Rachael Maskell
MP for York Central · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“I welcome today’s statement and I welcome the Secretary of State to her place. York hospital was heralded as a cheap build, but we are paying a heavy price today. We know that heat in that hospital will have an impact on clinical outcomes as well as on staffing.”
“The conflict is moving beyond traditional warfare; we are now seeing extensive drone use, mercenaries being brought from Colombia, and the exchange of money too. We also know that Russia has its own interests in weapons and gold. We must look at the minimal interest in Sudan and the developments in Port Sudan at this time.”
“When we think about the fact that 33.7 million of the Sudanese population are in need of humanitarian assistance, 13 million have been displaced, 19.5 million are at levels of food insecurity and need urgent attention, and there are 8 million children who are not in the safety of school every day, getting their education, which will fuel…”
“Will the Minister tell us what progress has been made in that area, how that money has been spent and its impact to date? As we see increasing brutalisation in war, we have to focus even more on how we use international law to hold actors to account, and on the pace of that process, because it takes forever and a day to bring people to ac…”
“In the assault on El Fasher in particular, we saw the systematic raping of women, the burning of people and places, and the escalation in the next chapter of the civil war that has raged since April 2023.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Gillingham and Rainham (Naushabah Khan) on securing such an important debate.”
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“Following is the full text of the petition : [ The petition of residents of the United Kingdom, Declares that the plans to close York’s Crown Post Office and open a franchise in WHSmith are not supported by the people of York, will put the jobs of well trained and and efficient staff at risk and will have a detrimental impact on local retailers and our city centre business community; further that the Crown Post Office was built in 1884 and is one of the last surviving late-Victorian purpose-built post offices still in use; notes this is one of 74 Crown Post offices scheduled by Post Office Ltd to be franchised to WHSmith which CWU estimate will cost £30m in staff compensation alone and will see 800 jobs put at risk and yet the public have not been consulted on this privatisation; further that the Crown Post Office plays a major role in drawing people into the city centre and this change will add to existing pressures on the city centre; further that there are concerns about the sustainability of the store which is located on Coney Street that has seen foot falls drop by 15% over the past 2 years; further notes that research by Citizens Advice in 2016 shows that WHSmith franchises result in longer queueing times, inferior service and advice; further that deep concern about the valued staff whose jobs are at risk and face a future of employment with a company that is closing stores and relies on a business model of low pay and part-time employment; and further notes an uncertain future for a very important war memorial which will be relocated if these plans go ahead .”
“I rise to present a petition on behalf of 1,816 residents of York and a further 1,278 who engaged through online and other petitions: a total of 3,094 residents who, alongside city businesses, opposed a proposal to move York’s Crown post office from Lendal, where it has been located since 1884, to the back of WHSmith in Coney Street, which is inaccessible to many disabled people. The move will be seriously detrimental to my city. The petition states: The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to put an immediate stop to this franchising plan, and to work with stakeholders, including the CWU, to develop a new strategy that sees the Post Office at Lendal safeguarded for the future and retained in public ownership. And the petitioners remain, etc.”
“I know homeless people who have not applied for universal credit because it is so complex. Does my hon. Friend agree that is another failing of the system?”
“Somebody who has had their identity suppressed by the circumstances around them throughout their life does not have dignity in death either, so will the Minister at least make that commitment today in order to move this debate forward?”
“I want to mention the question of ownership again. When it comes to the deaths of homeless people, who has responsibility? Currently no one does. Where is that data held? What is the definition of a homeless death, and can we learn from carrying out proper investigations how to improve things? I ask the Minister to make a commitment today that for every person who is homeless and who dies, a safeguarding audit review will be carried out, so that we can learn the right strategies that we need to prevent deaths—to have no more deaths—this year and moving forward. Without ownership, we are not only saying to those individuals that their life has not counted; we are saying that they did not exist.”
