Speeches by McKinnell.

“As my hon. Friend will know, I am a big fan of Newcastles. It would be nice to come and see the other one, as I have never been; I would love to accept his invitation if there is an opportunity. High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s outcomes. That is why, as part o…”

“My understanding is that the current commitment is for this academic year, 2025-26, and we will confirm funding for future years in due course. The Department also provides a grant of over £210,000 to the Choir Schools Association and its choir schools scholarship scheme, offering means-tested support to choristers att…”

“Yes, Ms Vaz. Growth is the number one mission of the Government, and our new industrial strategy is central to the growth mission. As a sector in which the UK excels today, and which will propel us forward to tomorrow, the creative industries have been announced as one of the eight growth-driving sectors. Ensuring that…”

“I hope that I have managed to respond to all the issues raised. Finally, I want to underline my and this Government’s commitment to ensuring that all children can access and engage with high-quality music education. I know that creative subjects, music and art are a vital part of a rich and broad school experience. Tha…”

“That sounds like a very sensible suggestion, and my hon. Friend now has it on the record. We will make sure that it is raised in the appropriate way. We continue to support the crucial music hubs programme, for which grant funding of £76 million has recently been secured for the full academic year 2025-26, up until the…”

“My hon. Friend’s final question was a request to meet and discuss the matter. I am more than happy to do so.”

“Clearly, effective inspection is important, both to keep children safe but also to maintain and drive high standards. It is a non-negotiable for us in terms of inspection, and settings will be held to account for how they support pupils with special educational needs. Ofsted is going to put focus on inclusion within ma…”

“In terms of Ofsted? At this stage we have not set out the proposals yet, and we will also set out our consultation outcomes at the same time. That will come in the autumn.”

“As far as I am aware, the free school meal expansion will apply to more children, and clearly any family currently receiving universal credit will now receive free school meals, and any associated impacts in terms of the benefits that flow from that, or other receipts that flow from that, will be looked at. We are not …”

“I am struggling to hear you with the fans; I am sorry. Do you mind repeating your question?”

“No children will be impacted by the expansion of free school meals because it is an expansion, and obviously any impact in terms of transitional arrangements will continue.”

“Gosh, there are a lot of issues in that question. I think we are bringing through some changes to the school admissions ecosystem when it comes to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They are not significant changes, but we do recognise the challenge that we need to make sure that schools and local authorities, …”

“Have you got a response to that?”

“This is a big topic, and I appreciate I have been asked for brevity. Fundamentally, we want to create a less adversarial system. We just want to prevent parents from having to seek legal redress to get their child’s education. That should never be the case, but I recognise for a small proportion of parents that is curr…”

“You are right, we have had really good feedback. I have seen it for myself. It is uplifting to see it in practice and to see the impact that it is having both on the children, but more so on the whole school and the workforce, and how empowered and confident they are as a result of this intervention. Yes, I am very hea…”

“I will try to be short. Clearly, we know we need to develop the pipeline of speech and language therapists and educational psychologists. For speech and language therapists we now have a degree apprenticeship route. We are keen to support as many pathways and routes into these specialist areas that we need more of. We …”

“Yes. The spending review will take per pupil funding to its highest ever level, and that will enable us to transform the SEND system. We recognise that a huge amount of the needs that are being identified and the support that can be provided is through the school system, and that is why we are determined to support sch…”

“Yes, I think there is a real opportunity here to get good data that can inform how any reforms are delivering in practice, but also how to keep it continuously improving as well. We have a data strategy that we are currently working on as a Department. We want to make improvements to the data and the oversight of the S…”

“Clearly, it is working well in some areas and it is not working well in others. Generally, as part of our SEND reform, we want to harness where that is working well and where that good practice is, find the ingredients and make sure we have a much more consistent approach. Where partners are not meeting their duties, w…”

“The purpose of the statutory guidance will be to clarify those roles and responsibilities. The intention would be that that would be clarified through that.”