Government needs to urgently look at suggestion of abuse of extra time provision in exams – Rayner

Angela Rayner, Labour’s Shadow Education
Secretary, commenting on reports that independent school students gain extra time for exams, said:

“Our education system
allows children with special educational needs extra time in exams to ensure
that they are not unfairly disadvantaged. The suggestion that this could be
being abused raises serious questions about the fairness of this
arrangement.

“The
Government needs to look at this urgently to make sure that no school is
abusing the system.”

Ends




Hollow words from Jeremy Hunt as the NHS is suffering from the biggest financial squeeze in history – Ashworth

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary,
commenting on reports that Jeremy Hunt said the problems facing some parts of
NHS England are ‘completely unacceptable’, said:

“These are hollow words from the Secretary of State
this morning. On his watch the NHS is suffering from the biggest financial
squeeze in history and social care is at tipping point. Jeremy Hunt appears to
be finally waking up to the scale of the crisis but he must now accept
responsibility. Instead he offers just hand wringing but no solutions. 

“This week we have seen more and more statistics
revealing that patients are waiting longer, and suffering longer in discomfort.

“Government
advisor Lord Carter has extraordinarily called NHS conditions ‘warlike’ and now
Sir Robert Francis says there is an ‘existential crisis’ for the health service
warning that another Mid Staffs is ‘inevitable.’

“By
making such stark warnings Sir Robert Francis blows apart Jeremy Hunt’s
rhetoric on putting patient safety first.

“The
Prime Minister can’t just put her head in the sand and ignore these astounding
warnings. This is clearly not just a ‘small number of incidents’ as she glibly
suggested.

“The Government’s mismanagement of the NHS is causing
chaos and misery for patients. We
can’t go on like this. They need to listen to the experts and explain
fully in the Budget in a few weeks time how they will put the
NHS and social care on sustainable footing. NHS patients and their families
should never be put through a winter like this again.

Ends




NEWS FROM LABOUR: Shadow Cabinet appointments

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the
Labour Party,
 said:

“I’m pleased to announce
appointments to Labour’s Shadow Cabinet. We have a wealth of talent in our
party and the strength of our shadow team will develop Labour’s alternative
plan to rebuild and transform Britain, so that no one and no community is left
behind.”

The new appointments are:

Shadow Secretary of State for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – 
Rebecca Long-Bailey

Shadow Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – 
Sue Hayman

Shadow Secretary of State for
Wales 

Christina Rees

Shadow Chief Secretary to the
Treasury – 
Peter
Dowd

Ends




Ministers must do much more to ensure that every victim of domestic abuse has access to support they need – Champion

Sarah Champion MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities,
responding to today’s statistical release from the ONS on violent
crime and sexual offences, said:  

“It is unacceptable that hundreds of thousands of women still
suffer violence in the home every year. And the official figures significantly
underestimate the true extent of the problem.

“But under this Tory Government domestic violence services are in
crisis and funding for front-line professionals is being cut.

“Ministers must do much more to ensure that every victim of
domestic abuse has access to support they need.”

Ends




Labour demands a review of Government ending of Dubs Amendment scheme – Abbott

Diane
Abbott MP,

Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, speaking
in response to the Home Secretary’s defence of the Government decision to end
the Dubs scheme prematurely, said:

“Labour
cannot accept this decision. This seems to breach the spirit of the law passed
with cross-party support. Accepting 350 unaccompanied child refugees is far
short of the expected 3,000.

“There
will no doubt be legal challenges to this decision. This government is not
above the law.

“In
any event, Labour commits to meeting the obligations of the Dubs Amendment. We
will restore the scheme and accept some of the most vulnerable children in the
world.”