Speeches by Phillipson.

“To be clear to your constituents and to other parents who choose to home educate their children, if they are doing so to a good standard and they have their children’s best interests at heart, as I am sure they do, they have nothing to be concerned about in the measures that we are setting out. This is about making sur…”

“We are mindful of the challenges that local councils are under at the moment. That is why through the Budget we invested record levels of funding into councils to make sure that they have more resources, particularly in targeted areas like this. All the measures that we have set out through the Bill have been cleared b…”

“As I say, we continue to keep this area under review.”

“I can’t give you a timeline on it. What we are doing at pace, as you will know, is starting the process of rolling out breakfast clubs in primary schools. The early adopter scheme will come on board this year, which will start to make a big difference to children’s lives.”

“We continue to look very carefully at this right across government with other colleagues. As you will know, we set out in the Bill the process of rolling out breakfast clubs in all primary schools. I believe it is important that children get a great start to the day. I understand the arguments that are made about auto-…”

“Yes, and I have seen some fantastic examples of local councils doing precisely that across the country. We invested more capital into it through the Budget, but I appreciate that we will need to do more over time alongside this legislation to get the balance right within the system of care for children.”

“That tension is at the heart of the approach that we are taking in seeking to make sure that we shift the system but alongside that we don’t further destabilise what I appreciate is quite a difficult situation for lots of children and young people at the moment. The legislation brings in the ability to set the profit c…”

“The intention is to bring pilot areas on board by April 2025, and to start that process then through that testing. In understanding that we have the design and the information sharing in the right place, we can look to a timeline for how we take it forward.”

“Yes, of course, and those are the right questions to be asking. I know that people want to be confident about data security and how this will work with appropriate secure governance. That is why through the pilot areas that we will be bringing on board we will make sure we can test all this and ensure that information …”

“Thank you very much, Chair, and I will endeavour to do that this morning. I am delighted to be here today and I want to say before I go further how proud I am to be in front of you. There is no job better in government and no better Select Committee to sit on. I want to thank you, Chair, for the early opportunity to up…”

“With permission, I shall make a statement on the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. In July 2024 I paused further commencement of the Act in response to concerns raised by a cross-section of voices. I took that decision because it is vital that we get this right. Our universities are one of this country’s g…”

“Yes. I anticipate that through the legislation, through the signal that we are sending into the system, this will lead to a step change in behaviour and response. Should that not be the case, then of course I will intervene to protect children’s interests.”

“This sends a very clear message into the system about the duty to work together. We are confident that this message will be heard that people want to do this, but where they refuse to co-operate the Secretary of State will be able to intervene to deliver for children.”

“Infrequently would be the expectation because we would require schools and councils to work together in terms of admissions and place planning. We have talked about demographic change several times, or I have certainly talked about demographic change several times. We need to think about how we are managing place plann…”

“We have some innovative work that is happening through the Department at the moment. I will bring in the Permanent Secretary to say a little bit on this. It is also about making sure that the tools that we have are well developed and that schools have a sense of clarity about where the most effective opportunities in t…”

“This is sometimes an area where there can be a bit of misunderstanding as to what it is we are talking about. Clearly, we need to ensure that we have teachers within school at the front of the class delivering a brilliant level of education for children. In fact, what I want to do is to ensure that teachers can do more…”

“Recruitment and retaining teachers is a key priority. We know that it is through teaching and leadership that we drive up standards in our schools through well-supported, well-qualified professionals who have the ongoing support that they need around their professional development and expertise. One of the first action…”

“I am happy to make that clear to the Committee, Chair.”

“Yes, because there will be a floor but no ceiling.”

“Sadly, often students can pay extraordinary amounts of money and not necessarily get the best quality provision. That is why through the reforms across government to the private rented sector we want to ensure that there are higher standards. It is undeniably a problem that many students face around the cost of housing…”