Bridget Phillipson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Mar 2026 · Service Children · Hansard source

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  Yes, of course; I will be more than happy to make sure that that meeting takes place. I commend the Garrison Assist project for its excellent work. We have looked at the work it has done, and that has given us a strong foundation for many of the changes that we are bringing forward in the SEND system. For example, education, health and care plans and individual support plans will be digital, and that will ensure smoother transitions when children move between local authority areas. It will make a big difference to many children, but particularly children from service families.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Service Children · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why, as I set out, we are making changes to ensure that there are smoother transitions for service children—for example, by making both education, health and care plans and individual support plans digital—but there is still more that we need to do. All of us across this House have a responsibility to ensure that those who serve our country receive the best possible education and care for their children. I would be very happy to discuss this further with my hon. Friend or any other Members who have a local constituency concern in this area.

• 2 Mar 2026 · National Year of Reading: Phonics · Hansard source

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  As my hon. Friend knows well, ensuring that all our children, in every corner of the country, learn to read quickly and to enjoy reading is one of this Labour Government’s key priorities. We are building strong foundations for every child in this National Year of Reading. Our best start in life strategy will expand support to improve phonics teaching, and through our regional improvement for standards and excellence English hubs, we are doubling the reach of our “reading ambition for all” programme, so that every child achieves and thrives.

• 2 Mar 2026 · National Year of Reading: Phonics · Hansard source

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  We have launched that consultation. I am clear that phones have no place in our schools, and schools should enforce that policy and ensure that it is being followed. The hon. Gentleman asked a serious and reasonable question about some of the challenges that we see when children arrive at primary school. That is why through our Best Start family hubs and the National Year of Reading, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that more parents and children are more supported. All of us as parents have to lead by example in that regard.

• 2 Mar 2026 · National Year of Reading: Phonics · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is absolutely right about the evidence of reading with children, and how even reading for a short time at the end of the day can really set children up to succeed. Through the National Year of Reading, we will be supporting exactly those kinds of initiatives, and through our Best Start family hubs we will ensure that parents get high-quality advice about the best ways to support their children’s learning at home.

• 2 Mar 2026 · National Year of Reading: Phonics · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her enthusiasm, although she has put us all to shame with her revelation about her amazing reading habits. The National Year of Reading is all about encouraging children to discover the magic of a good book, which can ignite a lifelong love of reading. There will be exciting online and in-person events, with lots of resources, happening in schools and libraries in communities up and down the country, including in Knowsley. I am sure she will be encouraging her constituents, schools and local children to get involved.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  No, absolutely not. While I am clear that universities should be places of open discussion and dialogue, where views should be challenged and questioned—that is an important principle that this party has long supported—there can of course be no place for hate speech or intimidation on campus. Anyone involved in that kind of activity should face consequences, but that is entirely different from the wider question that the right hon. Lady started with, which is about the wellbeing of children. We all have a responsibility to approach this issue sensibly and do what is right by children. She obviously has not read the guidance properly.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I genuinely expected better from the right hon. Lady. I encourage her to go away and look at the guidance we have published, which will be statutory in nature and makes the involvement of parents very clear. My view—which is also the view of Dr Hilary Cass—is that we should let children be children.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes, we intend to do that shortly. To be clear, universities should be places of open discussion, where academics can operate freely and everyone is exposed to views that they may sometimes find challenging and with which they may disagree. We have commenced many of the provisions within the Act that are upholding and safeguarding free speech and academic freedom in our universities.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I do indeed pay tribute to the amazing people who work in our colleges and in further education, including in Hartlepool college of further education, and I look forward to being in Hartlepool very soon with my hon. Friend to observe that work at first hand.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  As the hon. Lady knows, we intend to consult on getting the best outcomes for children through the use of the money we are targeting at disadvantage. Free school meals are a rather blunt way of doing that, and we are keen to explore ways of ensuring that all children from less well-off backgrounds, including pupil premium children, get the very best from their education. However, it is a consultation, and I would be more than willing to discuss it further with the hon. Lady.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We were elected on a manifesto to deliver a limit on the number of branded items to cut the cost of school uniform. Unfortunately, some of what the right hon. Gentleman proposes could have unintended consequences that would not tackle the problem we are facing, which is that children should be smart when they go to school, but it should not cost their parents the earth.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank everyone for their support on the publication of the “Every Child Achieving and Thriving” White Paper and the special educational needs and disabilities reform consultation. From the reception that it has received, it is clear that we are on the right track to reform the system. I look forward to working with Members across the House, education and health staff, parents and children to build a future in which every child can achieve and thrive. Last week, I was shocked by posts on TikTok encouraging violence by schoolchildren. TikTok must take urgent steps to address that and support firm action being taken by schools, local authorities and police to respond. From September, children will learn about staying safe from violence in the new curriculum.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We expect to see the strongest possible action where hate speech or illegal activity takes place, whether on a campus or anywhere else, and I would expect any suggestions of that kind of activity to be fully investigated by those responsible for enforcing the law.

