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7.40 pm
Mr. Charles Hendry (Wealden): This has been an interesting and excellent debate. There have been some powerful contributions, particularly from my hon. Friends who have recognised fully the extent of the problems in schools in their constituencies. My hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) spoke with his customary passion and enthusiasm for Southend and the issues that are there. He gave real demonstrations of the effects of the budgetary cuts within his constituency. He highlighted subjects that are being cut and physically being removed from the curriculum. He spoke of schools having to borrow money from the local education authority and of excellent new facilities that are kept closed because there is not the money to clean and maintain them. The description of one of the heads, which we should have ringing in our ears, is that this is the worst situation that he has ever had to manage.
My hon. Friend the Member for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) reminded us that primarily the debate is about children's education and said that their interests should be the focus of our attention. He gave detailed figures to show the extent of the problems both locally and nationwide, and made a
strong case for moving more funds through directly to schools. My hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner), as ever, made a powerful case and showed why he is such an excellent member of the Select Committee. He effectively highlighted the range of issues that are not related to funding but determine the quality of education in our schools.My hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson), my parliamentary neighbour, gave a realistic assessment of the real problems facing us in east Sussex, which I wholly endorse. Heads have been universal, in my experience, in sensing that the county council has done its very best in passing on funds to schools, and that it has been the Government who have been the villain of the piece.
It is disappointing that in responding to my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Mr. Green), who opened the debate, the Minister for School Standards ignored virtually every one of the key points that my hon. Friend had highlighted. He did not refer to the increase in national insurance contributions or in pension contributions, which have caused so many of the problems. He did not highlight the fact that so many schools are having to put deficit budgets in place or are having to raise their capital budgets to keep going. He did not talk about the scrapping of the school achievements award. He did not refer to the appalling fact that one school in five is now asking parents to make contributions simply to meet their bills.
If the situation is as good as the Minister makes it out to be, why is it that people like the head of the Secondary Heads Association, Ann Welsh, are saying that this year's cash crisis will have repercussions for many years to come. Why is it that the leader of the heads in east Yorkshire, as brought out on so many occasions by my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Bedfordshire, is saying that these are the worst figures that he has had to deal with for 12 years?
The Minister questioned our position on the work load agreement. We have always supported that agreement in principle, but we have questioned whether it would work. The Government should be cutting the red tape, cutting the number of targets and cutting the plethora of new initiatives, which would do much more to reduce teachers' work loads than anything else that the Government could do.
The Minister has been going to great lengths to tell us why this is not the Government's fault. Of course, nothing is ever the fault of this Government. It is the same old strategy. First, deny that anything is wrong; then insist that the facts are not as they really are and that the statistics and surveys are flawed. If that does not work, question the principles of those who are criticising the Government. Above all, find someone else to blame, preferably somebody who does not have access to a media machine to help them put their case. Alastair Campbell may have moved on but his spirit lives there still.
The Minister is doing what Ministers have done through the ages when they have lost the argument: he has gone into denial. He is pretending that the reality is other than it is. He believes only the press stories that support his side of the argument. He believes that the teachers and governors who call out for help are only a small minority. But Ministers have lost the plot and,
much more importantly, the trust of students, parents and teachers. When we consider the contributions made by Labour Back Benchers, it is easy to see why.The hon. Member for West Bromwich, West (Mr. Bailey) made an astonishing speech. He spoke for 10 minutes, but spent five minutes on the last Tory Government, three minutes telling us that everything was improving and two minutes saying that the problems were all due to the old funding system. He did not utter a single sentence about the problems facing a single school in his constituency. There was not a word about the shocking growth of red tape, which takes up too much of teachers' time, nor a mention of falling teacher morale. I hope that he will send that speech to every head teacher in his constituency and ask them if it represents their views as well.
Mr. Bailey: I took the trouble to check the situation in my constituency. Teacher numbers are rising and morale, educational standards and funding are high. That is precisely why I did not see any cause to complain about the funding arrangement for local authorities such as Sandwell.
Mr. Hendry: I hope that the hon. Gentleman will also send that contribution to every head teacher in his constituency. I would like to see every letter that he gets in return accepting that the situation is as he describes.
The hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Jonathan Shaw) spoke for 17 minutes. He spent three minutes saying how standards were rising and six minutes making important points about teachers— we all agree with his concerns about the age profile of teachers. Indeed, we agree with the point made by the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr. Rendel) about the problem of a lack of male teachers in primary schools. The hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford spent five minutes speaking about the future of LEAs and three ritual minutes attacking the Tories. However, he spoke not one word about a single school facing problems in his constituency. I hope that he sends his speech to his head teachers.
Then we come to the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (James Purnell), who really is the hon. Member for Planet Zog. He spent most of his nine minutes attacking the Tories and the rest of that time saying that everything was going well. He told us that everybody outside Westminster was down at their local saying how good the schools and hospitals were in their constituencies. Where does he live?
James Purnell: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Hendry: There is no time, and the hon. Gentleman wasted his.
James Purnell: Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that GCSE results have improved in this country?
Mr. Hendry: I celebrate the fact that GCSE results are improving. I want them to continue doing so; as parents,
we are delighted about that. [Hon. Members: "The students are leaving the Gallery."] That is because they know that I have won the argument. Again, I hope that the hon. Member for Planet Zog will send his speech to all the head teachers, including those at Longdendale and the other schools to which he referred, and say "Can you reassure me that I am right that there is not a single problem in these schools?"This issue is not merely about politics and semantics, but about teachers' livelihoods and children's one chance of success in education. Frankly, they do not care whose fault the funding crisis is; they simply want it sorted out—and quickly. This is 21st century Britain and we are six years into a Labour Government who promised to put education at the top of their priorities. However, that is not the way in which those in education see the situation. At the start of a new school year, they are feeling the strains more than ever. Their budgets are under pressure and they are being forced to put on hold projects that they have been working on for years, and maybe even cancel them, in order to use their reserves to pay the bills.
It does not have to be like that, however, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford said. What we need is a simple formula without the mirrors, clawbacks and tricks, so that head teachers know how much they will be getting, so that there is no confusion about whether money has been passed to the LEA and whether it has passed the money to the individual schools, and so that they can look ahead with certainty and confidence. The Government must act to ensure that this crisis is not repeated in future years.
I hope that those who vote with the Government tonight will not visit schools in their constituencies this weekend, on Friday—[Interruption.] They will obviously not visit at the weekend, but they might do so on a Friday. If they do so, I hope that they will have the courage to tell those schools what they have done today. They had the chance to say that schools are suffering, but they did not. They had the chance to say that they understand that teachers' morale is low, but they walked away. They had the chance to call for a better system of school funding in future, but they sat on their hands. Above all, they had the chance to stand up for the students, parents, teachers and governors in their constituencies, but looked the other way when they were most needed.
We have drawn attention to a crisis in schools the length and breadth of this country—a crisis that explains why morale is so low and why so many outstanding teachers are looking to get out of education altogether. The Conservative party has drawn attention to those problems, while the Government insist that they are not worthy of debate. I urge the House to support the motion.
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