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The government continues to “pledge significant packages of investment” to help pupils catch up on missed learning due to the pandemic, Gavin Williamson has claimed.

The education secretary’s comments come after the prime minister’s catch-up tsar Sir Kevan Collins last week resigned, claiming the government failed to provide enough money to fund a proper schools recovery plan.

Sky News understands the proposal put to the Treasury to help schools recover from lost learning during the COVID crisis was worth around £15bn, with 100 extra hours of teaching per pupil.

A £1.4bn package was unveiled by ministers last Wednesday, with the plans denounced as a “damp squib” by unions.

Sir Kevan Collins. Pic: PA/House of Commons
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Sir Kevan Collins quit last week as the PM’s catch-up tsar. Pic: PA/House of Commons

Mr Williamson said on Monday that the total recovery package is now worth more than £3bn, including £1bn that will be spent on tutoring courses particularly for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He claimed the fund would help close the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers.

In the Commons, the education secretary promised a “tutoring revolution” that would result in six million 15-hour tutoring courses for schoolchildren and two million 15-hour courses for 16 to 19-year-olds who need additional support to catch up.

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And he said year 13 pupils would have the option for repeating their final year “where this is appropriate”.

He claimed the evidence showed one course of high-quality tutoring had been proven to boost attainment by three to five months so additional tutoring will be “vital” for young people in recovering the teaching hours lost over the past year.

He told MPs: “Helping our children recover from the impact of the pandemic is an absolute priority. Pupils, parents and staff have all experienced disruption and we know that continuous actions are required to help recover lost
learning.”

He said 250,000 children would receive tutoring this year who would not have had access to it previously, and more than 500,000 would be able to attend summer schools.

Mr Williamson continued “The evidence we have shows that disadvantaged children and those who live in areas that have been particularly hard hit by high COVID rates such as the North East of England and Yorkshire are among those whose learning is most likely to have been affected.

“We have always been clear and will continue to take the action that is required. This is why we continue to pledge significant packages of investment and targeted intervention to help them make up on their lost learning.”

Mr Williamson also thanked Sir Kevan following his departure for “his contribution to these efforts”.

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Labour’s shadow education secretary, Kate Green, told the Commons: “The government failed children and young people.

“They were promised that their education was the prime minister’s number one priority but they’ve been betrayed by a secretary of state who has let them down once again, and by a prime minister who won’t lift a finger for them when it comes to a row with the chancellor about prioritising the investment needed in their future.

“I was frankly embarrassed to hear the Secretary of State proclaim that the funding announced last week would deliver a revolution – from what his government announced it’ll amount to just £50 per pupil for the next three years compared to £1,600 in the USA, £2,500 in the Netherlands.”

Mr Williamson claimed Labour had opposed nearly all of the government’s education reforms, adding that the opposition would “merely parrot what the union paymasters ask it to do”.

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Top Starmer aide quits amid row over messages sent about Diane Abbott

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Top Starmer aide quits amid row over messages sent about Diane Abbott

A top Downing Street aide has resigned after sending sexually explicit messages about independent MP Diane Abbott, Sky News understands.

Paul Ovenden, who was the director of strategy at Number 10, is understood to have left the role on Monday after a number of instant messages from 2017 became public.

Sky News understands he did so to avoid becoming a “distraction” for Sir Keir Starmer, just days after he was forced to sack the UK’s ambassador to the US – Peter Mandelson – over his ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

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The messages, exchanged between Mr Ovenden and a female colleague, contained the graphic retelling of a conversation he reportedly overheard about Ms Abbott while at a party.

The former aide has alleged these were not his original words, but said he “deeply regrets” sharing them.

He said: “I really, deeply regret my sharing this story, and the hurt and embarrassment its publication will cause.

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“Accordingly, I have brought forward my resignation to today as I do not want to be a distraction from the government’s work.”

Diane Abbott
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Diane Abbott

It is understood Mr Ovenden announced to colleagues before the summer recess he was leaving his role, and had planned to leave “quietly and quickly” sometime this month.

However, in the wake of the publication of these messages, Mr Ovenden “brought forward” his resignation to today.

The messages, exchanged with a female colleague and seen by Sky News, described a game of “shag, marry, kill” the aide overheard while at a party in May 2017.

This involved explicit descriptions about suspended Labour MP Ms Abbott.

A Number 10 spokesperson said: “These messages are appalling and unacceptable.

“As the first black woman to be elected to parliament, Diane Abbott is a trailblazer who has faced horrendous abuse throughout her political career.

“These kinds of comments have no place in our politics.”

Sky News has contacted Ms Abbott for comment.

The latest Number 10 resignation comes as Sir Keir admitted he never would have appointed Lord Mandelson to the post of UK ambassador to the US if he had known what he knows now about the extent of his association with Epstein.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he sacked Mandelson last Thursday, the prime minister explained that a “due diligence process” was conducted before he was appointed to the post in February.

“I knew of his association with Epstein,” Sir Keir said.

“But had I known then what I know now, I’d have never appointed him.”

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‘Had I known then, what I know now, I’d have never appointed him’ Starmer said.

Just days before Lord Mandelson was sacked, Angela Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister and housing secretary after admitting she did not pay enough tax on her second home.

She also quit as deputy leader of the Labour Party, an elected post.

Sir Keir’s second-in-command admitted to Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast that she should have paid the higher rate of stamp duty on a home she bought in Hove, East Sussex, as it was her second property.

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Bank of England stablecoin limits slammed by UK crypto groups: Report

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Bank of England stablecoin limits slammed by UK crypto groups: Report

Bank of England stablecoin limits slammed by UK crypto groups: Report

UK crypto and payments groups urged the Bank of England to drop plans to cap individual stablecoin holdings, claiming the move would be costly and hard to enforce.

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SEC chair promises notice before enforcement for crypto businesses: FT

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SEC chair promises notice before enforcement for crypto businesses: FT

SEC chair promises notice before enforcement for crypto businesses: FT

Atkins signaled a departure from the enforcement-first approach of the SEC during Gensler’s leadership, including preliminary notices prior to enforcement actions.

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