Education and Training
It is not often you get called up for Prime Minister Questions (PMQs) twice in such a short period of time. PMQs is always done by ballot, you put your name in and if you are lucky you come out top - if not you disappear without trace. Two weeks ago I came number two in the ballot, so it is absolutely certain that I am going to be called. And I asked the Prime Minister, I pushed him very hard, to confront the critiques of what I think is a fantastic idea - raising the age at which young people leave education and training to the age of eighteen. This is different from the school leaving age; this is not about keeping youngsters in school until the age of eighteen. This is making sure if they go into a job that it includes training, an apprenticeship or even if they go into community or voluntary work that it involves some training. So lots of options, and of course if they want we can encourage them to stay on in school or college. Children are children until eighteen in our country and if every child does matter then the real outcomes for children should be positive ones. We should keep young people in some form of education and training as long as possible. All the reports now show there are a shrinking number of unskilled jobs. There are very few jobs for unskilled workers in our country. There are up to 2.3 million now there will be only 600, 000 by 2020 we have to act fast. So we need to get on with it, we need to make sure everyone in our country uses all the skills and potential they have. So I pointed that out to the Prime Minister and asked him to confront the opposition. Some of them, David Cameron in particular, have tried to dismiss these proposals as a stunt and have attempted to argue that it was keeping young people trapped in school until eighteen. In reality it is none of those things. We have to say it loud and clear that this is one of the best things to happen in education and training in my lifetime.