“Many people are on the streets because they have experienced trauma, including ex-members of the armed forces, people who have had broken relationships or those who have lost their job. I had a conversation with a gentleman in my constituency. Life turned against him when he lost his job, and he could not afford to live in a city where housing is so expensive. Many rough sleepers are lonely, and many are broken individuals. During the day they may not have anywhere to go. I ask the Minister whether we can ensure that there can be a safe place for people to go 24/7, day and night, where they can get food at meal times. Can we ensure that homeless people get the basic amenity of 24-hour access to public toilets? Those simple things can make such a difference to people who sleep on the street. We must put such systems in place.”
“Let us get the programme rolled out across the country. It will make a significant difference. I understand that Nottingham has a nurse working with people on the streets; let us put such approaches in place. What a difference that will make. It will affect physical health: many communicable diseases including tuberculosis and hepatitis can affect rough sleepers. It will also make it possible to address serious concerns about substance misuse and alcohol dependency, among other factors. Foot care and podiatry and general practice services can also be provided in that way. A rough sleeper in my constituency had serious respiratory problems but was denied anywhere to stay and had to sleep out in the damp and cold. The relevant services need to be in place to provide holistic care for individuals. We also need to get upstream, however.”
“I have reflected on the fact that in many such deaths there are related problems and issues of comorbidity, with 32% being related to drug poisoning, compared with a figure of 0.7% for the rest of the population. Ten per cent. of deaths in that group are alcohol-related, compared with 1.2% in the rest of the population; and mental health is involved in 13%, compared with 0.9% in the rest of the population. That shows the complexity of homelessness, which the Minister understands, but it also demonstrates the need for a public health approach to address the whole issue. Professor Nicholas Pleace of the University of York has provided evidence for the importance of putting housing first. The evidence is there. We do not need pilots anymore. The work has been done, as we have seen in global examples from Canada, New Zealand and Scandinavia.”
“She was therefore turned away from accommodation, on to the streets. My office intervened and found a bed, but we cannot have such things happening on the council’s watch. It is a disgrace. I have talked to the Minister many times about what is happening about homelessness in the city. In the summer, a homeless person came to see me after not being allowed access to their tent, and being evicted from it by the local authority. If that is happening, something has gone seriously wrong. We have heard the statistics, including the figure that 597 people are reported to have died while rough sleeping in the past year. That is a serious crisis and a stain on our systems. It means that people have died unnecessarily.”
“If people reside on our doorstep, we must take responsibility for their lives and give them every opportunity. That includes people with no recourse to public funds—perhaps people who are here without legal documentation. They are human beings. We cannot and must not turn away from that, and it is a matter of shame that so many people have, for such a long time. Before I go on to focus on deaths related to homelessness, I want to raise with the Minister the fact that local authorities still fail people and put them on to the streets. It was bitterly cold last week, and in York it was due to go down to minus 6 °C at night. My office had a phone call from a young woman. She had not complied with all the rules put upon her in the context of the support and services she was given.”
“However, what shook our city was hearing at the end of last year that 11 homeless people had died in York. I went to the council to investigate and find out more about those individuals’ lives. A quarter of the deaths of homeless people in Yorkshire were in my city—a city that everyone tells me is lovely, which it is. Why, then, are these things happening? There is affluence as well as huge poverty in the city. There is huge inequality. The council told me that it was not a question of homelessness; drug dependency and alcohol were the factors. In fact, one person did not count, because they had come down from Scotland. Who do those people belong to? Who has responsibility for those lives? The reality is that often local authorities hand out train tickets so people can return where they came from. We must say that we are all responsible.”
“If the metro Mayor of Manchester can shorten the timescale, and in the light of the progress that has been made in Worthing, there is no reason why the Minister, with the resources in her hands and the power of office, cannot make a significant difference and change the landscape. I therefore urge her to reflect on the debate and to shorten the timescale, so that in 2022 street homelessness in our communities will have been obliterated. We have today heard many reasons for the level of homelessness and rough sleeping, and we recognise how the country’s housing market has completely failed. In York, luxury apartment after luxury apartment is built while there is a housing crisis and people cannot access the market. There are 1,500 people waiting for a house, and people sleep rough every night.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Buck, not least because of your interest and tireless work in the field we are considering. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Neil Coyle) on his opening speech and on his work with the hon. Member for Colchester (Will Quince). There need not be an issue of rough sleeping, which is why we are having this debate. I want to challenge the Minister, as have many hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber, about ambition. I believe that she is committed to the agenda, but that she lacks ambition in talking about 2027 as the date for the end of rough sleeping. That is far too late, because of the many statistics we have heard, and because of the lives involved—lives of people we have personal contact with. People urgently need redress.”
