Former Conservative MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale
Do not the Secretary of State's warm words about adult education, though welcome, fail to conceal the reality that charges are going up and courses are being axed in FE colleges throughout the land? Earlier this week, my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Mr. Davies) pointed out that his local FE college has seen a 29 per cent. increase in the number of adult learners, but...
Why did the Chancellor say in his Budget last week that the continuation of direct payment to schools in Coventry and elsewhere would be a guarantee, when the small print in the Red Book said that the figures were illustrative only? If direct payments to schools are such a good idea, why does not the Secretary of State follow the Conservative policy of making all such payments direct to...
This is a genuinely important subject and we are pleased that the Government decided to produce a White Paper. In January, the director general of the Institute of Directors said that the Government were failing to remedy the UK's shortage of skilled workers. He pointed out that some 25,000 16-year-olds were leaving school each year with no GCSEs, and that last year the skills shortage left...
If the Minister does not understand that A-levels in modern languages and the key sciences are vital to adult skills, no wonder the Government are performing so poorly. The numbers of A-level entrants for chemistry, for physics and for mathematics are all down by at least 10 per cent., and in some cases by nearly 20 per cent. In her statement, the Secretary of State rightly spoke of the...
Yes, the shadow Chancellor agreed to what I said. What my right hon. Friend said after the publication of the James report overtakes and replaces what was said at the time of the quotes the Minister used. I suggest that he gets his Labour party research officers to update their files.
I think that Members on both sides of the House would probably agree that the Secretary of State's speech was disappointingly thin, but let us begin on what I hope is a note of consensus: all Members of the House agree that schools, teachers and pupils are working very hard, and often very successfully. They are to be praised for what they do and congratulated on what they succeed in doing,...
The answer is yes. Indeed, I, too, visited the Christopher Whitehead school a little while ago, and unlike the Minister for School Standards, I did not claim that only by voting for my party was there any prospect of that school getting additional funding. Since he was quoted in the local newspaper as saying that that school would get extra funding—which it has needed for at least the past...
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for pointing out that any increases in public spending in the future, under this or any other Government, will depend on the state of the economy. I must tell him, however, that the turnaround in the economy occurred considerably before 1997, and that the longest period of economic growth since records began—to which the Chancellor seems always to...
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects Mrs. Moreton of Carr Bank, Milnthorpe, Cumbria to receive written notification of her immigration status and the return of her passport and other personal documentation as undertaken in letters from the Immigration Minister to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale dated 17 November 2004 and 4 February 2005; and if he...
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what circumstances he would permit a return visit by Peter Sutcliffe to Arnside in Cumbria.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what factors he took into consideration before his decision to allow Peter Sutcliffe to visit Arnside in Cumbria on 17 January; and what costs were incurred in (a) preparing for and (b) undertaking that visit by (i) Cumbria Constabulary, (ii) Broadmoor and (iii) other public bodies.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of the reception held by her Department in August at Stapleford Park in Leicestershire; on what basis the venue was selected; whether nearby venues were invited to tender; and if she will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, (1) if she will make a statement on plans to introduce a licensing system for cockling (a) in Morecambe Bay and (b) elsewhere; (2) what assistance her Department is offering to Cumbria police in their efforts to regulate the cockling in Morecambe Bay; (3) what estimate she has made of the tonnage of immature cockles...
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to enable newly qualified teachers in the UK to qualify immediately for qualified teacher status for the purposes of EC Directive 89/48 EEC; what discussions he has held with other EU education ministers on making teaching qualifications precisely reciprocal; and if he will make a statement.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the arrest of Paul Cleasby of Windermere, Cumbria on 27 September in Antalya, Turkey and his subsequent imprisonment; what representations he has made to the Turkish government on this matter; and what advice and support the Government will provide to Mr. Cleasby and his family.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding was made available to, and how many full-time equivalent staff were employed by, the Finance and Analytical Services Directorate in 2004–05.
