Local MP Stewart Jackson last year held an adjournment debate in the House Commons on the Pupil Premium and Pupils with English as an Addition Language. He also invited Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools to visit Peterborough to see what was happening in our schools.
Mr Jackson yesterday proved that he is keeping up the pressure on Ministers by questioning the Secretary of State during questions to the Department of Education.
Stewart Jackson said:
“I am still concerned that Peterborough City Council and our schools are struggling with these issues now but hope that the changes to education will make a difference for Peterborough and my constituents.”
Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con): The Secretary of State will know, I hope, that the vast bulk of the new entrants for primary school allocations in Peterborough for September 2012 are foreign children whose first language is not English.
In his ongoing review of funding, will he concede the resource implications of that and assist a small number of local authorities, such as Peterborough, that face serious teaching and resource allocation issues for children whose first language is not English?
Michael Gove: My hon. Friend has bravely and rightly drawn attention to the fact that inward migration flows have had a particularly strong effect on his constituents. On the current changes to education funding, upon which we are consulting, we propose to include additional funding for those schools that have a significant number of students who have English as an additional language.