Yesterday, the Commons voted on a new eligibility criteria for Free School Meals. Under our new regulations, we estimate that by 2022 around 50,000 more children will benefit from a free school meal, compared to the previous benefits system.
Back in January, after a number of South West Conservative MPs threatened to vote against the Government on a key HS2 vote in Parliament, we finally got some movement on the long-awaited Government response to the ‘Close the Gap’ railway report.
As of March 2017 there are 11,659 post office branches in the United Kingdom. The vast majority of post offices (around 98%) are operated by franchise partners or sub-postmasters, who are independent business people. Only around 2% of post offices are directly managed by Post Office Limited.
This week I held a debate in Westminster Hall, our second debating chamber, to explore options about how to finance higher education. The Prime Minister recently instigated a review into how to ensure our system provides value for money and works for students and taxpayers.