Select Committee
Parliament

Conservative Trudy Harrison says the report "combines ambition and action" but says she has concerns about multi-academy trusts.

George Osborne says there have been some good success stories, and is proposing tougher governance of multi-academy trusts, so people have more confidence that errors will be picked up and dealt with.

House of Commons
Parliament

The Commons sits at 11:30am today to hear Wales questions, then at 12pm, we can expect the Chamber to fill up for PMQs.

At 12:45pm, there is one ministerial statement, given by the Health and Social Care Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on breast cancer screening. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth will be replying for Labour.

Until 7pm today there's an opposition day debate on Windrush. Labour has tabled a motion to hand all correspondence relating to the matter from 2010 onwards to the Home Affairs Committee.

It is being reported that Conservative MPs are being three line whipped to vote against the motion.

Select Committee
Parliament

"The Northern Powerhouse was based on an economic concept" about creating a "cluster effect" between the big cities in the north of England, says George Osborne.

He says that if people are brought together, an economic area to rival Greater London can be created.

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Lucy Powell asks whether there is a danger of "doing down the north" with reports like this one.

"I think that all of us are passionate about the north of England, and how it can be greater still," replies George Osborne.

He says educational performance in the north has improved over recent years - "it's not going backwards" - but things can be improved more.

Select Committee
Parliament

George Osborne points to Teesside as an area "really benefiting" from having an elected mayor.

"I would hope.. that in the northern part of the north east, something similar would happen."

He adds that he'll "leave it to the local elected politicians to sort out".

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Ian Mearns asks why there isn't a single opportunity area in the north east of England.

"I would hope if the programme expands... that the north east would be the location for one, if not more of those zones," replies George Osborne.

He says that primary school education is "excellent" in the north east, but struggles at a secondary level.

"That suggests to me that there are lots of good ingredients to work on there."

Select Committee
Parliament

"You need a determined, national effort to turn around educational performance in the Northern Powerhouse," says George Osborne.

He tells the committee that he thinks it would help if the initiative was driven from the north of England, proposing an "over-arching Northern Powerhouse educational board" which would give "ownership" of the initiative.

The Speaker's former private secretary breaks a non-disclosure agreement to speak to Newsnight.

Select Committee
Parliament

Lord O'Neill says that one of the most "revealing things" he and his colleagues discovered when researching the paper was the amount of "volatility" in the north.

Henri Murison says that not enough schools in the north are doing what the best ones are doing. He calls for a centre to be established, that would look at what works in those institutions that are managing to transform standards.

Select Committee
Parliament

Why do you think we have got to this situation in the north? asks Robert Halfon.

George Osborne says he looked at the issue a lot when he was chancellor.

"I think the north has not had that focus. It has not had a collective effort... to really improve the educational performance of the north of England. I think it can really be done."

He adds that it is a "deep-seated problem" that has gone on for a number of decades.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, hoc

George Osborne thanks the committee to allow him and his colleagues to give evidence.

He says educational performance in the north of England is "not as strong as it could be" and adds that he believes something can be done about it.

Mr Osborne adds that the economic performance of the north has lagged behind the south of England.

He says Northern Powerhouse Partnership's report Educating the North outlines practical steps that Parliament and government can take.

Select Committee
Parliament

The committee hearing is just getting underway now. The full list of witnesses are:

• George Osborne, Chair, Northern Powerhouse Partnership
• Lord Jim O’Neill, Vice-Chair, Northern Powerhouse Partnership
• Henri Murison, Director, Northern Powerhouse Partnership

Welcome to our coverage of the day's events at Westminster - another day of drama ahead.

With PMQs at noon, and a debate on Windrush generation in the afternoon, there is plenty going on in the Commons chamber.

And the Lords will be turning to report stage deliberations on the EU Withdrawal Bill today from 3.30pm onwards.

First, we'll be turning to the Education Committee session, where they'll be questioning former Chancellor George Osborne.

No 10 says the House of Lords defeat in a key vote risks tying negotiators' hands in Brexit talks.

House of Commons
Parliament

The government conceded a move to force British overseas territories to have greater financial transparency, in a bid to stave off a defeat in the Commons today.

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan said the government accepted an amendment from Conservative Andrew Mitchell and Labour's Margaret Hodge.

The move would require tax havens like the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands to introduce a register revealing the beneficial owners of assets held in those jurisdictions.

The government had faced a potential defeat on the issue - but Sir Alan says the government had not wanted to damage the territories' autonomy.

"We've listened to the strength of feeling in the House on this issue and accept that it is without a doubt the majority view of this House that the overseas territories should have public registers."

In addition, MPs from the main parties signal their backing for the so-called "Magnitsky amendements".

The government's agreement to bring forward the move, which Opposition MPs have been calling for, follows the poisoning of the Skirpals in Salisbury.

Tributes

The Commons also paid tribute to the former Commons speaker, Lord Martin of Springburn, who died at the weekend.

He was in the Speaker's Chair before John Bercow took over. A Labour Party politician, tributes came from shadow leader of the House, Valerie Vaz, as someone who had been born in poverty and yet became the first Roman Catholic to sit in the Speaker's Chair since the Reformation.

The Commons starts tomorrow at 11:30am, with Wales questions. At 12pm we'll be turning to Prime Minister's Questions. The afternoon's business is an Opposition Day debate on the Windrush issue.

The Brexit Secretary says a lack of devolution in Northern Ireland is making the issue harder to solve.

House of Commons
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The final business in the Commons today is the Prisons (Interference with Wireless Telegraphy) money resolution.

The bill was introduced by Conservative Maria Caulfield and allows the secretary of state for justice to authorise mobile network providers to interfere with mobile phone signals to disrupt unlawful use of mobile phones in prisons.

Money resolutions authorising spending of money from Parliament in the event of costs arising from a bill.

Prisons Minister Rory Stewart says the approximate cost will be in the "low millions per site" after questioning from Labour's David Hanson.

Conservative Maria Caulfield, who introduced the bill originally, says she believes it will allow those working in prisons to have safer jobs.

Shadow justice minister Imran Hussain says that Labour support the bill, but they do have issues with the "callous" attitude with which the government is treating prisons.

He says it has taken five months for the money resolution to be brought forward, adding "there was no reason for delay".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Shadow Foreign Office minister Helen Goodman says "we on this side of the House accept the need for this bill in the post-Brexit environment".

She says when it was first introduced to the Lords it had a "bundle of flaws" but that Labour and crossbench peers have "improved the bill substantially".

She adds that she is pleased that "the House is now united" on the need for the Magnitsky clauses in the UK.

With that, the bill passes.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan says that the bill has been a "long time in the making," and that the UK is going to continue the "international order under a rules-based system".

He says that the world changes, and that there are alterations to what the country faces.

He says power to engage in sanctions is tied to the European Union, but this bill is necessary for autonomous powers after the UK leaves.