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Education Minister Anne Milton says the gap between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils in secondary schools has narrowed by 11% since 2011.

She adds that she is "fully aware" of the funding pressures in further education, and that the government is looking more closely at this area.

"There are more apprenticeships open to young people than ever before", she says, and "this government is working to get young people prepared for work".

Ms Milton concludes by saying "we saw children's education sacrificed for political ideology by the Labour Party", to heckles from the opposition.

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Shadow education minister Gordon Marsden says there is a need to "focus on early years" as the foundation of a good education.

He says that 1,000 Sure Start centres have been lost since 2010, and "parents are paying the price" due to the scheme being "hollowed out".

He says further education has also been dealing with an "average funding cut of 30%" since 2010 and says cuts have led "directly to falling standards" in post-16 education.

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Liberal Democat Baroness Brinton says knife crime should be tackled using a public health approach.

She adds that as violent crime has spread beyond traditional inner-city areas, health services need to follow suit.

Whilst some services are very knowledgeable when it comes to treating knife wounds - for example recognising the importance of treatment before victims reach the hospital - this knowledge is not universal across the country, she says.

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Conservative peer Lord Wasserman - who advises the government on policing - says people often talk about need for urgent action, but very rarely believe in it.

He argues that fast progress can be made, and he saw it done during his time working in New York, in Philadelphia and Miami.

In these communities, elected officials took responsibility for the issue and made sure constituents were aware of what they were doing, he tells peers.

The first step is to believe that police can make a difference, he says.

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That's the debate on school funding finished.

Next up, Labour peer Lord Harris of Haringey opens a debate on recent rises in violent crime.

He says police cuts are a major problem - noting that police officer numbers in London will soon be back to the same level as 20 years ago, despite population rises.

"Gangs feel they can operate on our streets with impunity", he tells peers.

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Concluding the debate, Education Minister Lord Agnew says the government is "increasingly investing more in education".

He adds that in real terms, per pupil funding of 5-15 year olds will be higher by 2020 - and "historically underfunded" schools have seen a 3% increase in funding per pupil.

He adds that the government is "very concerned" about growing mental health issues in young people, but is "putting more resources into this area".

He says ministers are working to ensure that the agency fee costs for last-minute supply teachers are reduced to give schools some financial relief.

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Labour's Emma Hardy raises the issue of "off rolling", where pupils disappear from school rolls just before their GCSEs.

An investigation by Ofsted, external found that in 2016, 19,000 Year 10 pupils disappeared from school rolls by the time they should have entered Year 11.

It has been alleged that the practice allows schools to play the system by offloading children who will do badly in their GCSEs.

Emma Hardy says those who have been "off rolled" include those with special educational needs, those eligible for free school meals, children who are being looked after and some ethnic minorities.

She says they're being "failed by the system".

She also says the number of children being expelled from school is on the rise because "schools cannot afford to be inclusive".

She says schools are forced to expel pupils because they lack funds for pastoral support and don't want unruly children ruining the education of their classmates.

Nigel Dodds MP hits out at the government's refusal to publish the full Brexit deal legal advice.

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Shadow education spokesman Lord Watson of Invergowrie says the Budget earlier this month did "nothing for schools" and the situation "will only get worse".

He says the Education Secretary should have "fought more strongly" for a Budget that "recognises the crisis that schools are facing".

Lord Watson says that as pupil numbers are increasing, "less is being spent per pupil than ever before" in relative terms.

He adds that the narrowing of the curriculum and the growing issue of mental health issues in young people are "another product of disastrous cuts to education".

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Liberal Democrat peer Lord Storey says morale is falling in the education sector, and "budgetary cuts" are to blame.

He says schools are facing "unprecedented challenges" with "an unprecedented lack of money", with teachers walking away from their careers "because of the strain".

He says creative subjects are being cut from the syllabus in many schools "to make easy savings" and that this is "impacting the diversity of pupils' learning".

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Conservative Jeremy Lefroy makes a point about funding differences between schools in different local authorities.

He says he "fully accepts" that schools in some areas will need more money, but says the current differences are "just too much".

