To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the psychological impact on immunocompromised individuals who are continuing to shield due to COVID-19.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the psychological impact on immunocompromised individuals who are continuing to shield due to COVID-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing an exemption from pre-hospital admission covid-19 isolation for people with mental health needs who have been assessed by a doctor.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing an exemption from pre-hospital admission covid-19 isolation for people with mental health needs who have been assessed by a doctor.

Main estimates 2021-22. First estimates day (part one). Motion that, for the year ending with 31 March 2022, for expenditure by the Department for Education: (1) further resources, not exceeding £53,229,742,000 be authorised for use for current purposes as set out in HC 14 of Session 2021-22, (2) further resources, not exceeding £16,078,449,000 be authorised for use for capital purposes as so set out, and (3) a further sum, not exceeding £56,969,129,000 be granted to Her Majesty to be issued by the Treasury out of the Consolidated Fund and applied for expenditure on the use of resources authorised by Parliament. Question deferred until 30 June. Resolved.

Main estimates 2021-22. First estimates day (part one). Motion that, for the year ending with 31 March 2022, for expenditure by the Department for Education: (1) further resources, not exceeding £53,229,742,000 be authorised for use for current purposes as set out in HC 14 of Session 2021-22, (2) further resources,...

I do not intend to detain the House for too long with my remarks, given what, as you have just reminded us, Mr Deputy Speaker, is happening not long after this debate.

I thank the House for agreeing to this debate on the estimates in relation to the Department for Education’s...

I do not intend to detain the House for too long with my remarks, given what, as you have just reminded us, Mr Deputy Speaker, is happening not long after this debate.

I thank the House for agreeing to this debate on the estimates in relation to the Department for Education’s...

I thank the Chair of the Education Committee for bringing the debate forward and for his knowledge. I followed him last week on young Protestant males’ underachievement, which is important for us in Northern Ireland and certainly here for the Minister as well. Does he agree with me and, I

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I thank the Chair of the Education Committee for bringing the debate forward and for his knowledge. I followed him last week on young Protestant males’ underachievement, which is important for us in Northern Ireland and certainly here for the Minister as well. Does he agree with me and, I

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The hon. Gentleman, whom I regard as a friend, gets it exactly right. People often focus just on the loss of academic attainment, but there are also the mental health problems facing children during the pandemic. We know that eating disorders have gone up by 400% among young people, which...

The hon. Gentleman, whom I regard as a friend, gets it exactly right. People often focus just on the loss of academic attainment, but there are also the mental health problems facing children during the pandemic. We know that eating disorders have gone up by 400% among young people, which...

I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way on that point. During the last education debate, he intervened on me and the shadow Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green), in his characteristically inquisitorial way and pressed us to...

I am extremely grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving way on that point. During the last education debate, he intervened on me and the shadow Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green), in his characteristically inquisitorial way and pressed us to...

If the hon. Gentleman looks at everything that I have said in the House, in the Select Committee and in newspaper articles, he will see that I have made it very clear from day one—the Minister will vouch for this, because I have nagged him about it often enough—that I...

If the hon. Gentleman looks at everything that I have said in the House, in the Select Committee and in newspaper articles, he will see that I have made it very clear from day one—the Minister will vouch for this, because I have nagged him about it often enough—that I...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), who chairs the Education Committee, of which I am a member. This is an important debate. I thank all the school caretakers, secretaries, heads, support staff and teachers who have maintained our education system and educated...

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon), who chairs the Education Committee, of which I am a member. This is an important debate. I thank all the school caretakers, secretaries, heads, support staff and teachers who have maintained our education system and educated...

I am pleased to participate in this important debate on the education estimates. I have in the past worked as both a teacher and a lecturer, so I know from personal and professional experience just how important a good education is. On a personal level, education and social mobility have...

I am pleased to participate in this important debate on the education estimates. I have in the past worked as both a teacher and a lecturer, so I know from personal and professional experience just how important a good education is. On a personal level, education and social mobility have...

