John Slinger MP: speeches

Speeches

• 20 Nov 2024 · Government and Democracy Education · Hansard source

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  I wholeheartedly agree. It is critical that we educate our young people about the different tiers of government and the responsibilities of elected representatives within them. I will touch briefly on the history of citizenship in our education system. Since 2002, citizenship has been a statutory foundation national curriculum subject at key stages 3 and 4. Luke Brown, a teacher at Lawrence Sheriff school in Rugby, told me: “A big concern is the increasingly limited time given to Citizenship and, therefore, politics.” Citizenship remains a non-statutory programme of study at key stages 1 and 2—or primary, to use the old parlance—where, as teachers tell me, a similar situation ensues, and other priorities all too often drown out citizenship. According to the 2018 Lords report, citizenship peaked between 2009 and 2011, and declined particularly under the last Government’s curriculum review in 2013. The report found that “citizenship was never fully embedded into the education system”. The same happened with other subjects that were, in my view, wrongly regarded by the previous Government as subsidiary. The English baccalaureate, introduced in 2010, did not include citizenship. Furthermore, there has been a substantial decline in the number of students studying the citizenship GCSE and the number of specialist teachers. With our new Government’s curriculum review, we have a golden opportunity to put that right. Like all MPs, I make a big effort to visit as many primary and secondary schools as I can. The biggest privilege and—dare I say it?—challenge of being an MP is not speaking in Chambers like this one but answering questions from young people in schools. When I visit schools, I find that young people are generally interested in politics. For example, the children of Paddox primary school in my constituency were hugely excited about the competition that staff are running about politics, with the prize being a tour of Parliament. A constituent of mine, Ian Dewes, the CEO of the Odyssey Collaborative Trust, said that Parliament’s education team “were fantastic” and pointed out that such visits helped to “break down class and social barriers.” When children of Long Lawford primary school welcomed me and the early years Minister for a visit, it was clear that their teachers had educated them well about the political system. Those are exemplars of best practice, but they should be standard across the whole country. I would be grateful to hear from my hon. Friend the Minister about how her Department will ensure a more coherent, better resourced system that gives these subjects the higher priority that they deserve. I hope, first, that she will consider confirming citizenship as a statutory subject in the national curriculum at all stages, not just key stages 3 and 4; as with literacy, the younger we start, the deeper the understanding. Secondly, will she provide guidance to all schools about what they are expected to teach and resources to do so, including lesson packs and training for non-specialist teachers? Thirdly, will she ensure coherence and common standards across the entire maintained sector? Fourthly, will she reform progress 8 to ensure that any new system of measuring schools gives the same value to citizenship as to other national curriculum foundation GCSE subjects? Finally, will she take action to incentivise the training of specialist citizenship teachers? Another part of learning about government and democracy should, of course, be participating in it within school and the wider world, as other hon. Members have said.

• 20 Nov 2024 · Government and Democracy Education · Hansard source

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  I should state that I am a proud member of the Co-operative party. Indeed, should more learning about our democratic system take place, I would hope that it would include more information about the co-operative movement and the co-operative models that I believe will help us to build a better Britain. To add practical experience of our democratic system would be a catalyst for increasing the agency of our young people. In its submission to the Government’s ongoing curriculum review, the Association for Citizenship Teaching sets that out clearly: “Citizenship education fosters critical competencies, such as information evaluation, deliberation, advocacy, and oracy, which are vital for civic engagement.”

• 20 Nov 2024 · Government and Democracy Education · Hansard source

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  I will come to that point, because I think that the review is a golden opportunity. The commission confirmed what I and others here know: too many young people do not understand how to participate in our democratic processes, and their lack of motivation is due to a lack of knowledge about parties and candidates. If we want young people to engage more in elections, for their sake and ours, we must work harder to ensure they understand and value our democracy.

• 20 Nov 2024 · Government and Democracy Education · Hansard source

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  I agree that we need to embed this learning in our system in a far more concrete fashion. To truly empower young people we must go further than merely teach standard subjects. We must ensure that they both understand and value our government and democratic system. For example, young people draw on their knowledge of standard subjects at work, but an enhanced understanding of government and democracy would make them aware of how the economy, and hence their job, is affected by the decisions that politicians take in this House.

• 13 Nov 2024 · Chagos Islands · Hansard source

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  I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will agree with me that, as we discuss the very important issues raised by the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), we must acknowledge that all right hon. and hon. Members are doing what is in the best interests of our country; that right hon. and hon. Members on the Opposition Benches do not have a monopoly on national security and defence; and, indeed, that it is this Government who are reforming and improving our international reputation around the world—our decision on the Chagos islands, which will protect the base and deal with the other issues my hon. Friend has mentioned, is an important part of that.

• 12 Nov 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  Significantly higher, let us put it that way—eight or nine, I would say. If I may, I suggest that I would give Opposition Members between seven and 10 out of 10 for being patronising.

