Commenting on today’s debate in Parliament on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, Dr Patrick Roach, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:

“After spending fourteen years neglecting our education system, the Conservatives have the nerve to accuse Labour of vandalising it. Yet it was the Conservatives who persistently delayed teachers’ pay awards, Conservatives who allowed external services likes CAMHS to crumble, and Conservatives who left our school estate in such disrepair that many buildings are still full of dangerous RAAC.

“The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill proposes improvements to services for children and young people that are not just crucial – they are long overdue. Requiring the national curriculum to be taught in all schools, restoring a national framework of teachers’ pay, reducing the cost of school uniforms and strengthening child safeguarding provisions will all go a long way to addressing systemic issues and inequalities that have plagued the system for far too long.

“We welcome the government’s ambitious approach to building excellence and equality, and their commitment to ensuring that every young person, regardless of background, can achieve their full potential. It will be important that these commitments are backed up with the financial investment needed to deliver.”