On Sunday 18th October Andrew met with a delegation of parents from Gidea Park School who voiced their concerns about the potential expansion and the impact this would have upon their children’s education.
This week Andrew was successful in the ballot for Prime Minister’s questions and took advantage of the opportunity to relay their concerns to the Prime Minister and ask if the government will provide adequate resources for schools in Havering.
The extract from Hansard is included below
Andrew Rosindell: On Sunday, I met parents from the Gidea Park primary school in my constituency to talk about the huge increase in the birth rate and the need to expand schools in outer London. There is a crisis at the moment. Will the Government ensure that there are adequate resources for outer London boroughs such as Havering, and is the Prime Minister prepared to meet a delegation of parents and members of the local council to discuss how we can resolve this serious issue?
The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend raises an important point. We spent £5 billion on new school places in the last Parliament and we will spend £7 billion in this Parliament. I will look carefully at what is happening in outer London, but there is no doubt that there are pressures in our system. He makes the good point that our birth rate is going up, which is replacing our population, whereas the birth rate in countries such as Germany is not. We therefore do not need the wide-scale immigration that we have had and need to make sure that the numbers are properly under control.