Currently funding per child is generally more in urban areas, although there are also disparities within urban areas too.

Funding differences can amount to thousands of pounds per pupil between the best and worst funded authorities. The government's delayed National Funding Formula is intended to address this.

He says he doesn't want to cut money to currently well-funded areas, adding he hopes the "gap narrows, but on a rising tide" to avoid "robbing Peter to pay Paul".

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Labour peer Baroness Massey says total funding for schools has decreased by 8% since 2010.

She says she worries about growing class sizes, lack of equipment and the decline of subjects such as music, drama and sport as a result of funding cuts.

She also calls for more investment in youth centres which are "crucial to social mobility", adding that 600 have closed since 2012.

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Conservative peer Baroness Eaton says "more needs to be invested" in schools, and the rise in children with special educational needs is putting "additional strains" on budgets.

She adds that local authorities feel that they are £36m short of funding to be able to "adequately invest" in special education needs.

However she says the government has invested more in the last five years, "which is welcomed".

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Shadow education minister Mike Kane says it's strange the government has decided to table a debate on a policy area "they've shown nothing but failure on over the past eight years".

Mr Kane, a former primary school teacher, says ministers had previously told critics to judge their education improvements on the PISA rankings, only for the UK to drop down the table.

The government doesn't understand how teaching and development works and refuses to consult with experts, he says.

He adds that ministers are obsessed with "teaching to the test" - the results of which say nothing about real teaching and learning standards.

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Labour peer Lord Knight of Weymouth says over a third of teachers in UK schools have mental health issues because of the "stress of funding cuts".

He says this creates further problems, as many staff members are off sick and "schools suffer declining teaching quality which impacts results".

"This is the spiral of decline," he adds "with school and local authority funding cuts at the heart of this".

He adds that 40% of this year's Maths university graduates would have to go into teaching in order to make up for shortages of teachers in the subject.

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Liberal Democrat peer Lord Addington says "huge cuts" are being made in the area of special educational needs.

Affected children, he says, are "being denied an education through lack of funding".

He adds those who "need more funding the most" are seen as "too expensive" and are therefore facing the most significant effects from funding cuts.

Lord Addington says ministers are trying to save costs on children with special needs by "palming them off as the same as other students".

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Labour peer Lord Bassam says all 43 schools in his area have admitted that "budget cuts are having a detrimental impact on their school's performance".

He says the cuts they've faced have varied between £43,000 and £150,000 a year, and more than half of the schools now have 20% fewer staff members than they did five years ago.

"Classes of over 35 are now not uncommon and this is shameful," he adds.

Lord Bassam says "a change of course on funding our future" is greatly needed.

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With business questions finished, MPs now begin this afternoon's general debate on education standards.

Opening the debate, Education Minister Nick Gibb says the proportion of children attended schools judged good or outstanding has increased to 84%, up from 66% in 2010.

Schools have been given greater control of spending and discipline, whilst GCSEs and A-levels have been reformed and new qualifications added, he tells MPs.

As an example, he says a new multiplication tables check will be introduced in primary schools next year.

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Peers have now started their afternoon debate on school funding, introduced by Labour peer Baroness Morris of Yardley.

She says teachers are saying that school funding today is the biggest challenge they've ever faced, and "the reality of what schools are facing is not being expressed by government ministers."

Baroness Morris says the government has "misused and misinterpreted" statistics to hide the severity of the situation.

"A decade of falling budgets is not what the next generation need, it is not fair and it is not right", she adds.

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Labour MP Clive Efford says the time assigned for MPs to debate the Brexit deal totals 32 hours, which works out at just four minutes per backbench MP, without even considering frontbench contributions.

He asks whether sitting times can be extended, with the Commons sitting until 10pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, sitting a little later on Thursday and the possibility of sitting on Friday.

He says this could create an additional 15 hours for debate.

Andrea Leadsom says the government is determined to provide plenty of opportunities for MPs to debate the deal and have provided five days for this.

There will be a debate on the proceedings for the meaningful vote, she adds, and Mr Efford will be able to able make his proposals.