Results 1-20 of 1,444 for in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates' speaker:Baroness Morris of Yardley

Education: English Baccalaureate Certificate — Question for Short Debate (14 January 2013)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: I, too, am very grateful to the noble Earl for giving us this short amount of time to discuss this important issue. Two assumptions underpin this debate for me: first, whatever our difference of opinion may be this evening, there is a shared assumption that the knowledge, skills and experience that make up the arts are an important part of our society and how we live our lives. They are vital...

Education: Development of Excellence — Motion to Take Note (18 October 2012)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: I will try to do so. I am very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, for bringing this debate to the House. From the number of speakers, your Lordships can see what a popular debate it is; the only consequence is that we have very few minutes in which to express our views. I want to concentrate on one aspect and illustrate it with a number of examples, and to begin by sharing some of...

Education (Exemption from School Inspection) (England) Regulations 2012 — Motion of Regret (17 July 2012)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: Why are the data less reliable with those schools than they are with non-special schools? That has been the thrust of the Minister's argument: that data are strong enough for us to be able to take this course of action. The data are the same for the special schools, so what is the problem?

Education (Exemption from School Inspection) (England) Regulations 2012 — Motion of Regret (17 July 2012)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I am surprised that this measure has come back as a statutory instrument, given our debate during the passage of the Bill. It is an ill advised piece of legislation. Like my noble friend who moved the Motion, I want to look at it on the strategic level and on points of detail. The noble Baroness, Lady Perry, made a significant contribution because there has been agreement over the...

Schools: Well-being and Personal and Social Needs — Motion to Take Note (14 June 2012)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I am glad to be able to contribute to this debate and congratulate my noble friend Lady Jones on bringing it to the Chamber. I do not think that anybody is going to speak against improving the well-being of children or meeting their personal and social needs. I shall wait to the end of the debate to see whether any noble Lord does-perhaps the Minister will. However, it is an area of...

Design Education and Growth — Question for Short Debate (24 January 2012)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I welcome this report and the interesting debate that we are having today. It must not just be one debate; we need a long debate about this nationally if we are really going to solve some of these problems. In a way, design finds itself in an unusual position: I have never known anyone who was against design. There is no army of people out there making a case against it. Sometimes...

Education Bill: Report (4th Day) (1 November 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I also support this amendment, on which there is a fair degree of unanimity across the Chamber. My position is approximately the same as that of the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland. We do not want schools where everybody has the same qualification. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we have very much moved to having different qualifications in schools. Clearly, what we want is for someone to...

Education Bill: Report (3rd Day) (26 October 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I support this amendment. I shall start with what I think is going to be my only line of agreement with the Government on this. To take the attitude that intervention in schools should reflect the risk of schools doing badly, and to say that we should intervene less when schools are successful, is absolutely right. As my noble friend has just said, that is a principle that was...

Education Bill — Report (2nd Day) (Continued) (24 October 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: I see that the Minister is trying to be helpful and I entirely accept what he said about the Secretary of State having powers to take action to ensure that a school's admission arrangements are fair. I accept that and I think that the Minister has made that point on a number of occasions. However, the problem arises as regards co-ordinating different schools with different oversubscription...

Education Bill — Report (2nd Day) (Continued) (24 October 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I support the amendments and I, too, look forward to the Minister's reply. I learnt last week that I cannot speak after him, so I may as well speak now in anticipation of what he might say. I think that this is a really tricky issue. My noble friend was right to say that if more schools are becoming their own admissions authorities, that is when the problem sets in. The system can...

Education Bill: Report (2nd Day) (Continued) (24 October 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I, too, support the amendments put forward by my noble friend Lady Jones and the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. I think there is agreement across the House about the importance of the careers advice and guidance service. It has always been important, but never more so than now, when the world is very complicated. The more you give young people choice, the more you have an obligation...

Education Bill: Report (1st Day) (Continued) (18 October 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: Before the noble Baroness concludes, will she also reflect that essentially what we are setting in place is a two-tier style of punishment? If you think of it from the teacher's point of view, what is underpinning this is that a detention on the same day as the crime that has been committed is more effective because it is closer in time to that crime. We will now have schools with two groups...

Education Bill: Report (1st Day) (18 October 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I rise briefly to support the amendments-in particular Amendment 10 -and to say how much I welcomed the words of the noble Lord, Lord Sutherland. In a strange way, I do not think that there is a difference of purpose across the House about what we want to achieve. We understand the importance of good discipline in schools and we want to equip teachers to be able to secure that...

Education Bill — Second Reading (Continued) (14 June 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I welcome the chance to contribute to the debate, but, before doing so, I draw attention to my interests in terms of my employment at the University of York and at Northern Education. This is a disparate Bill, a rather bitty Bill. It covers a lot of different parts of education. I welcome some parts-I will to do so throughout Committee as well-particularly the extension of early...

Children: Early Intervention — Debate (17 March 2011)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I very much welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and to join others in congratulating the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, on initiating it. The noble Baroness has a long history of interest in this subject and it is good to hear that her passion has survived moving from opposition to government-and long may that be the case. There is probably unanimity about the...

Education: Pupils and Young People — Debate (28 October 2010)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I welcome the debate and congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, on introducing it. She always does so in a thoughtful and sensible way and I enjoy listening to and debating with her, as I do this morning. She has highlighted some of the issues that still need to be addressed. I do not differ from her and I am not going to go over them. However, I should like to place on record...

Higher Education: Funding — Motion to Take Note (27 October 2010)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, before making my contribution, I would draw attention to the Register of Members' Interests. I am employed by the University of York and I am a council member at Goldsmiths College. These are not easy issues. They are good issues to discuss and debate over many months and years, but it is not easy to come to a conclusion. I do not think that anyone has made a speech in which they...

Academies Bill [HL] — Report (1st Day) (6 July 2010)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: I support the amendments and wish to raise two questions. I agree with all the comments about the difficulty of primary schools becoming academies and I shall not repeat them. However, I am a bit concerned about two suggested ways forward. One is the notion of schools grouping together, which the noble Baroness, Lady Williams, talked about. I am absolutely an enthusiastic advocate of...

Academies Bill [HL] — Report (1st Day) (6 July 2010)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: My Lords, I support the amendment. The point has been well made by noble Lords on both sides of the House that there needs to be an element of planning. I suppose that it is for the Minister to make a decision about whether his Government spend money on surplus places or on building schools for the future. It is interesting that one day there is no money for the Building Schools for the...

Academies Bill [HL]: Committee (3rd Day) (28 June 2010)

Baroness Morris of Yardley: I shall direct my comments to Amendment 72, although I also support Amendment 73. On this occasion, I shall disagree as strongly as I might with the noble Baroness, Lady Perry. Of all the freedoms that academies may be granted, it is the freedom not to take part in the education of vulnerable excluded children that worries me most. This amendment is important and, if we do not pass it, we do...