“T4. Employment rights are human rights, so what is the Minister doing to ensure that no trade agreement is signed that undermines our standards in employment rights, health and safety rights and equality rights?”
“Sadly, that is what we have come to expect from the Secretary of State. Thank goodness we have creative and forthright Members of Parliament such as my hon. Friends, who truly speak up for our whole population in Wales and the south-west on these matters and have put forward, yet again, a real case for urgency in bringing forward the transition to a modern railway system.”
“Instead of moving things forward, the Secretary of State announced that passengers beyond Cardiff would need to travel not on the new electric trains—we have heard about the multitude of problems with those—but on bi-modes. We have heard even more scandal about how the bi-modes just do not work. Those trains will still bellow out dirty diesel; they are heavier, more expensive to run and more demanding on the infrastructure. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) highlighted, there have been further problems with the new rolling stock. We have certainly heard that it has not addressed the real issues of congestion; we heard about the “Sardine Express”, and other hon. Members such as my hon. Friend the Member for Reading East (Matt Rodda) have highlighted how hard it is to get a seat on the trains.”
“I would like the Minister to explain to me how the cost of the electrification upgrade ran out of control. The project was costed at £1 billion when the work was first identified under a Labour Government for the full 216 miles of the route; the cost rose to £1.7 billion in 2014, to £2.8 billion under the Hendy review, and now to a staggering £5.58 billion. The cost ran away with itself under the coalition and Tory Governments. I further ask why, when the economic chances of passengers in Wales and of Wales itself were cut, the Welsh Government were not able to access the £700,000 to invest in improvements to their public transport system. That would have been an obvious response, especially given the under-investment in transport in Wales, which my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies) highlighted.”
“Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) opened the debate eloquently, not only speaking powerfully on behalf of his constituents, but advocating innovatively for reform. I know the Welsh Government have sought to bring about reform of the railways in Wales, but they have had their hands tied by the centralist approach of our Government and the Secretary of State for Transport himself. Perhaps that was most noticeable, as we have heard today, when the Secretary of State, without consideration for improving connectivity, reliability and economic opportunity for people in Wales, with the stroke of a pen cancelled the rail electrification programme beyond Cardiff. That shameful act denied some of the poorest parts of the UK the economic opportunity to reach their full potential.”
“Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) that it is 25 years since the Railway Act 1993, so it is clear that the broken model has gone through its growing pains and that it is time for change. The model that we are promoting will address many of the issues and concerns that hon. Members have raised in the debate, not least those raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden), when she talked about the cross-border issues that are hampering the connectivity that we need. We are ambitious, but we are real; we are radical, but we will work within the parameters of the possible. Yet again, I put on record my thanks to industry, individual experts, the travelling public, trade unions and staff, for their engagement in building a plan for a modern integrated transport system, with rail at its heart. My hon.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under you in the Chair, Mr Betts, for yet another crucial debate about our railways. Over the last few months it feels like I have been taking a tour of our nation, as I have felt the pain of passengers who have been badly let down by the way in which our rail service has been run. We have seen cases of incompetence in governance under the Secretary of State, how the whole franchise system is broken, and the cost of that failure to passengers. We have also heard loud and clear the cry for one integrated rail service, in public ownership. It will be a new model of public ownership—unlike the myths peddled by the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk)—that moves the debate forward into a new era of rail. I say to the hon.”
“We have heard how the delay repay 15 system has not been introduced in an expedient way, yet this is a line that has had three direct awards, which will shortly total nine years, when it only had a franchise for seven years. Surely the Government can set the terms to protect the interests of passengers, but they have failed to do so. I would like more accountability from the Minister when he responds on why they keep issuing direct awards, which clearly shows that the franchise system is completely broken and does not enable the state to demonstrate that it can run the railways far more efficiently.”
