Speeches by Dixon.

“I agree that we must open up access to education for all, including carers. Further education colleges require significant investment to upgrade and maintain their buildings and ensure that they can provide a modern learning environment and access to up-to-date technology. However, staff tell me that their ambitions fo…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered Government support for further education institutions. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Christopher. Up and down the country, further education institutions are educating and training 1.6 million people, providing them with the skills they need. These col…”

“I will take the intervention from my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Alison Bennett) first.”

“I thank the hon. Lady for making that point. It is important that the general funding available in education for those taking on disadvantaged students is reflected in things such as the pupil premium. FE certainly plays a huge role in widening participation of learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as by offeri…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her excellent intervention, pointing out some of the cuts that her constituents are experiencing at the hands of the SNP Government in Scotland. It is incumbent on them to ensure that all children and adults have the opportunities to learn and continue to update their skills. In conclusion, I…”

“The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point—I was about to come on to the pay gap between teachers in schools and those in further education colleges. Teachers in further education colleges earn an average of £8,000 a year less than schoolteachers. I was not aware of the gap with higher education, but it is clearly imp…”

“Absolutely; it is vital that we get more capital as well as more revenue funding into FE.”

“I want to make some progress. There have been recent innovations in further education with the introduction of T-levels. As a member of the Public Accounts Committee, I contributed to the inquiry that found that T-levels are a great option for many students, and it would be great to see them rolled out further, but tha…”

“I will give way first to the hon. Member for West Dorset (Edward Morello).”

“I agree. Closing the gap in pay will be vital, particularly if we look at vocational areas where industry salaries are higher. In construction, engineering and digital, FE teachers earn around 11% less on average than their peers who work in industry. Even when colleges do manage to recruit, they are quickly enticed ba…”

“I commend my hon. Friend for being such a champion for Bolsover and wanting to secure opportunities for her constituents to get the education that they deserve. I am sure that the Minister heard her words. By improving education across the board, including further education, we can increase social mobility and address …”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that disabled people have been written off by the Conservatives for too long? They have not been given opportunities to access work and good jobs, and they have been blamed by the Conservatives, for the sake of cheap headlines. Does he also agree that the Labour Government’s proposed transform…”

“The basic point you started with is that the humanitarian need is overwhelming the global humanitarian response.”

“Or two—sooner rather than later! I went to Zimbabwe and there are some wonderful colonial heritage properties that have obviously been in the ownership of the British state for a very long time. How are you balancing the needs and deciding, in these big projects, between selling up some of what might appear to be herit…”

“I think that is a common theme from a number of the projects that this Committee has looked into, such as HS2 and Sellafield, but we did have the benefit of going to Buckingham Palace and seeing its restoration and renewal project, which we were impressed with. Obviously, with heritage properties such as the one you de…”

“I am interested in a couple of your high-profile projects that have been both behind schedule and—I was also going to say—somewhat over budget. Ottawa is £10 million over its £30 million original budget—that is a pretty significant percentage, with an overrun of a third on costs—and 18 months behind. The Washington emb…”

“Do you have a view at this point about what proportion of your total expenditure would be operational? Given that it is a shrinking budget, are you aiming to maintain the operational spend as a proportion of that—i.e. for it not to grow?”

“Could you give me and the public a sense of what happens if you do not get it right? You have some confidence intervals and a fixed allocation. If you do not make the necessary efficiency savings, the sales at the values you need and all the other things, will you trade off and have to raid other budgets outside estate…”

“We discussed earlier the spending review settlement for the FCDO, including the reduced amount of ODA. In the context of the spending review settlement that you received—we have talked about efficiency savings so you may feel that you have already addressed this—are you confident that you are going to be able to delive…”

“It would be very good in your next publication to make transparent the different impact of allocations on protected characteristics, if you are monitoring that data.”