subject of a child protection plan at 31 March 2008. Children are given a plan where there are concerns about their safety and welfare as specified in the Government's guidance "Working Together to Safeguard Children", published in 2006. Some 45 per cent. of the plans arose from neglect, 25 per cent. from emotional abuse, 15 per cent. from...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Child Abuse (26 Jan 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I thank the hon. Lady for that question—I know that she takes a great deal of interest in, and is very knowledgeable about, these issues. She will know that following the death of Victoria Climbié and Lord Laming's review, there was a wholesale radical transformation of local arrangements, with a focus on safeguarding. Those arrangements are largely working, but they depend on...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Child Abuse (26 Jan 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: I thank my hon. Friend for that question. One way in which the 2004 legislation transformed safeguarding arrangements was that it introduced powers for Ministers to act and intervene, and we have recently seen those powers used very publicly. My officials went into Birmingham on 17 December, they have met council officials and they will be reporting to me shortly with recommendations for...

Oral Answers to Questions — Children, Schools and Families: Child Abuse (26 Jan 2009) has video

Beverley Hughes: As far as we are aware, that instruction has been given, but I will write to the hon. Gentleman and clarify the situation for him.