“Friends the Members for Ogmore (Chris Elmore) and for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) both highlighted how disabled people need a proper service, not only at stations, but on the trains themselves, which has not been delivered even with the new rolling stock. There is a catalogue of problems that must be resolved. My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Luke Pollard) gave the most powerful of speeches in making the case that, five years on from seeing the railway at Dawlish washed into the sea, the Government have yet to drive forward a programme to protect the whole of that vital south-west economy. We must see peninsula rail moving forward at pace now to protect the economy there. Of course, we have the route itself, which is crying out for focus and proper governance.”
“What the Welsh Government have been able to demonstrate is that rail is not an entity in itself, but is fully integrated into the economy and connected with other transport routes. I thank my hon. Friend for bringing that point into the debate. The most powerful arguments I have heard in this debate have come from the voices of passengers, which hon. Members have reflected. We have heard their pain and their stories of woe. The fact that passengers across this line are paying 20% more but getting a worse service is frankly unacceptable. We have heard about innovations that are needed to upgrade stations and making them safe. My hon.”
“It was the Secretary of State who failed to hold the companies to account. It is not the staff’s fault that Network Rail, which is accountable to—guess who?—the Secretary of State, failed to deliver the infrastructure on time.”
“I will not, because of time. As frustrations have grown, we have seen satisfaction plummet; we have heard how vexed and unsatisfied passengers are with the poor service on that line. It was last year’s timetable fiasco that really brought all those issues into focus. Staff themselves, as some hon. Members have highlighted today, have been professional and incredibly patient in their dealings with the public, and have received a quantum of abuse in trying to keep people safe through this time. It is not their fault, after all, that the Secretary of State meddled in the planned timetabling process by changing his mind over the projects he was cutting. It is not their fault that the private companies could not get their act together to have the trains delivered and up and running on time, with proper testing of the system.”
“I do not have time, I am afraid. The Secretary of State, who treats this vital public service as if it were his own personal train set, is culpable for the pain experienced by customers. It demonstrates the weakness of this Prime Minister that he is still in post. Those who have sought recompense for their loss have clearly seen an inequitable response in terms of the compensation they can access; we have heard today that half of passengers do not even know how to access the compensation system, and that the network itself has paid out £22.6 million in compensation over a period of just two years. This Government, as my hon. Friends have highlighted, have made promises to passengers time and again, and have let them down badly. Let us get Britain moving again, as our Labour Government will when we come to power.”
“Over 50% of York children from disadvantaged backgrounds are not school-ready by the age of five, and only 46% of those qualifying for free school meals are ready by the end of year 1. York has the highest attainment gap in the country. We also receive the worst funding for our schools. What correlation does the Secretary of State draw between the two, and will he meet me to discuss how we can improve the chances of children in York?”
“Before coming to this place, I was a respiratory physio and worked with many people with cystic fibrosis. The cost of hospitalisation and treatment far outstrips the cost of this drug for many people with cystic fibrosis. Should not the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence change its criteria and look at the value of life, instead of only the day-to-day cost of this drug?”
“The Centre for Cities report published yesterday shows that there is low productivity in York but also serious levels of underemployment. What are the Government doing to address underemployment and ensure that we get the maximum benefit for our economy?”
“Does not the hon. Lady agree that many homeless people have nowhere else to go during the day, and they are therefore just moved on time and again? The only solution is to ensure that people have secure housing, and the Government target nine years from now is, quite frankly, far too late.”
“City of York Council has presided over a net loss of social housing, and, according to a report published today by Centre for Cities, its level of house building has been one of the worst in the country. We have a serious housing crisis. What steps will the Minister take to ensure that our Tory and Liberal Democrat-controlled council builds the housing that is so desperately needed in our city?”
“16. It is clear, in the light of so many fatalities in the criminal justice system and in the community, that the war on drugs is not working, so will the Minister set out what steps she is taking along the lines of the public health framework to ensure that fatalities are reduced and that public health workers work together with the criminal justice system?”
“We will radically change the way that our rail system operates, for the benefit of all those who use it. I thank the Transport Committee once more for its work and its ongoing focus in holding the Government to account over the way that rail is advanced in our country. Governance is absolutely crucial if we are to ensure that we have value for money, deliver for passengers and ultimately have a system that makes our economy strong yet again.”
