Clause 5

Part of Education Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:00 am on 17 March 2011.

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Photo of Nick Gibb Nick Gibb Minister of State (Education) 10:00, 17 March 2011

Thank you, Mr Williams, and welcome back to the chair. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North West Durham. I understand and accept the sincerity of her argument and also the sincerity of hon. Members who contributed to the debate. She asked where the groundswell of opinion was on the  issue. There is a groundswell of opinion in the country clamouring for a Government who will take behaviour in our schools seriously and take measures to tackle persistent disruptive behaviour in our schools. The Government are determined to raise standards of behaviour in our schools.

The hon. Member for Cardiff West’s charge is that the reform is unnecessary. It is the same charge that he has levelled against most of the Government’s reforms designed to raise standards of behaviour in our schools. I refer hon. Members to a survey done by the university of Plymouth, reported in today’s Daily Mirror. The article states:

“Tormented teachers are being driven to the brink of suicide by online bullying. A third of teachers say they have been abused”.

That is how life is different today from 2006 or indeed from 1996. Also, if the hon. Gentleman reads the OECD report into the UK’s economic performance published yesterday, he will see a damning indictment of academic standards in the education system decreed by his Government.