Hughes, Rogerson, Leech, Gilbert and Ward quiz Gove on Post-16 Education Funding

• [Mar 28] Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark, Liberal Democrat): I THANK the Secretary of State not only for his statement and for the additional financial support, but for a new scheme that seems to be a strong, grown-up successor to the education maintenance allowance. Does he agree that the evidence is clear that the wider the participation in further education is, the wider the participation in higher education will be? The new scheme will mean that no youngster from a poor family should be precluded from going to college for want of reasonable travel costs, all of which can be met under the scheme.

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Michael Gove (Secretary of State, Education; Surrey Heath, Conservative): Absolutely. I want to take this opportunity to underline my gratitude to my right hon. Friend for the painstaking way in which he has consulted students across the country, and for the thoughtful way in which he has put forward his proposals to ensure that our aim for a discretionary fund targeted on the very poorest can be implemented effectively. He is absolutely right to say that if we encourage more students to take part in further education, we will be able to achieve our joint aim of ensuring that more students, particularly from the poorest backgrounds, go on to college and university.

• . . Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat): I welcome the Secretary of State's announcement and measures such as the money over and above what was originally talked about and, in particular, the transitional money. I also congratulate my right hon. Friend Simon Hughes on the work he has done in his report to Government. However, I seek the Secretary of State's assurance that he will continue to look at transport issues and ensure that sufficient money is provided in both urban and rural areas, so that transport provision is in place for people to access.

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Michael Gove (Secretary of State, Education; Surrey Heath, Conservative): My hon. Friend makes a good point. Some local authorities-I have mentioned before in the House Liberal Democrat Hull and Conservative Oxfordshire-do a very good job in providing transport for students staying on after the age of 16, but all local authorities need the support that this new scheme is intended to provide. I am also aware that, obviously, after the age of 16 students tend to travel further to their place of learning, particularly in rural constituencies such as the one my hon. Friend represents, and we will be working with the Association of Colleges and others to make sure they are supported.

• . . John Leech (Manchester, Withington, Liberal Democrat): Up till now, the reform of EMA has been a complete PR disaster. How will the Secretary of State ensure that the improvements announced today will be outlined to young people to ensure that they will not be put off continuing in education post-16?

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Michael Gove (Secretary of State, Education; Surrey Heath, Conservative): I will rely on the effective and persuasive advocacy of my hon. Friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning.

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• Stephen Gilbert (St Austell and Newquay, Liberal Democrat): As someone who benefited from free school meals, I welcome the focus that my right hon. Friend places on encouraging pupils from poorer backgrounds to stay in education. Does he recognise, however, that free school meals are not always taken up in rural areas and will he therefore ensure that it is eligibility, rather than take-up, that counts for access to the bursary?

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Michael Gove (Secretary of State, Education; Surrey Heath, Conservative): That is a really good point and I want to deal with this issue. It is not only in rural areas that take-up of free school meals is lower than eligibility: that is also the case among some black and minority ethnic groups. We want to ensure that such eligibility is increasingly used as a means of targeting disadvantage and we think that the introduction of the pupil premium, which I know my hon. Friend helped to design in opposition, will ensure that more students take up their entitlements.

• . . David Ward (Bradford East, Liberal Democrat): I strongly welcome the statement but I wish there had been a tiny glimmer of acknowledgement from the Opposition of the ground that has been shifted here. They all say that the person who never thought twice never thought once, and I want to thank the Secretary of State for thinking twice on this. Does he agree that this is not a U-turn because a U-turn takes you back to where you were before and we are not where we were before? Nobody who opposed the removal of EMA in our debate on this issue was of the opinion that it did not need to be reviewed, so I welcome the review. Will the Secretary of State give us an undertaking that there will be a review of the new proposals to make sure that we get to where we want to be-supporting children from deprived backgrounds to enable them to do what they want to do with their lives after 16?

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Michael Gove (Secretary of State, Education; Surrey Heath, Conservative): I always take seriously what my hon. Friend says because before he came to the House he worked very hard as a councillor in Bradford to ensure that the education of the poorest children was enhanced. I am grateful to him for his support. The point that he makes-that we need to make sure that the new regime is kept under review to ensure that it helps the very poorest-is right. I look forward to working for him. The tough questions that he asks and the constructive support that he offers are a model to the rest of the House.

• Full Debate in Parliament