Speeches by MacAlister.

“The taskforce’s job is to look at the whole system that sits around universities, and the OfS is a crucial part of that, so it will be in scope of that work. Let me turn to the question of a statutory duty of care. As has been highlighted in this debate, higher education providers have a general duty of care to deliver…”

“I would like to express my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba) for securing the debate. He has a dedicated record of 15 years of service as a youth mentor, and has worked as a school governor, overseeing the education of young people, so he provides an invaluable perspective…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. Happy new year to one and all. I congratulate the young person who started this petition for securing this debate; it is always good to see pupils actively involved in thinking about the world around them and campaigning for the change that they want to see.…”

“I thank the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) for securing this debate and highlighting these important issues. Having spoken to her in our first week in this place as newly elected Members of Parliament, I know she cares deeply about these issues, and I welcome her bringing them to the attention of the …”

“I am pleased that the parental leave and pay review is looking at these issues as part of its work, and I encourage Members to engage with the review as it continues. The Department for Education’s statutory guidance is clear that where self-employed adopters do not qualify for any statutory payment, local authorities …”

“I thank the hon. Member for those questions. I will directly answer the questions that the hon. Member for South West Devon asked in a moment, but I take the broader point about encouraging local authorities to ensure that adopters in their area are aware of the support available to them. As I was saying, local authori…”

“I appreciate my hon. Friend championing the work of local businesses such as Rowden’s, and other defence industries across the UK, and I will gladly ask my noble friend the Minister for Skills, who I am sure would welcome the opportunity to meet him in the coming weeks.”

“Our curriculum and assessment review recommended the introduction of new V-levels, which will simplify the qualification landscape while giving students choice and flexibility. The Department for Education is now consulting on plans to introduce the qualifications. We are also proposing the introduction of new T-levels…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising this important issue, and I will be happy to ask my noble Friend in the other place to meet him. The qualifications that we are defunding are large qualifications that directly overlap with T-levels. The Government’s policy is very clearly to back T-levels as a good choice for student…”

“I thank the hon. Member for this timely question, following the Budget last week, when the Government made the welcome decision to change the apprenticeship system by fully funding apprenticeships for small and medium-sized enterprises, which will open up opportunities for many more. The latest data shows that under th…”

“I appreciate the strength of feeling regarding the adoption and special guardianship support fund. Last month, I met campaigners, adopters and those running adoption services to discuss their views. This year, we have invested £50 million in the adoption and special guardianship support fund, and we have approved appli…”

“I thank the hon. Member for drawing the attention of the House to a very powerful radio documentary, which I listened to last week. We do not have perfect data on this issue, but the data that we do have shows that cumulative adoption breakdowns have been at a rate of 4.8% over the past 12 years. I think that is too hi…”

“We want to ensure a sustainable, long-term future for adoption support in this country. I will set out plans in the near future that will hopefully address a number of the concerns that the hon. Member has mentioned. That sits on top of the really quite widespread changes and improvements we are making to children’s so…”

“I know that my hon. Friend has been a long-standing campaigner and champion for these issues. When I was doing the independent review of children’s social care, she was a powerful voice advocating for support for adopters, and has continued to be one. I will gladly speak to and meet the all-party parliamentary group.”

“In 2017, the Government’s spending watchdog estimated that free schools would create 57,500 surplus places. This Government took the sensible, pragmatic decision to pause a number of proposed free schools due to real concerns about value for money. We recognise the need for clarity, and we will provide a substantive up…”

“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend for raising that point. As somebody who was a teacher in Oldham, I know many of the institutions he is referring to, and I particularly know about the great work that is done by Oldham sixth-form college and the secondary schools in his constituency. We want to make sure th…”

“As was mentioned earlier, the Government took the sensible, pragmatic decision to pause a number of free school applications in order to consider real concerns about value for money and to make sure new places are created in parts of the country that need them.”

“There is a very simple answer to that question: the last Government left us with crumbling school buildings and a limited capital budget to allocate across the entire school estate. We have to balance rebuilding crumbling school buildings—which, as the National Audit Office and others have highlighted, were in a deteri…”

“The reason this Government need to create a policy and a budget for this system is that it was left in a complete mess—not that many months ago, the former Education Secretary described it as a “lose, lose, lose” situation. Getting the special educational needs system right and fixing it will take time, but we have alr…”

“Strengthening our child protection system is a key priority for this Government. Very soon we will bring forward plans for the child protection authority. The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill contains a number of measures that would make a big difference to the safety of children across the UK, although those meas…”