This week we debated skills and education at the County Council. Surrey County Council has launched the most fantastic Skills Strategy that is well resourced and supported by a wide number of businesses and academic institutions. I really do see green shoots in terms of preparing our future workforce as well as providing opportunities for people of all ages to skill up and find new opportunities.
Under Labour our education standards plummeted. We went from 8th in the world to 27th in Maths. 7th in Reading to 25th and 4th in Science to 16th. This has now come through into the workforce and has affected productivity and standards.
Now we are up to 11th in Maths, 13th in Reading and 13th in Science. We need to single digits, but we are heading in the right direction!
Educations matters, it is fundamental to the nation’s future and the kind of society in which we want to live. Everyone should have the chance to get the basics and having been a Governor to an infant school, to a college and to a medical school as well as working very closely with University of Surrey and Royal Holloway University I understand the issues well. I will continue working on initiatives like the Skills Strategy and creating opportunities for all of our residents.