Speeches by Phillipson.

“I welcome the evidence and research put forward by the Education Policy Institute. It seems self-evident that if children are not in school, they are less likely to succeed in school. Some of the challenges we have seen around attendance have particularly affected certain groups. We are moving in the right direction on…”

“By next year, we will have covered 60% of pupils. We want to move rapidly to get to every school by 2029-30, but we have made significant progress. Almost an extra million pupils and learners will by next April be benefiting from a mental health support team. I have visited one school that is already taking part. What …”

“It has to be a combination. Attendance is clearly a critical factor and has been a real focus of effort from this Government. We have seen real progress around persistent absenteeism in particular—young people who are regularly missing more than 10% of their time in school. From January, our new attendance and behaviou…”

“No school leader, teacher or anyone in education should face what you have just described—it is completely unacceptable—but school leaders do have the powers to ban phones in schools. Your example demonstrates that they have the powers to do that. We have also seen that it has sometimes been done on a local authority-w…”

“The guidance is already clear that schools should prohibit the use of phones throughout the school day, including breaktimes and lunch times. We expect schools to take steps in line with that guidance, but there are different ways for schools to implement that.”

“We are expanding NHS mental health support teams to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by 2029-30, and we estimate that by April next year an additional 900,000 pupils in schools and learners in FE will be covered by a mental health support team—around 6 million in total, or 60% of…”

“Work is ongoing with Ofsted on tackling the practice of off-rolling, where children are removed from school rolls without formal permanent exclusion. We are clear that it is completely unacceptable; schools should not be seeking to game the system, and we continue to work with Ofsted to tackle that. When it comes to th…”

“We want to deliver a fantastic education for every child, and inspection has to be a part of that. The new framework is about recognising where schools are doing things really well, and celebrating that success, as well as providing more granular insight into areas where there is scope to work with schools to do more. …”

“One of the key areas that teaching unions, and particularly headteachers’ unions, raise is not just the nature of inspection but its quality and consistency, and the judgments that arise from that. That is why Ofsted are doing further work on how to ensure greater consistency in terms of validating their judgments and …”

“I agree that this is extremely serious; it has obviously built up over many, many years. We are working with local authorities to manage their SEND pressures. I will directly address the question about next steps, but there are good examples that show how councils—together with the DfE, or sometimes separately—can crea…”

“This is one example of a number of areas where it is important that we start to make change happen ahead of the White Paper. The fact that inclusion is, for the first time, a central part of the new Ofsted framework is a critical way that we will make change happen right across the system. It is also why—taken together…”

“Mobile phones have no place in our schools, and school leaders already have the powers to ban them. Through what you have just said, you have identified that school leaders already have the power to take action in that way.”

“This is not a replacement for structural intervention, where that is the right and necessary thing to do. In many cases, RISE schools are schools that have already been through that structural intervention, yet we are still seeing progress that is too slow. It has to be a question of both. If the school is not currentl…”

“As I say, today we launched the national conversation on SEND. Over the last year, I have spent a lot of time speaking to parents, carers, teachers, disability rights groups and others. We have had our advisory group—our experts—working with us to support that. We have also established our SEND development group, which…”

“We committed to introducing an international student levy through the immigration White Paper. We looked at the best way of implementing that levy. I want to stress that international students make an important contribution to our country and institutions. We have engaged with the sector on this and set out our plans a…”

“We want to publish the schools White Paper early next year. I do appreciate how strongly parents feel about this topic. I recognise the need for change and I have heard that from parents, but I also recognise that change brings uncertainty and that it causes concern among parents even where they recognise that the syst…”

“Labour’s free breakfast clubs have already served 5 million meals, including in Knockhall primary school and Sedley’s primary school in Dartford. Applications are now open to join the next wave from April, with 2,000 more schools set to join in the next financial year, making the clubs available to half a million more …”

“Tackling child poverty is a moral mission for the Labour party, because we believe that someone’s background should not determine what they go on to achieve in life. Scrapping the two-child limit will mean that we can deliver the largest reduction in child poverty in a single Parliament, and we will publish the child p…”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising her concern. We are working with the Home Office and with colleagues across Government in developing the child poverty strategy. We will focus on ensuring that vulnerable children are protected and their welfare is safeguarded, and that vulnerable migrant children receive the…”

“I recognise the particular challenges faced by many rural communities, and I am grateful to the hon. Lady for raising them. We have been considering such matters through the development of the strategy. The taskforce has been working across Government, including with colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food a…”