Results 1-20 of 1,325 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Graham Stuart

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: rose-

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: The big question in my constituency is why the East Riding of Yorkshire, which has an older-than-average population and a higher burden of disease than average, receives one of the lowest health funding settlements in the country. Will the Secretary of State explain why that is, or give my constituents cause to believe that fairer funding would be provided by a future Labour Government, if,...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: Opposition Members are having difficulty in believing the Secretary of State because exactly the same argument was made when the 10p tax proposal was first brought to the House. The Government were letting down the most vulnerable people then, and I fear that he is doing precisely the same today.

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009) has video

Graham Stuart: It is a pleasure to take part in this debate. We have heard some interesting contributions, although, as ever, one of the most revealing comparisons was between the contributions of the Front-Bench spokesmen for the two main parties. We should compare the partisan, petty approach taken consistently by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with the thoughtful and...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: The hon. Lady is absolutely right that the two issues-safeguarding children who might be at risk and ensuring a suitable education for all children-have been mixed up. As I say, the data on the safeguarding issue suggest that elective home education in and of itself is not a problem area, although there may be groups covered by that heading and certain children who need greater support. We do...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: They have all gone.

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: Has my hon. Friend, like me, had constituents on low incomes contact him who are themselves suffering hardship because they are having to give money to their children to enable them to survive at university? It is a disgrace that that has been allowed to happen, and that those who are most vulnerable are suffering the most.

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: I may be pushing the hon. Gentleman further ahead in what he wants to address in his speech, but does he agree that neither the Badman report nor the Government have made the case that there is sufficient risk in home education to justify compulsory registration or giving local authorities the right to enter people's homes and question children when there has been no trigger to cause concern?...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: rose-

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I put it to him that local authorities do have that power. If they have cause to believe that a suitable education is not being provided to a child, they can take action and seek a school attendance order for instance. Local authorities already have that right; the question is whether we should give them the right to make such judgments without any trigger...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: The Chairman of the Select Committee makes a powerful point. One would like a joined-up system with the ability to move between the different routes, but does he share my concern that the Secretary of State, in introducing diplomas, has failed to deliver that programme in the way that the hon. Gentleman and I would like; that the numbers taking diplomas so far have been alarmingly low, at...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: It would be easier for Liberal Democrats and Conservatives to be kind and give that congratulation if we did not have, as I do in Beverley, bomb sites where FE colleges were supposed to be. All 16 colleges that were funded are in Labour constituencies, and the hon. Gentleman must surely be uncomfortable about that.

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: My hon. Friend is making powerful points about local bureaucracies that too often let parents down. Does he agree that local authorities have sufficient powers to intervene if a home-educated child gives cause for concern to a local authority, either on safeguarding or on educational grounds? Does he think, as I do, that giving local authority officials with no such cause for concern the...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: I wonder whether the Secretary of State is as concerned as I am about the fact that the number of children in poverty has risen each year for the past three years, and the fact that the gap between children receiving free school meals and those from wealthier backgrounds has not narrowed under the current Government. May I put it to him that, rather than trying to find political dividing...

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: The gap has widened.

Bills Presented: Education and Health (19 Nov 2009)

Graham Stuart: Will the Secretary of State give way?

Points of Order (12 Nov 2009) has video

Graham Stuart: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. On 2 July I wrote to the Financial Secretary on the subject of Mr. Richard Summersgill in his role as director of both the child benefit office and the tax credit office—two sites 130 miles apart. I wrote to the Financial Secretary because I found Mr. Summersgill difficult to contact. I am not aware of either an e-mail address or a telephone number...

Business, Innovation and Skills: First Capital Connect (12 Nov 2009) has video

Graham Stuart: Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone), will the Minister explain to the House how the public can feel that the Government are an honest broker between the unions and the companies in this outrageous situation, especially when I notice that in just six years there have been 81 donations by ASLEF to the Conservative party—sorry, I mean...

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Graham Stuart: rose—

Climate Change (5 Nov 2009) has video

Graham Stuart: When listening to contributions by some Labour Members, we could be forgiven for thinking that investment by companies can be taken as a given. However, we have Europe-wide and sometimes global companies, and there is limited money to invest—in fact, there is a competitive position. It is important that we get the investment in this country, so we must understand the incentives to get...