• 2 Mar 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I join the hon. Gentleman in celebrating the amazing success of his local college. We want to ensure that we provide the kinds of support that he talks about, and we are investing more in further education and post-16 education. If he would like to raise further areas, I will ensure that they are picked up by a Minister.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  It has been a pleasure to work with my hon. Friend as we have brought forward these reforms. The specialist provision packages will be set nationally and led by experts in health and education, independent of Government, but we will ensure that the voices of children, young people, parents and campaigners are heard and understood as we develop those packages.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, who cares deeply about this matter as both a parent and a politician, for the approach he has taken, and I look forward to working with him and his party in the weeks and months to come. We share a commitment to ensuring that the move from one system—one that we can all agree is not working—to a better one is phased and done carefully. I agree that the voices of parents must be heard right throughout that process. The right hon. Gentleman asks about early support. I completely agree with what he says, which is why we are investing £1 billion in rolling out Best Start family hubs, expanding early years education and school-based nurseries and investing in local authorities’ ability to develop early help. [ Official Report , 2 March 2026; Vol. 781, c. 6WC.] (Correction) Colleagues will note in the material we have published that we will continue to see an increase in EHCPs in the years to come before we see a plateauing and then a reduction. The reason for that is that we want to do this in a managed way. I hope that we can reduce those numbers more quickly—not for any arbitrary reason or because we are chasing a number, but because we should be supporting children much earlier. The evidence from Sure Start was clear: if we step in earlier and support families, we reduce the need for SEND support later on in school, especially in areas such as speech and language support, because we have met that need more quickly. I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s point around transition and education, health and care plans. We have already set out some detail on specialist provision packages, which will be shaped by an expert panel independent of Government—we will put that on the statute book. There will also be clear national accountability and national standards to move away from the postcode lottery that we have seen recently. I know that the right hon. Gentleman is also interested in how we can ensure that cases of high need and low incidence are addressed through regional models, which we have committed to considering through the consultation. The voices of parents will be heard as we move forward. We have launched our consultation, which will run for 12 weeks. There will be events the length and breadth of the country to enable parents to take part in that conversation, and I urge parents, health staff, education staff and others to share their views on what we have published to make sure that we are getting this right. On the pupil premium and the targeting of disadvantage funding, I am keen to address the fact that free schools meals are quite a blunt way to assess disadvantage in a family. We know that children who are on free school meals or who face persistent disadvantage and poverty right throughout their school career are far more likely to have bad outcomes than children who spend a period of time in poverty. We need a more nuanced approach to how we can better target resource to better improve outcomes for children. We will be consulting on that, and I look forward to discussing it with the right hon. Gentleman further.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  We will consult on whether to make changes to the national funding formula. But this change is urgent and much needed, and it falls to this Labour Government to deliver.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  Beyond the period that my hon. Friend identifies, this will become the responsibility of central Government. That is the commitment we have given, and we have made a big undertaking with colleagues across Government to take action on the long-standing deficits that local authorities have accrued over time. My hon. Friend is right to say that the way we can respond to the challenges that local authorities are facing with home-to-school transport is by improving provision closer to home. Councils do not want to be sending children far from home, and parents do not want their children spending hours in taxis to access provision. That is why the extra capital investment and the 60,000 new places that we will create will, over time, bring down some of the costs that councils are facing.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  No; the right hon. and learned Lady is wrong. If she had listened, she would know that she is wrong, but I am sure she would not like to break the habit of a lifetime. Before asking any questions about what this Government are doing, she should consider the actions that she was responsible for as part of the previous Government.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend speaks with real passion and expertise, and I could not agree more with him. As well as everything the Government are doing, we will need local authorities and ICBs to work together with us to deliver the change that is needed. There is huge variation across the country, with unacceptable outcomes, too many delays, and children waiting far too long for the support they need. He will also see that through the consultation we are committed to ensuring that children with the most complex needs have that support in place much more quickly than is the situation right now.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  EHCPs will retain an important role within the system, and diagnosis will remain important, but I know from many of the parents I have spoken with—as, I am sure, does my hon. Friend—that diagnosis sometimes only confirms what is already known about a child’s needs and the support required. Through the investment that we are setting out, and the changes that we are bringing, we will ensure that diagnosis is not required for access to the support that a child needs. In many cases, if we put support in place more quickly, we will prevent problems from escalating and help children to thrive.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  I am grateful to the Chair of the Education Committee and all members of the Committee for their very serious work and report. She will see reflected in what we are setting out today that the Committee’s work has shaped our approach. I am grateful to the Committee and all its members for their support in this. I completely recognise what she says about the anxieties and worries of parents. I have spoken to parents the length and breadth of the country about the fights they have had to go through and how tough it has been to secure the support that their children need. I want to thank and pay tribute to our SEND development group, which has worked so closely with us to ensure that the voices of parents, carers, children and those who are delivering services have been heard as we shape our reforms. We do want to do this carefully. This is a decade-long process and transition that we are embarking on. From now until the commencement of legislation in 2029, the current system, with all its existing duties and rights, will continue. Only after that will we begin to move children through our new system of support. My hon. Friend will recognise that children should be assessed annually through the EHCP process. Frequently that does not happen or it does not happen well. Our intention is to deliver better, expanded support more quickly for a wider group of children and to manage that carefully. We have made a commitment that all children in specialist provision with an EHCP will be able to remain within specialist provision unless their parents take the decision to move. I do recognise the wider point about transition, especially in post-16 education. We want to continue to work with colleges and providers to ensure the smoothest move for children. I know that that is an area that my hon. Friend has taken great interest in, and it has been flagged to us as a real concern.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  There is complexity around this. We need to continue to understand the needs that are developing and the failure to meet them sooner. That is a big part of the challenge. As a country, we have not been meeting need as quickly as we should. I would add that, for too long, we have treated the SEND system as an entirely separate part of the education system and not as central to our schools. That is the shift we will bring and that is how we will ensure that all our schools better cater for a wider range of need.

• 23 Feb 2026 · Schools White Paper: Every Child Achieving and Thriving · Hansard source

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  Our intention is that parents in Harlow and across the country will not have the fight that they have had for far too long, and that when a need is identified, a child is struggling, or extra support is required, our schools will have the resources and expertise to put that support in place straight away, without the need for parents to go anywhere near a tribunal.