A bright start – tackle child poverty and school exclusions

School should be the foundation of a successful career.  But our child poverty rate is horrendous.  The medium-term solution is getting more money in parents’ pockets through higher wages.  But this is urgent.  Which is why I’ve been funding our Child Poverty Prevention programme in 90 schools – hailed as a model of best practice.  It directly tackles school uniform poverty, kids being priced out of after school activity, and gives discreet welfare rights advice to families, in one case netting them £11,000 in backdated benefits for their disabled son they didn’t realise they were entitled to.  I’ll also work with our local councils to make sure every child who is entitled to free school meals gets them.

The North East has twice the national rate of kids permanently excluded from school.  Often by academy chains to make their stats look better. I know of kids being taxied across Northumberland for three days a week, and no one knows where they are on Thursday and Friday. This is stunting their education and curtailing their futures before they’ve even left school. We need to provide proper alternative provision, so kids stop falling through the gaps.

Devolution of the careers service will enable us to link skills courses, employment opportunities, local businesses and the public sector to give young people a pathway into work that works for everyone. I want to extend this to lifelong support – let’s face it, technology is moving faster than ever, and many people need advice and support as adults.