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UK has relatively high rate of teenagers missing meals due to poverty, at 11%, OECD survey says
Sally Weale
The results of the latest round of the Programme for International Student Assessment – or Pisa – have been published today, showing UK scores have fallen sharply as a result of the disruption caused by Covid, yet the UK has still managed to inch up the global rankings because so many countries fared even worse.
One high score which is less welcome however is the proportion of UK teenagers who are skipping a meal at least once a week because there is not enough money to buy food.
One in 10 UK 15-year-olds (11%) told the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducts the survey, they had missed meals because of poverty, which puts the UK on a par with countries such as Mexico and Moldova.
In contrast, some of the wealthier OECD and European countries did not want to even respond to the question about food insecurity, because they felt it was not an issue in their country.
The OECD’s Alfonso Echazarra told a London briefing that one in 10 is “actually a relatively large proportion for an OECD country, and I think it is something to think about”. In contrast, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands had the lowest rate of teenagers skipping meals because of poverty among those countries that participated.
On pupil wellbeing, the Pisa survey also found that more than a quarter (28%) of UK teenagers reported being bullied a few times a month, compared with the OECD average of a fifth, and almost two-thirds (64%) said they felt they “belonged” at school, which falls short of the OECD average of 75%.
Key events
Afternoon summary
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The UK has a relatively high rate of teenagers missing at least one meal per week because of poverty, the OEC report says. (See 4.13pm.)
Richard Adams
The University and College Union says the government’s plans to toughen immigration qualifications by raising minimum salary requirements are a “massive own goal” that will hurt the higher education sector.
Jo Grady, the UCU’s general secretary, said:
By raising the [pay] threshold, ministers are sacrificing the ability of UK universities to attract talent, particularly among the early-career researchers who will become the pioneers of the future.
At their current salary levels, many postdoctoral positions will now be closed off to international talent. We are already hearing reports of people in established careers whose visas are coming up for renewal being told that, under these new rules, they won’t be able to stay in their jobs.
Worse still, the near doubling of the threshold for family visas is a callous move that threatens to tear families apart. It will have a disruptive effect on universities, but even more importantly it is just wrong that people’s lives can be turned upside down because ministers feel they have to appease their backbenchers.
This chart, from the OECD’s Pisa report, illustrates the link between pupils’ performance at maths and the likelihood that they might be missing meals due to poverty. (See 4.13pm.) The UK’s performance is marked by the blob numbered 18. Maths performance is above the OECD average, but on the number of pupils missing at least one meal a week it scores higher than average (ie worse).
UK has relatively high rate of teenagers missing meals due to poverty, at 11%, OECD survey says
Sally Weale
The results of the latest round of the Programme for International Student Assessment – or Pisa – have been published today, showing UK scores have fallen sharply as a result of the disruption caused by Covid, yet the UK has still managed to inch up the global rankings because so many countries fared even worse.
One high score which is less welcome however is the proportion of UK teenagers who are skipping a meal at least once a week because there is not enough money to buy food.
One in 10 UK 15-year-olds (11%) told the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducts the survey, they had missed meals because of poverty, which puts the UK on a par with countries such as Mexico and Moldova.
In contrast, some of the wealthier OECD and European countries did not want to even respond to the question about food insecurity, because they felt it was not an issue in their country.
The OECD’s Alfonso Echazarra told a London briefing that one in 10 is “actually a relatively large proportion for an OECD country, and I think it is something to think about”. In contrast, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands had the lowest rate of teenagers skipping meals because of poverty among those countries that participated.
On pupil wellbeing, the Pisa survey also found that more than a quarter (28%) of UK teenagers reported being bullied a few times a month, compared with the OECD average of a fifth, and almost two-thirds (64%) said they felt they “belonged” at school, which falls short of the OECD average of 75%.
Angela Smith, the Labour leader in the Lords, asks if Cameron will agree a UK-EU security pact. She says that he proposed that when he was PM.
