The New Statesman has reported that the spend on Healthy Start has fallen by two thirds in the last decade, and this afternoon I will be presenting a Bill that would help to increase take-up. Will the Secretary of State or one of his team meet me to discuss the details of what campaigners and I are proposing so that we can make this helpful benefit reach more of the families it is intended to benefit?

About 20,000 primary school children in 76 primary schools in Trafford benefit from the primary schools sport premium. This is especially important after covid, which we know has had a more detrimental impact on the physical agility and participation of the poorest children. Will the Government commit to extending that premium beyond this academic year?

By definition, women eligible for Healthy Start vouchers are on low incomes, but the cost of making calls to the helpline at local rates is prohibitive for many, contributing to the cost of poverty. Will the Minister undertake to speak to Health colleagues to see what can be done to minimise the cost of that helpline and, more generally, look at the cost of calls to helplines across Government that are specifically designed to enable people on low incomes to reach the services and benefits intended to help them?

What assessment has been made of the potential impact of the cost of phone calls to Government helplines on low-income households?

Careful parole decisions are important to minimise reoffending. Can the Justice Secretary explain why new Parole Board rules will mean that expert report writers will be forbidden to provide a view on suitability for release of the most serious offenders?

The NHS long-term plan promises a 'new approach' to mental health services for people aged 18-25. Could the Secretary of State set out in detail how university mental health and wellbeing services will work seamlessly with NHS mental health services so that students in need of support do not fall through the cracks?

What assessment has been made of the availability of mental health services for young people? The NHS long-term plan promises a 'new approach' to mental health services for people aged 18-25. Could the Secretary of State set out in detail how university mental health and wellbeing services will work seamlessly with NHS mental health services so that students in need of support do not fall through the cracks?

Women leaving custody without a safe and secure home risk harm to themselves and to the public, but many of those women are not captured in official homelessness statistics. Will Ministers commit to rolling out the temporary accommodation service to all probation areas this year, and to extending support for vulnerable women to get into permanent housing beyond 12 weeks?

The national tutoring programme reached 308,000 pupils in 2020-21 but only had a third of recommended funding; per pupil funding won't reach 2010 levels for another three years. Can we see evidence that the Government's proposals are working?

The national tutoring programme is only reaching one in 16 pupils this year; there's an 18-month GCSE attainment gap and it's widening. The Government failed to use the Budget opportunity for education recovery investment as recommended by experts. Why won't the Secretary of State match Labour's ambition?

What steps he is taking to encourage schools to equip students with the skills that businesses need.

But today's Institute for Fiscal Studies report shows that two in five children did not even get minimum learning time during covid school closures, half a million left school this summer having received no catch-up support whatsoever, and the Government are funding just 10% of what Sir Kevan Collins says is needed for recovery. Will the Government finally adopt Labour's children's recovery plan? When we say we will invest in the skills young people and employers need, we really mean it.

The latest figures show that it is just under 3% of pupils in this academic year, and even the funding for next year will reach only 8% of students, yet last week in Prime Minister's questions, the Prime Minister said that the Government want to get on the side of all kids who do not have access to tuition and support them. Why did the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister fail to persuade the Chancellor of the Exchequer to invest in what Sir Kevan Collins said is needed to secure children's futures, or does he in fact agree with the Chancellor who has said that the Government have “maxed out” on support?

Will the Secretary of State tell the House what proportion of children will have received tutoring under the national tutoring programme by the end of this academic year?

So are headteachers moaning when they say that the pupil premium stealth cut means that they will not be able to pay for speech and language therapy, or a teaching assistant, or additional small group sessions? One head told me that they lose out more on pupil premium cuts than they receive in catch-up funding. This is not a Government that are serious about catch-up. Will the Secretary of State guarantee that no school will be worse off as a result of his changes to the pupil premium?

The national tutoring programme is reaching only one in six pupils on free school meals, and changes to the school census date mean that schools are also losing out on thousands of pounds of pupil premium funding for those students. Will the Secretary of State now come clean and publish his Department's full financial analysis of the funding lost to schools from this pupil premium stealth cut?

But just days from the Budget, there is still no commitment to keep the £20 uplift in universal credit, no sign that the Secretary of State will abandon the public sector pay freeze, and he has allocated just 43p per pupil per day to support catch up. Does he really believe that that is good enough, or will he stand up for children and families and tell the Chancellor that they must come first in the Budget?

