Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely slammed the Isle of Wight Council’s handling of school place planning in Parliament yesterday (Monday), with the Education Minister confirming that the Government has concerns over education on the Isle of Wight.
During Education Questions in the House of Commons, Mr Seely said:
“On the Isle of Wight, Councillors are proving unwilling or incapable of delivering a school place plan despite their legal duty.”
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Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, then reprimanded Mr Seely for ‘drifting’ away from the main question before allowing him to continue.
Mr Seely went on:
“Will he work with me to ensure the Isle of Wight Council acts to fulfil its legal obligations? At the moment they are letting down parents and pupils and teachers.”
Education Minister, Nick Gibb, responded by saying:
“My honourable friend is absolutely right to raise this issue. We are aware that the Isle of Wight is experiencing a decline in numbers of primary age children which is creating surplus places.
Article continues below this advertisement “The Department is closely monitoring the situation and the Southeast Regional Director is meeting with the Local Authority next month to discuss this and other concerns that we have with the Isle of Wight.”
Mr Seely recently raised his concerns about the issue with Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, when she visited the Island earlier this month. He has also written to Education Ministers about the issue.
Speaking after parliamentary questions Mr Seely said:
“I am worried about a number of issues in relation to Island education at the moment. The Alliance-led Council is letting our young people down.
“Headteachers say – for the good of Island children – several small schools must close. Nobody likes the idea of shutting schools, but worse is allowing schools to fail. School funding is based on pupil numbers.
“Fewer pupils equal less funding. There are 200+ vacant primary school places. The result is that some schools have too few pupils whilst others are starved of funds.
“Councillors have shilly-shallied twice over the summer, creating a shambles. Letting schools collapse is cruel and incompetent. Debts rack up. Teachers quit. Parents take children out of school.
“I’ve told ministers to get tough on indecisive, left-wing Isle of Wight Councillors. I won’t let them get away with failing our kids and our teachers.
“I raised the issue in Parliament today and I am pleased to say I have a commitment from the Government that they will work with me to make sure that the Council do not fail in their legal duty to plan for school places.”
Who has been in government for the last 12+ years????? If you built a system where councillors have more power than you, then you are at fault.
I think bob,its you that is unwilling and incapable,typical tory,blamimng someone else,remember the last tory council closing schools?
or have you forgotten that,idiot,sooner you get voted out,the better!
The result of too many over child bearing age mainlanders driving younger Islanders away.by forcing up house prices. It has been part of IWC policy for years to have 10% population inflows from England. It is in their planning policy documents. It is daft and never been debated at any election as nobody puts forward the alternative.
I expect the naive will welcome flotsam to swell class numbers as our race is lost forever, at least they will, until they see the ‘coincidental’ rise in drugs, stabbing, rapes, muggings, and every housing estate a no go areas after dark.
But then, too late.
A high price for keeping our smaller schools open imo.
Just ‘accept’ we are a retirement Isle and be GLAD of it, for with this news, soon you will be glad to be stuck behind someone driving at 20, or smelling wintergreen ointment in the doctors queues. At least your car won’t be stolen or your phone and wallet gone.
You will eventually become old and infirm and need someone to care for you.
With the best young native Islanders leaving for better opportunities than a “retirement isle” can offer, who do you think will be wiping your backside for you?
Almost certainly going to be those you describe as “flotsam”
Enjoy.
So other half.. What YOU are suggesting is, the newcomers will be happy to wipe backsides as our own young are too clever to do so?
Surely that is more insulting to them than someone like maggot saying how so many act once safely allowed to stay.
So you wrongly assume that these foreign guys and gals, will happily wash bums forever, and not do as we see in every inner city, just do as the idle spongers here do, have lots of kids and get the state to fund their offspring a free home, free council tax, and endless amounts of extra as well as hundreds a week for doing nothing.
Do you really think foreign people are that stupid?
They bypass rest of Europe for the UK for the easy life
Oh, do grow up.
You know as well as I do that there are basically two classes of Island youth.
The strivers and the scroungers. The strivers leave while the scroungers wouldn’t touch hard work with a bargepole.
So, choose. Who do you want caring for you when you are old and infirm? A layabout Brit or a hard-working foreigner.
Because that’s the choice you will have.
Fact.
Whether you like it or not.
Look at all of the sad gammonistas who can’t take the truth.
Pathetic.
You will get old, and there will be an immigrant caring for you because no British person will want the job.
Get used to the idea.
‘our race is lost forever’…. please get into the 21st Century. Are you referring to the human race?
No, he’s trying to be “subtly” racist.
Racist AND ageist! What else could one expect of the younger generation on the Island!
Left-wing my ass, lol.
I guess delaying renters’ bill reform by Tories is going to help and encourage young families with little wealth yet to have their kids on IOW?
Or is it going to mostly help those already owning anssets and get us even more pensioners who can afford to move to IOW?
Left wing council? Really Bob? Is this just you trying to settle scores before you’re booted out at the next election/
So our utterly incompetent council is being humiliated in front of the whole country. However, their complete failure to make any decisions is not down to politics but instead it is down to the pig-headed idiots running the council. All they care about is staying in “power” because they obviously gain benefits from their positions. It is time for central government to take control of the council and get rid of these idiots. We are paying extortionate amounts of council tax to keep schools open that are only burning money, and they should be shut down asap. Get rid of all other waste and redundancy in the council, and cut our council tax.
A problem is increased by large scale immigration into the UK.
Whilst the Island has lower amounts of immigrants, the areas which are inundated with such create an exodus of older people, who no longer feel at home or comfortable in their areas and head to places like the Island to retire.
This pushes up house prices, and of course these older affluent people are childless.