The pandemic has generated unprecedented financial demands on the Government, but time and time again they have drawn a red line when it comes to supporting children and young people. The former Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield, calls it

“an institutional bias against children”,

and Sir Kevan Collins today described the Government’s response...

The pandemic has generated unprecedented financial demands on the Government, but time and time again they have drawn a red line when it comes to supporting children and young people. The former Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield, calls it

“an institutional bias against children”,

and Sir Kevan Collins today described the Government’s response...

I commend and congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) on securing this debate and on all the work that he and his Committee do. He set out very effectively the extent of the differential impact on children over this past year and a little. Like...

I commend and congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) on securing this debate and on all the work that he and his Committee do. He set out very effectively the extent of the differential impact on children over this past year and a little. Like...

It is a pleasure to speak after the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds). I will be making some similar points in relation to a different part of the education system. It is important that we consider the challenges facing the sector in its widest sense, in dealing...

It is a pleasure to speak after the right hon. Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds). I will be making some similar points in relation to a different part of the education system. It is important that we consider the challenges facing the sector in its widest sense, in dealing...

It says on the Centre for Early Childhood website set up by the Royal Foundation:

“Advances in brain science have shown that early childhood—pregnancy to five—has implications for our development that go far beyond our physical abilities. In fact, this represents one of the best investments we can make for the...

It says on the Centre for Early Childhood website set up by the Royal Foundation:

“Advances in brain science have shown that early childhood—pregnancy to five—has implications for our development that go far beyond our physical abilities. In fact, this represents one of the best investments we can make for the...

I strongly welcome the support and campaign for family hubs, which are something that our report on disadvantaged white working-class boys and girls recommended last week. May I just mention this important statistic to my right hon. Friend? We know that disadvantaged pupils are 18 months behind their better-off peers...

I strongly welcome the support and campaign for family hubs, which are something that our report on disadvantaged white working-class boys and girls recommended last week. May I just mention this important statistic to my right hon. Friend? We know that disadvantaged pupils are 18 months behind their better-off peers...

My right hon. Friend is exactly right: it all begins in the very earliest period of life. The later we leave it, all that happens is that we compound the problem more. Then we end up firefighting instead of preventing. Prevention is so much kinder and cheaper than cure.

To help...

My right hon. Friend is exactly right: it all begins in the very earliest period of life. The later we leave it, all that happens is that we compound the problem more. Then we end up firefighting instead of preventing. Prevention is so much kinder and cheaper than cure.

To help...

The Prime Minister claimed that education was his top priority, yet when the man he put in charge of education recovery sent in his report, he casually tossed it into the nearest Whitehall waste paper bin. Sir Kevan Collins recommended that, in the light of the damage that the covid...

The Prime Minister claimed that education was his top priority, yet when the man he put in charge of education recovery sent in his report, he casually tossed it into the nearest Whitehall waste paper bin. Sir Kevan Collins recommended that, in the light of the damage that the covid...

The backdrop to this estimates day debate is, understandably, one of a Government Department that has seen its workload, resource and structural capacity dominated by the

pandemic, with all the profound implications of that for children, schools and families across the country. It is an inescapable truth that despite the...

The backdrop to this estimates day debate is, understandably, one of a Government Department that has seen its workload, resource and structural capacity dominated by the

pandemic, with all the profound implications of that for children, schools and families across the country. It is an inescapable truth that despite the...

Our country faces a tremendous challenge. How do we recover from covid, not only in terms of our health and wellbeing, but in terms of jobs, our economy and, crucially, our education system?

I welcome the Department’s education recovery fund, which was announced at the beginning of this month, but what...

Our country faces a tremendous challenge. How do we recover from covid, not only in terms of our health and wellbeing, but in terms of jobs, our economy and, crucially, our education system?

I welcome the Department’s education recovery fund, which was announced at the beginning of this month, but what...