“The opportunities for our railways are there to be grasped, whether it is putting in the full Crossrail programme for the north, or investment in the eastern region, as the right hon. Member for Witham (Priti Patel) highlighted, or making greater transport connections into Heathrow, or, although not represented today, implementing the peninsula programme in the south-west. We must ensure good connectivity, which is absolutely vital, and sustained investment work all joined together. I think these are really exciting times for the future of rail, as we move forward. Certainly I look forward—it may be very soon—to my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald) becoming the next Secretary of State for Transport. We have spent so much time with the industry. We have done the work. We do know what is needed.”
“It is absolutely imperative that we have carbon budgeting across our transport system. That issue was raised in the report, but the Government response was dismissive, so it is crucial that we continue to press the issue. Secondly, I am deeply concerned about the skills needed to deliver all that is contained within this excellent report. I ask the Chair of the Select Committee and the Minister to reflect on skills. Not only with Brexit, but with an ageing demographic across the rail industry workforce, we face real issues and challenges: we are on a cliff-edge of skills. I ask the Minister exactly what is being done to ensure that we have the opportunity to expand our railway, as we know we must. We have heard this afternoon from hon. Members from across the regions.”
“We have read the Glaister report on the impact of what happened, but we must learn lessons, and attitudes at the heart of Government must change. There must be greater accountability and the Secretary of State must take full responsibility as we move forward to enhance our railway system. I want to draw out one or two other points in the Select Committee report that are crucial as we look to the future of rail. First, we must ensure that we prioritise cleaner technologies in our rail enhancement programmes. We have real opportunities, but we are falling behind other nations. We must ensure that we put the environmental impact of our transport system at the heart of decision making. Transport accounts for 29% of carbon use in our country, so it will be the game-changer as we move towards ensuring a reduction in emissions.”
“The northern powerhouse and the links between Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield present a real opportunity to boost the economy of the north, and everything that will swing from that would be such an improvement of people’s lives and social mobility, which is why we want proper rebalancing as we move forward. Hon. Members have drawn attention to that, not least my hon. Friend the Member for Oldham West and Royton (Jim McMahon) in his powerful contribution. As we bring the programmes together, we need to ensure that we bring track and train together and move the silos of discussions into one integrated place, because not doing that and the changing of mind on programmes led to the catastrophic failure in the timetable that so many passengers faced in the summer.”
“It is absolutely crucial, therefore, that lessons are learned and that there is a smoothing of scheduling as we move into control period 6. Our proposals for the railway would see a longer-term smoothing of scheduled work, which would fit in with the growth of the economy—as so many hon. Members have highlighted, our transport system interweaves with future economic opportunity. We have heard about the inequality and the regional disparity across our network. If we are serious about communities outside London—the further north we head, the less spending there seems to be on our railway, which is reflected by the number of people who are able to use it—it is absolutely crucial that we get the rebalancing toolkit right, and that we ensure that it is mandatory and fully utilised, to the advantage of all communities across our country.”
“The Transport Committee certainly drew out the importance of that, and of the whole electrification programme and the digital rail opportunities that it would bring, which my hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner) also highlighted. We have seen the reality of where lumpy, boom-and-bust scheduling leads: additional costs to the rail industry. Skills and jobs have been lost as a result of those peaks and troughs in the way that rail work has been scheduled. The Railway Industry Association highlighted in particular that a 30% saving could be made if costs and the scheduling of work were smooth. That benefits passengers with regard to the price that they pay for travel, as my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) brought to our attention.”
“The crucial part of that line, between Huddersfield and Stalybridge, will not see electrification. The route will therefore not be fit for future freight, which is vital; journey times will be compromised; and reliability will be downgraded. That is crucial, especially in the light of the pain people experienced last summer on those lines. I urge the Minister to complete the whole transpennine upgrade and control period 6 programme, as has been advised by Transport for the North. That will be a game-changer for the northern economy. The only thing that has been guaranteed is more capacity in the rolling stock, but of course, with dirty diesel bi-mode trains. It is time that we moved to using cleaner forms of transport.”
