Speeches by Bailey.

“I thank my hon. Friend for that important intervention. I will certainly challenge—and it is important that we all continue to challenge—any hate in our politics, wherever we find it. I want to say a big thank you to my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West and Leigh for all the work that he does in campaigning for …”

“It is an honour to close this debate on behalf of the Government. I would like to begin by thanking Members across the House for their thoughtful and powerful contributions this afternoon. These are always the best debates to be in, and today has been no exception. We have heard speeches about the progress won, the cha…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the very important points he makes. I would just like to restate that, as the Supreme Court said, trans people have rights enshrined in law, and we are all duty-bound to uphold and defend those rights. Unfortunately, the lives of trans people are all too often used as a political football. We…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered Pride Month. It is a privilege to open this debate on behalf of the Government as we mark Pride Month, and it is a real honour to do so this year as the Minister for Equalities. I have spoken before at the Dispatch Box about growing up in the shadow of section 28, and what …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for that lovely intervention, and for all he does for this House and for his constituents.”

“First, I associate myself with my hon. Friend’s remarks about the early acts of Reform councils. I also say to him that the NHS is absolutely for all of us, including the LGBT+ community, and I will make sure that Health Ministers have heard his comments. Hate crime against the LGBT+ community is still far too prevalen…”

“Sorry—in Harlow. I missed my chance there. I want to say very clearly from this Dispatch Box that I recognise the community’s fear and anxiety. When public debate becomes toxic, that has consequences in people’s everyday lives—in schools, in workplaces and online. It has consequences for accessing services, and for whe…”

“I hope the hon. Member has gathered from my remarks that I am absolutely focusing on this very important ban with speed and determination. Before I conclude, I want to recognise that while the Government have an important role to play in protecting LGBT+ rights, lasting change is delivered every day by people and organ…”

“I will probably miss stuff in my answer, so we can always follow up with more information, Jess. NELI is a good example of something that we are directly funding and funding for the duration of this Parliament. We have also worked with Nesta to produce a guide to the evidence-based interventions—a menu, if you like, of…”

“Absolutely. Best Start family hubs are my favourite topic to talk about. Sorry if I have talked about them too much. There is £900 million in hubs overall. You have pointed out the way that we are supporting the home learning environment. Some of the programmes that I mentioned earlier on are examples of what that migh…”

“That is a really great question. I have just been told by my officials, hot off the press, that I can share that 2 million children have now been supported through in-school events in the National Year of Reading, which I think is fantastic. Some 11,000 teachers have signed up and 6,500 schools are registered. In a mom…”

“I understand. I do not recognise that in what I have seen and in what is happening in our early years settings. In those contexts I see most of our teachers really captivating children’s attention in a story and telling that story well, whether that is “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and stamping on twigs on the floor, or…”

“Yes, and it is integral to the approach we are taking with the Best Start family hubs networks that we are trying to build in communities. I think I am right in saying—I will correct myself following this if I am wrong—that there are examples of local authorities that are driving forward that kind of activity. We reall…”

“We always want to think about more things we can do, and always want to be forging connections, whether between public libraries and schools or whatever it may be. I would be happy when I follow up with DCMS on reading for pleasure as a focus of their libraries programme to raise that point with them as well.”

“First of all, the evidence for the phonics approach is very well established, and it works; I point the Committee to the evidence from the EEF in particular. We know that it works for most children. I think that we need both. You need to enable children to access reading themselves and learn how to do that. The phonics…”

“Those are very stark figures—thank you for sharing them. Again, it is a combination of factors, but I would add to what I have already said about the early years. One of the things we saw over the last Government was a reduction in family support services and Sure Start in our communities. That has had an impact, becau…”

“Thank you. May I briefly cheekily steal the microphone and say a big thank you to Jenny, because it is her last day in the Department tomorrow and she has done an absolutely fantastic job, as you can tell from the evidence today, on curriculum and on tech for the Department. We will really miss her, and I just wanted t…”

“I will follow up with them, absolutely.”

“Well, I cannot speak for my DCMS colleagues, but I think it would be a fairly safe guess. I would imagine so.”

“Absolutely. Thank you. As I said, literacy and encouraging the joy and love of reading are embedded, I believe, in all the qualifications that staff working in early years acquire. If you are interested, I can send further information to the Committee on exactly what that looks like in the training context, but it is c…”