Speeches by McKinnell.

“The transport element will become a statutory entitlement, presumably, if the breakfast club is an entitlement.”

“Will that eventually become a statutory entitlement?”

“I had just one final question, which is about breakfast clubs, which we know are a key part of the child poverty strategy and also generally improving school outcomes. At the moment, the home to school travel policy does not cover breakfast clubs as a requirement. We know that low-income families are the ones who will …”

“Is the current home to school transport system helping lower-income families to be able to exercise school choice in the same way that those who might have their own transport are able to?”

“In terms of evaluating what the new world will look like, as the previous panel spoke with great hope about, are you confident that you have sufficient data to understand the impact to take us from the current situation and the home to school transport policy, both in terms of costs and impact, to the new system once t…”

“Is the current system doing all that it should to support and promote school attendance?”

“That is helpful, thank you. Particularly for those post-16, but for all children and families who engage with the system, is it easy enough to navigate at the moment? Is there more the Government could do to support with that?”

“That is really helpful to understand, and this comes to your statement about the upcoming SEND reform. What is it that you will be particularly looking for within that reform that will help you do what you need to do in terms of—I hate to say it—home to school transport?”

“I declared to the previous panel that, up until September this year, I was the Minister for School Standards with responsibility for this policy area. Thanks very much for being here today. The NAO report has shown, among other things, that the non-compulsory use of school transport budgets—those children over 16 who m…”

“You keep saying that we are retrofitting into an old system. If you were going to start from scratch with the work that you are doing, and design a new home to school transport system across the board, what would that look like?”

“I am afraid that I cannot give way because the time will keep running down. Scrapping the limit is just the start and it has to happen in the context of wider welfare reforms that ensure that every child grows up in a home where work pays and where families can thrive. The mention of home brings me to council tax. Ther…”

“I share those concerns, as I know does the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Sir Jeremy Hunt). We have cross-party interest in making better use of those resources. I thank the Chancellor for her comments about the infected blood contamination scheme, which is proudly delivered from my constituency in Newcastle …”

“I would normally extend the courtesy of saying that it is an honour to follow the hon. Member for Angus and Perthshire Glens (Dave Doogan), but that speech was all a bit dreich. I have reflected hard on this Budget, as it is the first since I left my role in the Government as Minister for School Standards. As the first…”

“The challenge seems to be about having a culture within the NHS that encourages practitioners and medical personnel to be open about when a mistake is made and to learn those lessons, but I think the litigation culture and risks weigh against that openness and transparency. Getting a system that can enable both seems t…”

“Just to reiterate, the challenges that Clive outlined are relevant across ICBs, so it is good to hear the potential opportunity to improve local healthcare provision, and the connectivity with local communities. Is your ideal scenario to have 100% voluntary redundancies?”

“That is really helpful, and it is reassuring that it is being looked at. I guess what we need to see is the data that would help us to understand the extent to which training would have made a difference in clinical negligence, or even just complaints. What I am getting from this session today is that we need a lot mor…”

“Is that publicly available? I think it is for some trusts but not for others.”

“I want to come back on a comment that was made about training, and how you learn from complaints and mistakes. To what extent are you monitoring training compliance? My understanding is that it is not 100% and, in some cases, it is far from it. You would think one of the first steps you could take to prevent clinical n…”

“The rest of my questions were more about what solutions you are considering for this, but I understand that those solutions will be part of the ongoing inquiry and report, so I am happy to leave it for now.”

“And admit, “I’ve made a mistake.””