“We clearly need better governance of our system. As hon. Members will recall, it was most astounding when the Government cancelled crucial electrification programmes as Parliament rose for the summer recess of 2017. The Oxenholme to Windermere line subsequently had a heritage railway running on it that summer just so trains could travel to the Lake district at the peak of the season—a vital part of the tourism industry. The Kettering to Sheffield stretch—the midland main line—was subject to a de-electrification announcement. Other programmes were cancelled, such as the Cardiff to Swansea line—it is absolutely vital to Swansea’s economy that power is put into those lines—and, of course, we have heard much about the transpennine route, which has been further downgraded since, meaning a downgrade of a downgrade.”
“The debate has been excellent. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) and to all members of the Select Committee for the excellent work done to pull the report together. We all really value the detail that the report brings to the fore. I certainly concur with all that my hon. Friend and other hon. Members have said about how important it is to get our infrastructure right and for the governance of our rail structure to be in the right place. Clearly, there are lots of question marks over the current system, and that was really brought to the fore as a result of control period 5, where costs ran away with themselves and we saw the rescheduling of work. In fact, £3 billion-worth of renewals—let alone enhancement programmes—will be pushed into the next control period.”
“Yes, I will grant the Minister that. Does he not recognise that the private sector is not investing in rolling stock? It leases the rolling stock off companies and so the amount paid has a massive premium—about a third more, as found out by Merseyrail, which has now purchased its own rolling stock.”
“I would like to return to the transpennine route. From meetings with officials, my understanding is that the challenge is not in the tunnel but across three bridges. For that reason, the electrification programme has not been advanced between Huddersfield and Stalybridge, which is the real game-changer. The challenge is also to make the necessary upgrades to accommodate future freight. Will the Minister assess the advice from Transport for the North to ensure that the proper full upgrade is brought to the line? It would have a significant impact on reliability and will drive efficiencies in the system.”
“City of York Council is planning to develop the land adjacent to Askham bog, which is a site of special scientific interest. What discussions has the Minister had with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government about development next to SSSIs?”
“Does my hon. Friend agree that the fluctuating nature of fibromyalgia means that the DWP system is not sensitive enough to respond to the challenges faced by those who experience the condition?”
“Does my hon. Friend agree that it is vital that there is a clinical specialist in fibromyalgia within each health economy, whether that is led by a general practitioner or a specialist practitioner, to support people with fibromyalgia right through the pathway in accessing services and in managing their own healthcare?”
“We need not only resources but the right leadership to make real changes in our community. This debate is just a start, and it is important to follow it up. I would welcome a meeting with the Minister to talk about the difficult issues and challenges our city faces, because the funding formula is not working across the board. Finally, the business rates system has failed our community. It is driving people away from the high street, which has a perverse effect on the income received by local authorities. We urgently need the review that was promised two years ago, and I implore the Minister to speak to Treasury colleagues so that that comes to fruition.”
“Such a diminution in funding has consequences that are harming my community, and I implore the Minister to put his money where his mouth is and end austerity by ensuring that local authorities have the resources they need to transform our communities. Labour councillors across York are ready to transform our city, with incredible ideas about early intervention and prevention. Without those resources, however, they will be constrained, and if we are to see a game changer in the way our society works, we must make the right choices. In particular, I reflect on housing investment in our city. Hardly any social housing has been built in York since 2015, and that has had serious consequences for many other factors. We need only turn to the work of Michael Marmot to know the impact of such policies on public health.”
“Thank you for chairing this debate, Mr Walker. Although £44 million has already been wiped from York’s budget, another £4.1 million will go this year—hardly austerity coming to an end. Local authorities are the game changer for introducing early intervention and prevention into a system. Thanks to a perverse decision by my local authority, the budget to tackle substance misuse was slashed by 25%—a £2 million budget lost £500,000—even though we have the highest level of deaths due to substance misuse in the country. We see the consequences of such cuts across York, and I can give many such examples. York also has the worst funded education in the country. Schools are on tight budgets, and that is matched with the highest level of attainment inequality in the country.”