Simon Hoare MP: speeches 2024

Speeches

• 8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source

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  Let me reiterate to the Minister the asks that the Opposition have. In an ideal world we would prefer this policy not to go ahead, but the mathematics of this place indicate that whatever the Government wish to do, they will secure. This change should be delayed until September 2025; that would allow for sensible planning. Clearly, those with SEND and the children of serving military people or those in our diplomatic service should also be exempt. I would also like, on behalf of many of the schools in my constituency that have raised this, to know whether VAT will be applicable to summer schools and other events that are put on. Bryanston school in my constituency has a fantastic relationship with Blandford high school. Unlike the Treasury Minister who opened the debate, I have no skin in this game; I was not privately educated, nor are my three children. But North Dorset is not a particularly wealthy constituency. Seven hundred and ninety-two jobs are linked to Bryanston school. The soft power that the schools provide in the international environment also need to be taken into account. Bryanston school alone makes a contribution of £24 million a year to the local North Dorset economy. My asks are quite small in comparison to the ask that my Labour opponent would have been making of the Government had he won in July. Because when Richard Jones, the head teacher of Bryanston, at a church hustings, set out all the good work that Bryanston does in the community, its contribution to the economy and the jobs that it creates, my opponent said he was fantastically interested, and would table an amendment to the legislation to secure an exemption for Bryanston school. So if the Labour Front Benchers could not even convince their own parliamentary candidate in North Dorset of the merits of this policy, they have signally failed to convince the many parents and others who work very hard to send their children to school in the independent sector. My final words are for the Secretary of State for Education, after the terrible tweet that she put out a couple of days ago. She is the Secretary of State for the education of all children, irrespective of which sector they are educated in. She used divisive words, referring to “our children” versus theirs. That is them and us. She has aided the Government’s case and argument not a jot. She is the Secretary of State for the education of all children; I wish she would take her responsibilities a wee bit more seriously.

• 8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source

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  Will the Minister give way on that point?

• 8 Oct 2024 · VAT: Independent Schools · Hansard source

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  I agree entirely with what my hon. Friend has said. Will he add to the indictment of the Secretary of State the fact that she failed signally to realise that she is the Secretary of State for all pupils, whether they are in the independent or the state sector? The divisive language that she used was a very rude signal of two digits to those families who take a decision that she does not like.

• 9 Sept 2024 · Bus Franchising · Hansard source

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  I welcome the Minister’s statement. He and the House know that local government finance is under pressure, and that the delivery of services in rural areas is much more costly than it is in Manchester, Nottingham or London. That is just a geographical fact, which I think we all accept. May I urge the Minister, if he has not already done so, to engage the good offices of the County Councils Network, as the lead body for county councils and the unitaries, to find their views and suggestions? I also say to him politely that if this is to work in rural areas, for all the good reasons that he sets out about social mobility and access to work and education, rural councils will require some extra money to deliver what we all want to see achieved.

• 4 Sept 2024 · Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report · Hansard source

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  I commend the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their candour, and the tone that they adopted—it was pitch perfect. May I press the Prime Minister on a point made by Sir Max Hill KC in broadcast interviews this morning, about the urgent need for justice and for prosecutions to be brought? Colleagues across the House have raised the issue, and the Prime Minister has addressed it, but will he ensure that there is adequate resource in the policing arena and capacity in the court system to bring cases, where appropriate, as speedily as possible? Businesses are inclined to dissolve themselves and disappear into the ether very quickly. Will he make sure that there is capacity in both the investigation and prosecution arenas to ensure speed? We all recognise that people have been waiting far too long.

• 24 Jul 2024 · Relations with Ireland · Hansard source

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  The Anglo-Irish agreement is absolutely vital, and the meeting between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach is to be welcomed. Prime Ministers’ diaries become very full; will the Secretary of State use his good offices to ensure that that dialogue between Taoiseach and Prime Minister continues to build on that relationship to see it flourish still further?

• 23 Jul 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Nearly 10 children a month die from brain tumours, and I know that the public health Minister takes this issue seriously. He was familiar with the work of the Brain Tumour Charity’s HeadSmart campaign. Will he agree to meet me and my fierce campaigner constituent Sacha Langton-Gilks, who lost her son to a brain tumour, to discuss how NHS England could be persuaded to do more to inform and educate parents to identify the symptoms, so that collectively we can reduce the number of deaths?