So, what happens is, the lower end, unemployed, and part time workers have children, but then have to claim hundreds a week in benefits, free or cheap rent and c.tax to support them.
The result being that many of the children in our schools are low achievers due to background, and thus schools get low gradings preventing young affluent wishing settle here
The only reason older people move to the IOW is because of immigrants? You really are a dunderhead.
Careful Bob. More and more people are recognising sad “leftie” gaslighting slurs for the lazy and deliberately divisive nonsense that they are.
Have you tried running the country properly, not handing tens of millions to millionaires to buy jets and yachts with, and not flooding our rivers and oceans with raw human poo?
Left wing , right wing ,council who knows, I do know the majority of the alliance are labour leaning if not rabid corbyn supporters, why can they not be honest,undoubtedly because they would not be elected under the red banner. The likes of corbyn and nandy still lurking in the wings tend to frighten the old folk who as a large group still take their voting responsibilities seriously.
What is this idiot going on about, it is because of the tories and him that ALL schools, hospitals are in a mess, over 12 years of cuts and “fiddling” have brought things to a head, time for you sausage bob and this pocket lining government to go.
‘Sound bites’, occasionally banging the table and a bunch of smiling photoshoots all mean nothing unless you’re actually willing to pull your sleeves up and put the graft in to work with people to resolve local issues. (yes, that does require effort…)
Can I suggest that you start with running a local surgery? If you don’t, some might assume you aren’t really bothered by the needs of your constituents.
Seely’s gaslighting attempts are getting more and more desperate and more and more extreme.
The Council may be incompetent, but they are certainly not left wing.
He’s playing to his gullible voter base audience, the swivel-eyed minority who post here linking everything to migrant boat people.
Just surprised he didn’t describe them as “woke”. The gammonistas would love that.
Definitely agree with your comment about our politicians attempting to distract the population by deflecting the attention onto ‘boat people’. Never any accountability!
See through it folks, it’s gaslighting and deflection 101; they don’t want the light shining on their failings to get to grip with the REAL issues facing the country (inflation, low productivity, NHS & education on its knees, infrastructure crumbling, crime…).
Left wing? The guy really is a wally.
So if you do your research before posting look at the alliance councillors and their voting record especially on the schools situation, having done that look at who they support and their previous allegiances and he may be right about their left wing leanings.
I suspect someone like you would consider Oswald Mosley as “left leaning”
The Councilors and the Freemasons are totally ruining this Island. Too many people here now. Not enough infrastructure for everything. When are these people in the whole country realize that we cannot keep taking people from every country that has a war, then house them above people who have been waiting on a council list for years!!
Our education is shocking and schooling for our special needs is a disgrace. If one of these so called councilors had a disabled maybe they might see how it all does not work. They have no shame except lining their still bulging pockets.
Now are head honcho Mr Jordan, who was in charge of transport ( floating bridge ) was convicted of drink and drug driving!! Work that one out.
Wake up before too late !
Seeley couldn’t slam a door properly. He may as well keep quiet, nothing he can say or do will change the inevitable outcome of the next general election. The end of the conservatives as a viable party for decades to come.
“The end of the conservatives as a viable party for decades to come”
Oh, I do hope so…..
Alas there are still a large number of brainwashed voters who still hang on to the belief that the CONservatives want to help them have a better life,.. where as the reality is that all the CONservatives really want to do, is help people to give more of their money to the already rich.
& their latest trick,…(removing the cap on Bankers Bonuses) is just another way of doing that,..
it does absolutely nothing to help 99.9% of the population, but helps the Greedy Bankers cream even more off the pile…
If I’m wrong we are all screwed, including 90% of the idiots who vote for them.
And for those that have forgotten, or are too young to remember;
excessive Bankers Bonuses (allowed by, and encouraged after, the CONservative’s deregulation of the banking industry), encouraging more and more risky financial trading, was one of the major contributing factors in the 2008 financial crash.
[Yes, OK,.. Blair didn’t help,.. but then ‘Tony Blair MP’ is an anagram of “I’m Tory Plan B”]
The fall out from which was the reason for the CONservatives more recent policy of ‘Austerity’ (bleed the public sector, while the Rich still get Richer), which starved the public sector of proportionate funding, which is why UK sectors like Health, Education and Policing, are in such a state now.
I would quite happily take bets from any of you lot that Seeley will keep his seat at the next election. His majority is massive and the people of this island are true blue voters. Any takers for a bet???? Fifty quid maybe?
Absolutely,… NOT
‘cos if he (and his puppet masters) do get back in at the next election,. We’ll all be a lot more that £50 worse off than we would be otherwise… (well that is: us ‘Normal’ folks,.. the rich will just get even richer)
I might be enclined to bet the other way,.. ‘cos for £50 it would be worth it to get rid of the CONservatives…
It’s a weird one, Daily Mail has convinced the ignorant masses that Tories are not racist enough.
I think the turn out numbers will be remarkably low.
“Seeley will keep his seat at the next election”
maybe I should take your bet,…
because he won’t keep his seat,.. ‘cos his seat (as it is now) won’t exist any more
if he does get re-elected he’ll be MP for ‘West Wight’
and therefore,.. he’ll only be half an Isle of Wight MP,…. kind of appropriate for Half Sausage Seely……
Tory blames others for mess of Tory making. There have been 10 education secretaries since the Tories came to power thirteen years ago. Don’t pretend it’s a priority Bob. It’s a deflection from the dreadful state the country is in.
Seesaw politics, vote x in, get fedup, vote x out. Try same with Y, doesn’t work let’s try Z…Go back to X.
Until you lose the unreliable and outrageously priced ferries for a fixed link. young people will continue to leave for better jobs.