Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon & East Thurrock, welcomes the opportunities the Levelling Up White Paper brings to improving education locally.
The White Paper sets out what the Government are doing to level up education across the country with multitudes of specific funding packages and support for education in the South East of England.
In the South East alone there has been announcements of; £292 million in funding for mainstream schools, which is an increase in 5.9% per pupil; a new Institute of Technology at South Essex College covering the South East LEP area; 31,800 apprenticeships started in the East of England in 2019-20; 8,990 Kickstarter jobs started by young people; and over £100,000 in funding for the Thurrock Skills Recovery Programme.
Additionally, the Conservative Government has introduced a new national mission to ensure that 90 per cent of children leaving primary school in England are reaching the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths by 2030.
Stephen Metcalfe said: “As a passionate supporter of science and technology it is excellent to see the promise of a new Institute of Technology at South Essex College.
This will ensure that there is local access to excellent training and support for those children and young adults wanting to go into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) sectors.
Also, levelling up education is about improving the skill set of those already in work not just about levelling up children and young adult’s education. Therefore, I am pleased to see that over £100,000 has been given to the Thurrock Skills Recovery Programme”.
