The MP for Earley and Woodley has welcomed goverment action on increasing funding to help children with special needs and education reforms following a recent meeting.
Yuan Yang, the Labour MP for Earley and Woodley met with the secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson on Monday, December 16 to discuss the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and make representations on behalf of residents.
During the the meeting, Mrs Phillipson outlined her priorities for the brief, providing an update on the mission-driven approach Labour have taken to government, the Prime Minister’s recent Plan for Change and the progress made within the administration’s early months.
The Education Secretary encouraged educational institutions in Earley and Woodley constituency to get involved with the government’s work by rolling out new breakfast clubs to boost attainment and attendance and kickstarting plans for more school-based nurseries to make childcare more accessible and affordable.
M sYang spoke of the fantastic work ongoing in education institutions across the constituency, which also cover Shinfield, Whitley and Sonning.
She has also been spending the last school term visiting primary schools across the constituency, talking to pupils in assemblies about a range of issues important to them.
During the meeting, she also took the opportunity to highlight the issue of SEND funding for councils, which over the last ten years has been failing to provide for children with additional needs.
Ms Phillipson, who is also the Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South said: “It was brilliant to meet with Yuan to update them on the government’s Plan for Change and how I want to work with them to deliver on Labour’s mission to break down the barriers to opportunity.
“The Conservatives left a trail of devastation across education – falling school standards, crumbling buildings and a SEND system that was ‘lose, lose, lose’ in their own words.
“This Labour government is fixing the foundations and putting education back at the heart of national life.”
Ms Yang added: “Across Earley and Woodley constituency children in need of SEND provision are waiting far too long for support, which is why the £1bn announced by the government in specific SEND funding is so important.”
The government is encouraging schools to become early adopters of new breakfast clubs and setting up school-based nurseries on department of education webpages.
Education became a hot-button issue in Earley and Woodley during the general election this summer.
Ms Yang spoke passionately about the reintroduction of breakfast clubs on the campaign trail during the general election, particularly during a private meeting with women in Woodley in June.
Meanwhile, Gillian Keegan, the then-education secretary, visited Conservative activists and candidate councillor Pauline Jorgensen at a home in Shinfield Road, where she branded Labour “horrible and pernicious” for its plan to put a VAT tax on private school tuition fees.
Mrs Keegan failed to keep her MP seat in Chichester, with cllr Jorgensen coming runner-up to Ms Yang during the general election in July.