Even before the pandemic, child poverty stood at more than 4 million, up more than 700,000 since Labour left office, and progress on narrowing the attainment gap between disadvantaged and other students had stalled. What targets has the Secretary of State set to address those shocking failures?

I wish to start by putting on the record my thank you to all those early years and nursery workers in Radcliffe, Whitefield and Prestwich in my constituency. During the pandemic, private nurseries have seen their cleaning costs and the costs of PPE increase fourfold, but, as they are not state run, they get no assistance with those increased costs. Will the Minister meet me to discuss a funding solution that will address this immediate concern while also working towards a meaningful review of early years funding?

Ah, so we got the answer in the end. The truth is that the Secretary of State was late in planning the voucher scheme, late in getting laptops to students, late in consulting on replacing exams, and late in announcing that students will not return to school in January. After delay after delay, has he finally realised what parents, pupils and staff have known for months, which is that he is just not up to the job?

I am disappointed that the Secretary of State does not know those figures. Parents, pupils and teachers have told me of students having been sent home three, four, even five times; some have missed up to one third of their time in school. I am sure the Secretary of State agrees that that will have a disastrous impact on their learning. As we have heard, promised help with laptops and additional costs has not always arrived. School leaders and staff are stressed and exhausted. I support him in wanting pupils to be safely in school, but please will he tell our dedicated and desperate teachers, heads and support staff what he is going to do to support them and keep children learning?

Can the Secretary of State say how many pupils have been sent home from school for covid-related reasons since the start of this term, and of those, how many have been sent home on more than one occasion?

I welcome the Secretary of State to his place. On 1 October, he said that people must be given “the opportunity to retrain and upskill”—[Official Report, 1 October 2020; Vol. 681, c. 541.] but it has now been announced that his Department will be scrapping the union learning fund, which supports hundreds of thousands of learners each year, many with little or no formal education. That scheme benefits workers, our economy and business, so getting rid of it must be either astonishing incompetence or playing shameless politics with people's life chances. Which is it, and will the Secretary of State rethink this wrong-headed initiative?

Perhaps I could start by asking the Schools Minister a question, since he is here. The Secretary of State has repeatedly said that every child would return to school in September, and I support him in that ambition. Being safely back in school is best for children's wellbeing and learning. Latest figures show that one in 10 pupils are out of school, as bubbles and year groups are forced to isolate whenever a child or a member of staff tests positive for covid. Worryingly, attendance at special schools is down at just over 80%, and some teachers report that parents are withdrawing their children altogether to home-school them. We are not even at the start of winter, yet hundreds of thousands of children are already having their learning disrupted. We all agree that a functional test and trace system is crucial to keep teachers and children safely in schools. How many pupils and staff are currently waiting for a test result or are forced to isolate? Why have the Government not included school pupils on the list of priority groups for testing, as the schools Minister promised?

Last month, the Prime Minister ordered parents back to work, and while it may not have occurred to the Prime Minister, I want to draw the Secretary of State's attention specifically to their need for wraparound care at the start and end of the school day. Can he set out precisely what he is doing to ensure that working parents' need for wraparound care will be met?

Ms Green inquires why the Secretary of State ignored warnings about dangers in the system of calculated grades from a former senior official, regulator, and what happened in Scotland. She asks for an explanation on these matters.

The right hon. Gentleman will have read yesterday's damning report from the Social Mobility Commission, which highlights a failure of coherence and effort across Government to address this important agenda. Will he put his personal authority and the weight of his Department behind developing and supporting a cross-Government strategy to ensure that we narrow inequalities and injustices?

I am concerned about sensible, balanced regulation of online harms centred on a duty of care for online platforms. Can I urge the Government to bring forward legislation as soon as possible and provide details on the draft age appropriate design code?

What assessment has been made regarding the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the economic situation in Greater Manchester? The public transport system is vital for its recovery but funding provided to help Manchester Metrolink is inadequate. Given that social distancing will reduce capacity, will the Treasury fully fund Metrolink's operation?

We all want to crack down on tax avoidance but legitimate contractors in my constituency face uncertainty about their status and tax liability thanks to unclear HMRC guidance and the unreliability of CEST—check employment status for tax—and the firms they work for are cancelling contracts because of the confusion. What is the Minister doing to address their concerns?

What steps is he taking to review the implementation of changes to the off-payroll working rules; and if he will make a statement?