• 12 Nov 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  It is related to references to reform of the House of Lords. There are no references to reform of the House of Lords in the Conservative party’s manifesto. There is one reference to peers but not to peers in the other place, and there are a few references to the constitution but not to our unwritten constitution. Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House why he is now so fascinated by these measures?

• 12 Nov 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way in his entertaining speech. He makes several references to our manifesto, but I would like to make some references to the Conservative party’s manifesto—

• 12 Nov 2024 · House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill · Hansard source

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  The right hon. Gentleman was keen to score my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Phil Brickell). He gave him four out of 10, and I think he was rather unfair.

• 11 Nov 2024 · Defence: 2.5% GDP Spending Commitment · Hansard source

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  I associate myself with the comments of hon. and right hon. Members about Armistice Day. During the previous Government, the size of our armed forces shrank from 192,000 to 138,000—a 28% decrease. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it will take this Labour Government to put our defences back on the firm footing that we need in an increasingly dangerous world after many years of underinvestment?

• 11 Nov 2024 · Child Poverty · Hansard source

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  I have had the privilege of assisting the brilliant volunteers at the Make Lunch organisation in Rugby, which provides holiday lunch clubs with play activities for entire families, including those with complex needs. Last summer it fed 25 families, last Christmas it bought slow cookers for families and this Christmas it is offering hampers. They treat families with dignity. As with food banks, is it not an indictment of the record of the last Government that such charitable support is needed in the first place?

• 11 Nov 2024 · Child Poverty · Hansard source

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  1. What recent estimate she has made of the level of child poverty in Rugby constituency.

• 11 Nov 2024 · Rural Affairs · Hansard source

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  An excellent climate adaptation world café event was held in Rugby town hall on Saturday, organised by my colleague Councillor Alison Livesey, officers and others. It was attended by the public, community groups and indeed the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry East (Mary Creagh). I am grateful to her for that. At the event, local councillors told me details of the unprecedented floods last winter in the villages of Wolston and Brandon, on the road near Bretford, and in surrounding areas. Significant damage was done to homes and property, and the Royal Oak pub in Brandon closed 11 times. I have met the owner, Khara Schrijvers, and seen the new flood barriers at the pub, which will hopefully ensure the dryness that pubs like in future. The people of these villages came together and showed the very best of community spirit and human nature as they helped one another. Earlier this year, the Wolston and Brandon flood action group was formed, partly in response to the lack of preparedness. I know that this Government are doing much more than the previous Government; there is £2.4 billion extra over two years for flood defences and other innovations. When the heavens opened again this September, Ministers worked hard to co-ordinate and empower the various agencies, councils, emergency services and, ultimately, local communities. It is vital that the voices of local communities be heard. Parish councils are an important conduit for that. Listening locally is not only morally right, but the intelligent approach, because the intelligence garnered is more likely to be right and helpful in preventing future flooding. I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister can reassure my constituents that the new Labour Government place flood resilience and climate adaptation and mitigation high up our list of priorities, and place rural villages and communities at the heart of all we do in this and other areas of policy.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Engagements · Hansard source

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  As a semi-retired violinist and rock musician asking a semi-retired multi-instrumentalist, I feel confident that the Prime Minister shares my belief in the importance of music education. Does he agree that, as we unleash the potential of our country, we must invest in the educational infrastructure of creative arts subjects so that they are accessible to all, and will he visit my constituency, to see the great work of the schools there despite the inheritance that we received?

• 6 Nov 2024 · Small Boat Crossings · Hansard source

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  Given that at the end of 2022, under the last Conservative Government, the asylum backlog had reached 166,261, an elevenfold increase in 12 years, does my hon. Friend agree that Conservative Members—who are very small in number for their own urgent question—are exhibiting a high degree of audacity?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Supporting Prison Officers · Hansard source

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  I have been made aware of the consequences of 14 years of neglect of our Prison and Probation Service by the Conservative party: the critical overcrowding due to the lack of investment; staff at all levels feeling exhausted, scared, demotivated, disenfranchised and undervalued; officers facing unacceptably high levels of violence and drug abuse; and bullying between prisoners. What is the Department doing to rectify the consequences of this litany of neglect by the so-called party of law and order, to give our prison officers the support they deserve?

• 5 Nov 2024 · Supporting Prison Officers · Hansard source

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  4. What steps her Department is taking to support prison officers.