Cameron says he expected to be asked to eat his words on occasion.
But he says the Ukraine war has shown how UK-EU security cooperation is working well, without a specific pact.
The Foreign Office questions are now over.
Michael Dobbs (Con) asked about relations with Greece. He says he is a supporter of the Parthenon Project, and asks Cameron if he favours the marbles returning to Greece.
Cameron says he does not agree with Dobbs about that.
Cameron says there is nothing more destructive to a country’s immigration system than having continual and very visible examples of the rules being ignored.
He supports EU efforts to tackle illegal immigration, he says.
Cameron is now dealing with the fourth question, about the EU.
Kate Hoey, the former Labour MP, criticises the Windsor framework.
Cameron says he was not involved in negotiating the Windsor framework, but he thinks it is a superb agreement.
He says he understands Hoey’s concerns about it. He knows the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, is trying to get the institutions of Northern Ireland up and running.
Cameron tells peers he learned as PM UK can get concessions from European court of human rights without leaving
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, a former Foreign Office permanent secretary, says Russia and Belarus are the only countries in Europe that have left the European convention on human rights. Does Cameron agree with Suella Braverman that the UK should join them?
Cameron says, from 2005 onwards, he has been making speeches about the need to put the national interest first. He says that is consistent with staying in the European convention on human rights. He says when he was PM he had a dispute with the European court of human rights on prisoner voting. The court backed down, he claims. And he says in future that some flexibility may be needed again.
UPDATE: Cameron said:
I can go back as far as 2005 and point to speeches that I made that said we always have to put our national interest first, whether that is the need to deport dangerous terrorists, whether it is the need to have an immigration policy that works for our country.
I believe that is consistent with remaining in the ECHR.
But, as I found as prime minister, there are occasions when the ECHR makes judgments, as they did on the issue of prisoner votes, when they said it was absolutely essential that we legislated instantly to give prisoners the vote, and I said I didn’t think that was the case, I think that should be settled by the Houses of Parliament – and the ECHR backed down.
So that sort of flexibility may well be necessary in the future.
Back in the Lords Angela Smith, the Labour leader in the Lords, asks if Cameron is confident that sanctions are properly enforced.
Cameron says he has not specifically asked about this, but he says he will consult his office on this.
Ben Quinn
Overriding the European convention on human rights (ECHR) in an effort to realise the government’s Rwanda deportation policy is a “red line” for moderate Conservative MPs, a grouping representing them has said.
The One Nation Caucus, which represents 106 Tory MPs, said it would be closely examining the details of legislation being brought forward by the government very carefully to see if it maintained the UK’s commitment to the rule of law.
Matt Warman, a senior member of the caucus, said:
Overriding the ECHR is a red line for a number of Conservatives. Protecting and reforming institutions and upholding human rights should be the cornerstone of any Conservative government.
Another MP, the former first secretary of state Damian Green, said the government should think twice before overriding both the ECHR and Human Rights Act.
Cameron is now dealing with the second question, from Labour’s George Foulkes, about Belarus.
Foulkes says 1,500 people have been imprisoned by the Belarusian regime for their political stance. He says the UK should be imposing more sanctions on Belarus.
Cameron says 182 individuals and entities have already been sanctioned. That list is kept under review. This is Europe’s totalitarian regime, he says. He thanks Foulkes for his campaigning on this and says he agrees with the aim of the question.
Asked about claims that Turkish ports are being used to supply arms to Russia, Cameron says it is important to see where dual-use goods are being supplied to Russia. There are concerns about Turkey, he says. He says he raised that with the Turks. But there are concerns about other countries too.
Cameron insists there will be no reduction in military support for Ukraine in 2024
Asked how much the UK will spend on arms for Ukraine in 2024, Cameron says he does not have that figure to hand. But he says support will contain at the scale it has been before, or beyond that.
He says the UK will focus on what it is Ukraine needs.
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