I have been speaking to teachers across my constituency regarding the difficulties that they are facing in their profession and the subsequent strike action that many have been forced to take in their fight for fairer pay.

In January this year I contributed to the Fair Taxation of Schools and Education Standards Committee, you can read the debate here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-01-11/debates/125D89DC-8023-4EE7-B0D4-2915173BBD39/FairTaxationOfSchoolsAndEducationStandardsCommittee?highlight=cat%20smith%20teachers%20schools

Here I was able to pay tribute to teachers, teaching assistants and the parents supporting children at home, who make sure that our kids get the best education possible, as well as, our amazing local youth workers.

I highlighted to the Minister that teachers cannot continue to shoulder the burden for the Government’s failures. The education sector is in crisis, but we have now been saying that for many years, with no active response from the Government.

My contribution further outlined that the Government cannot continue to pretend that they are serious about investing in schools while the vast majority are facing huge cuts, in spite of growing pupil numbers and costs. In Lancashire, 520 out of 564 schools face cuts this year, with £24.3 million needed to restore real-terms per pupil funding to its level last year. The staff who work in those schools desperately want to improve them and provide better for their pupils, but they need the Government to meet them halfway and to help them do so.

I also mentioned rural schools. Lancaster and Fleetwood is proudly home to some fantastic rural schools. I met Rebecca Scholz, who is the headteacher at Scorton Primary School in my constituency and Calder Vale St John Primary School. She is already struggling to make her small rural school budgets meet the needs of her pupils. Those schools do not have school halls, so they have the additional costs of hiring village halls for PE lessons. They do not have school kitchens, so they have to get school meals taxied in from schools further afield that do have kitchens. All of this puts additional costs on these small rural school budgets, and it is making it very difficult for Rebecca to ensure that these schools are sustainable.

Later this year in March, I tabled a question for the Secretary of State for Education to ask whether she has had recent discussions with the National Education Union on offering teachers an above inflation pay rise, you can read the ministers response here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-03-21/170643

I am committed to being a voice for our hardworking teachers, and will support their endeavours to reach a fair pay deal every step of the way.