• 5 Nov 2024 · Income Tax (Charge) · Hansard source

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  My right hon. Friend the Chancellor inspired many people last week, including girls and women. The unfortunate comments from the new Leader of the Opposition about the first Budget by a woman Chancellor are not shared by the young women I have spoken to. My right hon. Friend inspired us MPs too, not merely with big-ticket items such as the core schools budget going up by £2.3 billion, but with a more subtle form of inspiration about the long term. It would be more popular in the short term simply to spend money on public services, but our Government have made difficult choices, such as £5.5 billion-worth of savings and ensuring that public money is spent wisely through the new office for value for money. My right hon. Friend has made tough decisions on tax, spending and welfare to restore our economic stability, which helps my constituents. Freezing the small business multiplier for one year will protect more than 1,000 small businesses in Rugby constituency from inflationary bill increases. Thousands of my constituents will benefit from the increases in the national minimum wage and national living wage, boosting incomes by up to £1,400, and 1,100 carers in Rugby who are in receipt of carer’s allowance will benefit from the working limit being lifted, allowing them to earn more and still claim. Rugby’s 19,000 pensioners will see the state pension increase by 4.1% with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor maintaining the triple lock—that is more than twice the uplift given to people receiving benefits. Some in my constituency have expressed concern about local hospital health provision. Labour founded the NHS—we will fix it and we will fund it. It is because of my right hon. Friend’s decisions that this Government can provide an extra £25.7 billion in two years to help cut waiting times, and £1.5 billion capital funding nationally for new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners. That much-needed investment could not have happened had my right hon. Friend chosen immediate popularity by making unfunded promises that raised perfectly legitimate hopes among the public, just as the last Government did when they promised 40 new hospitals without having funding streams in place. The toxic legacy of that false hope is felt by the public, and expressed to every one of us in our inboxes. This Chancellor, this Labour party, this Government will restore faith in the very concept that government can improve lives. It would perhaps have been more popular to pretend that there were no difficult decisions, only sunlit uplands, or that green shoots do not require watering and that public services can improve without proper investment. But we do not seek short-term popularity. This Budget lays the foundations for long-term economic stability, growth, investment and fairness, and enables us to begin delivering much-needed change to improve our constituents’ lives. As we do that, we will have the opportunity to earn the trust of the public we serve.

• 31 Oct 2024 · Business of the House · Hansard source

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  Will the Leader of the House join me in congratulating Councillor Ish Mistry and everyone involved in the wonderful Diwali celebration on the streets of Rugby on Sunday? Our diverse community is strengthened by the council’s community warden service, which does much enforcement and referral work in partnership with our police and our Rugby First business improvement district rangers. Will the Leader of the House consider a debate in Government time on the role of this vital ecosystem, which sits beneath policing and criminal justice in the public’s consciousness?

• 31 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  T4. We will take no lectures from the Conservative party about business. Plenty of us have experience of business, and I am one of them. Many high street businesses want to continue accepting cash. Just as importantly, so do many of my residents, particularly the elderly, disabled and vulnerable. I have spoken to the citizens advice bureau, which is hearing how concerned elderly residents are. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the Post Office can better offer banking services on the high street to cater for the spenders and recipients of cash?

• 28 Oct 2024 · Middle East · Hansard source

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  More than 400,000 people, over half of whom are women and children, are estimated by the UN to have been displaced from Lebanon into Syria since September, the majority of those having initially been displaced by the Syrian civil war. In 2013, I witnessed the dignified resilience of civilians fleeing the Syrian conflict in the Domiz refugee camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and I recall that they were assisted by aid from the British Government and British NGOs. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the UK is providing additional support to women and girls fleeing the conflict in Lebanon, who are, as ever, paying the price of war?

• 28 Oct 2024 · Social Housing Supply · Hansard source

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  At Rugby borough council, there are 300 households on the waiting list for social houses. Officers and councillors are working hard to meet the demand. They have knocked down older tower blocks and are replacing them with one to four-bed, energy-efficient, good-quality homes. Last year was the first year for many years that they built or acquired more social homes than were lost through right to buy. Does my right hon. Friend agree that while that is good work, my council is ultimately able only to tread water? My constituents who are in need of decent, affordable social homes desperately need a Government who will help councils to reverse this trend. Will she consider visiting Rugby to see the great work being done in difficult circumstances?

• 28 Oct 2024 · Social Housing Supply · Hansard source

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  25. What steps her Department is taking to increase the supply of social housing.

• 23 Oct 2024 · Independent Water Commission · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend agree that, had the Conservative party put as much energy into protecting our rivers, lakes and seas as it has into filling its reservoirs of chutzpah, my constituents in Rugby would not be living with the consequences of ineffective regulation, undue profits and unearned bonuses, and that, as in so many areas, the Labour party is clearing up the mess that we inherited?

• 23 Oct 2024 · Police Accountability · Hansard source

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  Does my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary agree that the overwhelming majority of police officers are a credit to our communities and our country? In my constituency of Rugby, I have always found that the commitment of senior and rank-and-file officers to protecting the public and taking on criminals is matched by their understanding that they must be held to the highest standards. Does she agree that our responsibility as politicians in this House and in our constituencies is to help all involved in achieving both those important and interlinked objectives?