Speeches by MacAlister.

“I will come to Jon again in a moment. First, I was obviously not a Minister in the previous Government, but I am here representing the Government, and I am very happy to share reflections looking back through the paperwork and the experience of the RAAC crisis. The first few weeks and months of that process for schools…”

“When we look at the condition data collection which sets out where the whole school and college estate is, there is a significant overlap between schools that have RAAC and schools that were at the end of their intended life anyway. At Myton school, where I was last week, RAAC is not the only issue; the school is also …”

“Jon will also come in on this. The rebuilding programme has done quite a lot of the heavy lifting of the capital works that have been needed for the RAAC work. The ordering of projects in SRP has been arranged around prioritising those RAAC projects.”

“To set the scene, the problems that we have inherited on the school estate are fairly well known and understood. Some 43% of the estate was built in the post-war to 1980 period. Many of those buildings are close to or at the end of their intended life by this point, which leaves the Government with a major challenge in…”

“I appreciate that—thank you very much, Chair, and thank you to the Committee for your interest in this. I will just share some brief remarks: I am the Minister for Children and Families, with the responsibility of covering school buildings as well. Jonathan Dewsbury is the Director of Estates at the Department for Educ…”

“We are trying to move away from exactly what you describe, as almost spot-procuring a bespoke arrangement for a school. The SRP is designed to essentially partner with a smaller number of organisations that have a good track record, where we have confidence in the designs and where off-site prefabrication and other thi…”

“The first thing to say is that there is nothing inherently less quality about modern methods of construction and modular builds. This is actually a huge opportunity for the Government, and the Department for Education is ahead of other Government Departments in its use of modular building, in terms of speed, getting on…”

“Jon will talk you through it, but it has learned lessons from other construction projects that have failed.”

“There is a choice here. We are debating how the Government, within only a few months of being elected, are making big progress across the education system. That includes big decisions made at fiscal events to invest capital into programmes such as this one, which at every opportunity the Conservatives have failed to su…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her advocacy for her constituents. This year, per-student funding is rising to £5,105—up from £4,843 last year. These decisions made across the further education system and for sixth-form colleges mean that institutions can make the best choices for their students, including, where appropriat…”

“Funded institutions for those aged 16 to 19 have the freedom to decide how to use their funding for the provision they offer, including whether they offer the international baccalaureate.”

“This is where I think the last Government got it wrong. We can be pro-further education, pro-technical education and pro-higher education; there is absolutely no need to trade them off against one another. Under this Government, we have 120,000 new training opportunities, up to 30,000 foundation apprenticeship starts a…”

“We have cut red tape, put in record investment and tilted the system in favour of young domestic talent, and the proof is in the pudding. Apprenticeship starts, participation and achievement are up, up, up under this Government.”

“The Government made big decisions at the spending review to increase the overall funding available to 16-to-19 courses. Next financial year, there will be an increase of over £800 million.[Official Report, 30 October 2025; Vol. 774, c. 4WC.] (Correction) That means that per-pupil funding is going up substantially. The …”

“I know that my hon. Friend is a champion for Ashcroft academy and has visited it many times. I can confirm that the changes that the Government are making will mean that the international baccalaureate can still be studied. We are providing funding for 16-to-19 provision so that sixth-form colleges can make those decis…”

“England is an international outlier by not requiring the registration of electively home-educated children, and we are remedying that with the Bill’s measures. Information on non-educational activities will not be required for inclusion in the registers. I will happily meet my hon. Friend to discuss this further.”

“My hon. Friend has been a vocal champion for St Joseph’s Catholic primary school since he entered this place last year. I want every child in the country to go to school in an appropriate building. His community wants certainty, and that is what we want too. An update will be provided later this year, and I would be ha…”

“The Government’s spending watchdog reported in 2017 that planned free schools would add an estimated 57,500 more spare school places. We are taking a common-sense approach, so that we can prove value for money from every pound of taxpayer money spent.”

“In another part of my brief, I am already in touch with Ministers in devolved nations regarding children’s social care, and I would be very happy also to share wider learning from the school rebuilding programme.”

“The system provides the level of funding necessary to 16-to-19 providers. The Government have made big decisions, which have not been backed by the Conservatives in spending reviews or Budgets, to ensure that the funding is there for colleges to make those choices. On top of that, there is the large programme uplift. I…”