Feryal Clark MP calls out the Government on their lack of proper investment in Children and Young People

This week we saw the resignation of Kevan Collins, the Government’s Education Recovery Commissioner, a damning indictment of the Tories’ “catch-up” plan, which is failing to deliver for our children.

The Government has thrown out his ideas and expertise as soon as it came to stumping up the cash, and their measly tutoring offer amounts to less than £1 for each day children were out of school.

Here in Enfield North, we have seen the real impact of this Government’s lack of serious investment in young people, who deserve so much better.

As a Governor at Bush Hill Park Primary School, I have been privileged to see up close the incredible work teachers and staff have been doing to keep pupils engaged throughout the pandemic.

It is through their tireless dedication that our education system has continued to function, but as we begin our post-pandemic recovery it is vital, that they are given the tools they need to ensure no child falls behind, and this Government are simply not providing them.

When I hosted the first virtual careers fair in my constituency earlier this year, I saw the ambition and passion young people in Enfield North have for their future.

It is these young people who will go on to be the leaders of their future, but this Government is once again failing to show even a fraction of the ambition that our country’s next generation has.

This package is one in a long line of failures on education that we have seen during this pandemic.

Earlier this year, I questioned ministers over their shambolic provision of laptops to schools, with several schools in Enfield North being left without the resources they needed to keep pupils learning during lockdown.

Each of those missing laptops represented a child missing out on their education, and if this Government consistently fails to provide the support schools need, we risk having a lost generation of pupils.

In sharp contrast, Labour’s plan would ensure no child is held-back by the Government’s failures to protect learning and wellbeing throughout the pandemic.

Labour is promising to match children and young people’s ambition for their own futures with a plan that would give schools the resources to transform the extracurricular opportunities available to every child and invest in targeted learning for children who need it most.

Whether it be through ensuring no child goes hungry through breakfast clubs and provision of free school meals throughout holidays, providing quality mental health support in every school, or supporting every child to reach their potential through an Education Recovery Premium, Labour is firmly on the side of children and young people.