Olly Glover

I shall be concise so that we can be away well before 11. I thank everybody for attending the debate. It is welcome to have had contributions from all three main parties. It was predominantly a well-spirited debate, with a lot of agreement. It was good to hear about schools other than Europa that offer the IB: Hockerill Anglo-European college, Torquay boys grammar school, Truro and Penwith college, the Anglo European school in Ingatestone, Dartford grammar school, Dane Court grammar school and Varndean college—and Impington Village college, which my hon. Friend the Member for St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire (Ian Sollom) mentioned; I must not forget that one. All hon. Members who talked about the schools in or near their constituencies highlighted the huge benefits and value that they bring to parents, local communities and children—and at a relatively small additional cost, as the Minister himself acknowledged. The Minister’s wider comments about what he and the Government are doing to boost education were welcome. I understand what he said about constrained budgets, but too often in politics, and in life in general, we hear false dichotomies—“It is either this or that”, and things are pitted against each other—and many in my constituency will have been disappointed to hear what he had to say. The debate was well-spirited, with the exception of the remarks of the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes). Of course, when a Government encounter difficult financial circumstances, they have to make difficult choices, as we did when we were one seventh of a Government. However, I find staggering the hypocrisy of a Government with a gigantic majority who, having lectured everybody else about tuition fees for 15 years, decide to increase them by pegging them to inflation. The key thing I often hear from constituents on the doorstep, whether in relation to this issue or others, is that this Government simply do not listen, and that they have authoritarian, monolithic instincts—expecting everybody to be the same. Although the Minister said a lot of good things that the Government are doing, sadly, from what has been said today, my constituents and Europa School will feel that this Government have the listening skills of a slab of concrete. I hope to be proven wrong; I hope that in time the Minister will listen to the representations here and elsewhere, reflect, and reconsider. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered funding for the International Baccalaureate in state schools.