Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Chelsea and Fulham, Greg Hands, has spoken of the Conservative’s plans for education at a school election hustings.
At the hustings at the London Oratory School, Fulham, on Friday 24th April, Greg addressed pupils, and teachers, and laid out what the Conservative led Government has done to improve schools since 2010 and what further measures they would to bring in, if elected to a second term in office.
Questions from the audience covered a range of topics including the economy, Trident, unemployment, housing, and other opportunities for young people.
Today, a million more pupils are being taught in good or outstanding schools than in 2010 – an increase from 4.8 million in 2010 to 5.8 million in 2014. This has been possible because the Government has: protected the school budget and investing in new schools; committed £18 billion for new school buildings, so children can learn in the best environment possible, and given schools the freedom drive their own agendas and to help every child.
Greg also explained the changes introduced to given schools the freedom drive their own agendas and to help every child through the introduction of Free Schools and more academies.
Greg described to pupils and teachers how he had also been to an excellent state school, and wanted more excellent state schools like his and the London Oratory.
Greg went on to outline the commitments a future Conservative Government would make to continue to improve schools. This includes protecting education spending in the next Parliament, to continue to drive up standards schools, and to help teachers make Britain the best country in the world for developing maths, engineering, science and computing skills.
Greg also warned that Labour planned to scrap free schools and they by not following the pupil-premium Labour’s plans don’t take into account the growing number of school pupils, so schools would see a significant cut in funding on a per-pupil basis. Labour have opposed the steps Conservatives took to restore standards, and would take us back to the days of grade inflation.
Another topic that was of key interest to members of the audience was the opportunities for young people after school, either in Universities, further education, or the workplace.
Greg outlined that the Conservatives want more young people who aspire to go university to get there, so they can gain the skills they need to fulfil their potential. The Conservative Government lifted the cap on aspiration by removing the limit on student numbers so there are more places at top universities for young people.
On higher university fees, Greg explained this was vital for introducing a sustainable funding system for universities. Universities can now charge students up to £9,000 per year for a full-time course. As a result the teaching resources available have increased from £7.9 billion in 2011/12 to £9.8 billion in 2015/16.
In addition graduates only pay when they can afford to. Students do not pay anything towards their tuition while they are studying. Graduates start to pay when they are earning over £21,000 a year, up from £15,000 under Labour. So whilst overall fees for studying at university are higher the debt repayment is more affordable than it was under Labour’s system.
One London Oratory pupil tweeted later: “The only one who spoke like an adult and the only one who wore a tie. Great performance from Greg Hands at school earlier.”