Speeches by Paffey.

“I want to ask a particular question about the broad and balanced curriculum which is designed to have children ready for the world around them. That world is not a monolingual world. I declare a bit of an interest: I was a linguistics researcher and teacher for 20 years. There is an increasing need for languages; we ha…”

“Without pre-empting what the final report will say, do you think that will result in changes to how it is taught or how it is assessed, or both?”

“Twenty five years ago this year, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, joined my predecessor, John Denham, in opening one of the first Sure Start centres in the country, on the Weston estate. We remember the good that that did for families there, and we remember the effect of over a decade of slashing council budgets an…”

“In that White Paper, do you accept that in some cases, responsibilities that should be Health’s, and therefore the cost of them, are falling to schools, colleges and local authorities? Do you accept that in the White Paper, that needs to be addressed by some change in the legislative levers?”

“Minister, in your opening statement you talked about achieving inclusivity by building expertise, as you put it. Of course, we know that continuous professional development on SEND is still optional. There is lots of evidence out there to show that training is crucial for effective support to help children, so do you a…”

“The responsibility should not just lie with SENCOs. This is about building a culture of inclusion in all schools. Will you at least commit to considering making that mandatory and ensure that schools carry out regular audits, as has been suggested by a leading head teacher, on this issue to make sure that we are moving…”

“As someone who used to be the budget holder on council for SEND, I know that the extension of the statutory override will be welcomed by councils across the country. However, is this just kicking the can down the road or is there a set of concrete actions that the Government are going to be working with councils on to …”

“In that case, what would be in your discussions with MHCLG, especially as it has announced a consultation at the same time as the override has been renewed? Catherine McKinnell: The conversations are constantly ongoing with local authorities. I was looking at the list of local authorities and their most recent inspecti…”

“One way of strengthening multi-agency working that has been suggested to this Committee by the charity Contact was to strengthen the Children and Families Act 2014 by making these joint legal duties between Health and Social Care and Education for delivering those EHC plans. In your view, would that be effective? What …”

“Forgive me, just to press you on that, does that mean that essentially Treasury has spoken and you and MHCLG simply must solve this with what you have, or are there specific conversations going on that recognise that this is a crisis and that it is going to take cross-governmental and departmental strategy and rolling …”

“On that point, then, can you offer reassurance to this Committee that the conversations are happening between the DFE, the Treasury and MHCLG on a long-term sustainable funding solution for SEND? Is that work happening yet?”

“I speak as a signatory to the reasoned amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Dame Meg Hillier), because I recognised, as many across the House did, that there were serious problems with the original version of the Bill. Welfare reform, which we all believe in, has to be fair, c…”

“I am coming to a conclusion. Let us build a system that is sustainable, but that is, above all, just and fair.”

“Most of the answer to that question is obviously a matter for the Minister, but I do not want to delay the uplift in universal credit, so I am willing to vote that through today. We understand the catastrophic financial mess that we inherited, but we have to underscore the fact that abstract OBR dogma means nothing to …”

“My hon. Friend makes an important point that I hope the Minister will confirm. There are other assurances that many of us would like to hear from the Dispatch Box today, including a defined timetable for the report. In wrapping up the debate, will the Minister confirm that November 2026 is now no longer a relevant date…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for her work on this issue and for making the statement today, although I share hon. Members’ concerns that making changes before a review is putting the cart before the horse. I must just press her on this. While I welcome the changes that bring immediate security and protection for existi…”

“It will be producing its own annual report with all those kinds of measures in it?”

“I appreciate the wider need to be in control of migration numbers, and you raised the issue of contribution. Do you think this is sending the right message on contribution to international students and to higher education providers whose success quite often comes from the contribution that brains from around the world …”

“Further education has often been described as a second chance for care leavers yet, as we all well know, outcomes are not good, and care leavers are three times more likely to not be in education, employment or training. What are the Government doing to address that problem?”

“What will happen to change that? You mentioned making sure that councils are properly letting care leavers know about the support that is available and getting them access to that. Is that something that the DFE will enact? Are you in negotiation with MHCLG to make sure that the message is going out to councils about t…”