Results 1-20 of 2,786 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Barry Sheerman

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: It is sometimes difficult for the Chair of a Select Committee to make a speech in a Queen's Speech debate, particularly if it is a very busy Committee that is about to produce major reports on a number of issues that are touched on in the Queen's Speech. As you will know, Madam Deputy Speaker, that inhibits some of things that one can say. Let me allude to the fact that we are about to...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: I shall give way in a moment. However, we now have, from 14 to 19, real alternatives for young people in our country-the academic, diploma and apprenticeship routes. They are not in silos. Those young people can not only choose between those routes, but cross from one to the other. I must tell the House about the inspirational apprentice who gave evidence to the Skills Commission. This bright...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: The hon. Gentleman is a very good member of my Select Committee. I am going to desist from responding to that question. People watching this debate might think that there has been enough hurling of alternative policies and criticism one to the other. I am a great believer in diplomas as, I think, is he. There will be teething problems if a totally new qualification is introduced. I would not...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: I hear what my hon. Friend says and I have a measure of sympathy for that point of view. Before I am interrupted again by a Front Bencher, I must point out one last great achievement for which there should be greater all-party support-raising the participation age. I have always championed that and believed in it. I shall return to the Every Child Matters theme in a moment, but in this...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: Yes, indeed. Is the hon. Gentleman going to make the same point to me that he has made to all the other speakers?

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: I hear what the hon. Gentleman says and many of us wanted money for our further education colleges. I am in the happy position that Kirklees college in Huddersfield got its money-I put my cards on the table-but I must also tell him that, as Chairman of the Committee, I know that in this past 12 years, 50 per cent. of the FE estate has been totally renewed. Since the time when the FE estate...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: I hear what the hon. Gentleman, a member of my Committee, says, and I am not going to rise to it. I have given the context, and I now want to be critical of the Government. I do not want to get too much into school accountability, but the Queen's Speech addressed it directly in a number of ways and I suggest to my party's Front Benchers that there are some concerns. I am not saying that what...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: The hon. Gentleman is right, and he knows that I agree with him. Another aspect of childhood today is sexual awareness. Our country still has worryingly high rates of teenage pregnancy. The life of a girl who gets pregnant very young is more or less likely to be destroyed-she will probably always be poor-but we do not take that seriously enough in this country. The country is also awash with...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: rose-

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: As I understand it, the hon. Gentleman has supported Every Child Matters and the five outcomes for children. Does he really believe, as he implied in response to an earlier intervention, that the five outcomes should apply to 99 per cent. of schoolchildren but not to the home educated?

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: My right hon. Friend knows that I have been campaigning for fair access for many years, but can we ensure that fair access means that students are suitably qualified and that they can speak and write English properly? In addition, do they not need to work a bit harder, as at present the average student in our universities does not work hard enough?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Skills for Growth (11 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: I congratulate the Government on much of this statement. It is pleasing to hear that individual accounts are back after an eight-year gap, and the statement contains some other interesting things relating to apprenticeships and much else. My first caveat is that the churn in organisations puts off many people, such as employers. These people have for years invested their time and trouble in...

Oral Answers to Questions — Justice: Debt Management (10 Nov 2009)

Barry Sheerman: Will my hon. Friend also look at the rates that solicitors and insolvency experts charge the unfortunate small businesses and people who get into debt, then charging exorbitant fees on the pretext of helping them?

Business of the House (5 Nov 2009) has video

Barry Sheerman: May I tempt the Leader of the House to have an early debate on the nature of childhood, and on how we protect children and prescribe certain legislative guarantees that make children and childhood safe in our time?

Onshore Wind Turbines (Proximity of Habitation): Clause 8 — Special Advisers code (3 Nov 2009) has video

Barry Sheerman: My hon. Friend and I share an interest in that history. When did we have something that he would describe as functioning Cabinet government? During what period was that?

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

Barry Sheerman: Does my right hon. Friend agree that if he had been one of my students and presented this statement as an essay many years ago, when I was a university lecturer, I would have said that it was a bit vague in terms of what it is trying to deliver? If this is the future of universities—there is some very good stuff here—can we be sure that the Government, if re-elected, will, year on...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Unemployment (3 Nov 2009) has video

Barry Sheerman: Is my right hon. Friend aware that in west Yorkshire we are coming out of recession and doing very well, but that we still need some help from better investment in public sector jobs, to move them from the south and London up to Yorkshire?