Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Education, responding to the Government’s announcement they
will resume plans to sell off the student loan book, said

“Time and again, this Government is
returning to the same failed policies. They have repeatedly tried to privatise
the student loan book, only to abandon the idea when it became clear that it
was a bad deal for taxpayers and a bad deal for students.

“This new attempt at privatisation is typical of the short-sighted
approach to financial management we have seen under the Tories, desperately
swapping future income for a one-off boost to flatter their terrible record on
our national debt, which has almost doubled since 2010.                                                                                                                                                                                           “The next Labour Government will
address the real issues in student finance, by scrapping tuition fees and
bringing back maintenance grants as we build a National Education Service that
will transform Britain into a country for the many, and not the few.”

Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow
Health Minister, responding
to today’s Royal College of Midwives report on agency spending in the NHS,
said:

“The Government’s management of
the NHS workforce has been a disaster for both staff and patients. The country
is now 3,500 short of the number of midwives needed and the RCM say almost
£100m is being used to plug the gaps with temporary staff.

“It’s essential that hospitals are
able to get the right number of midwives in place to keep mothers and their
babies safe. Labour’s research published earlier this year showed a huge rise
in temporary closures of maternity units because of short staffing. The
Government’s underfunding of the NHS is failing families in their time of need.

“Ministers must step in with a
long term workforce plan for the NHS and they should put an end to the
self-defeating pay cap. At the moment too much money is going to employment
agencies when it should be going to frontline patient care.”

Justin Madders MP, Labour’s Shadow
Health Minister, responding
to today’s Royal College of Midwives report on agency spending in the NHS,
said:

“The Government’s management of
the NHS workforce has been a disaster for both staff and patients. The country
is now 3,500 short of the number of midwives needed and the RCM say almost
£100m is being used to plug the gaps with temporary staff.

“It’s essential that hospitals are
able to get the right number of midwives in place to keep mothers and their
babies safe. Labour’s research published earlier this year showed a huge rise
in temporary closures of maternity units because of short staffing. The
Government’s underfunding of the NHS is failing families in their time of need.

“Ministers must step in with a
long term workforce plan for the NHS and they should put an end to the
self-defeating pay cap. At the moment too much money is going to employment
agencies when it should be going to frontline patient care.”

Andrew
Gwynne MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local
Government,
commenting on the National Children’s Bureau’s survey of local councillors
responsible for children’s services, which has revealed that rising demand and
a lack of resources are leaving children’s needs unmet, said:

 "The
pressures facing children’s services are unsustainable, with a combination of
Government funding cuts and huge increases in demand leaving many authorities
struggling to cope.

 "The
Government urgently needs to get a grip of the crisis facing children’s social
services, as the £2 billion funding gap facing these services by 2020 threatens
to put more children at risk.“

Richard Burgon MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, responding to today’s
statement by Justice Secretary David Lidington that the government’s review
into its Legal Aid reforms will conclude by July 2018, said:

 “When people can’t afford to defend their rights, those rights are
worth nothing more than the paper they are written on. Government cuts to legal
aid have priced out hundreds of thousands of people from being able to enforce
their hard won rights.

 “Justice
delayed is justice denied, so it is disappointing that even though the
Government first announced its review nine months ago, it still won’t conclude
for another nine months.

 “The
Government must use this review to fundamentally repair the damage caused by
its legal aid reforms, rather than simply applying a sticking plaster to a
broken system.”