Opinion: The continued improvement in education

To further set the scene. My portfolio as a Cabinet Member over the past seven years has always included “Skills and Further and Higher University Education” and we have been able to engage with the Cambridge and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) to deliver many successes for Peterborough. Indeed, the Conservative administration at the time of the formation of the CPCA negotiated twenty million pounds as foundation funding to ensure there would be - at last - a new university for Peterborough.

Education has always been a keen interest of mine and I hope that I have helped to set the Council on the right course to continued improvement. For me as a Councillor it all started back in 2017 when I

was asked by the then Conservative Leader John Holdich to write an education review for our “Primary and Secondary Education” expectations. This turned out to be a 16, 000 word document which had many recommendations and finally formed the basis for an action plan to show that we could raise the standards in our schools, some five years later the improvements have been considerable and very gratifying.

Thanks to my councillor colleagues and our hard working and committed officers and the maintained and academy school leaders all acting together, we have obtained this difficult but very necessary achievement.

In recent years the government has been very engaged to ensure that skills are in the minds of all local authorities as they are so important for the future of our businesses and our lives in general. As we already have a Combined Authority the funding for this is sent to them for us to use in Peterborough, but we still have to negotiate with much determination to ensure that Peterborough gets its full share.

For example, one of the opportunities to do that comes when the Cabinet Member for the Council attends the CPCA Skills committee which should sit regularly to deliberate where the government funding is to be spent to best effect. Engaging with our officers in the Business Regeneration section of the department for Place and Economy is also a must .The same goes for the leaders of our local colleges and university to work together. Sadly, I now fear with the recent change in administration all the hard work done to date may now come to a standstill.

It also worth noting that the CPCA has only recently achieved a Skills Strategy for the whole county of Cambridgeshire which is a poor effort from the Labour Mayor. However, in order to progress our commitment to that opportunity and get a PCC Skills Strategy for ourselves we set up a Skills and Employment board for leaders to attend and work together to achieve this. They should be meeting regularly to discuss how to get to that Strategy for the future. I question whether it still is?

We have two very important Colleges in the city – Peterborough College, part of the Inspire Education Group, and City College Peterborough, which belongs to the Council itself. The former is showing true commitment to the Environment by starting to construct a large building on its Park Crescent site to educate their students about the Green economy and retro fitting They have recently been judged as a “Good College” with outstanding areas. The latter is also a “Good College” and is heavily involved in Adult Education for all including those with Special Needs. I have sat on the board of the City College and can confirm how very determined they are to bring a good life to as many of our local people as possible.

And the jewel in the crown is of course ARU Peterborough. We have been key as Conservatives in enabling that university to be formed and they are now well on the way with the third building on the embankment nearing completion. I’m proud of our track record in improving people’s lives across the city and to have been fully committed to an organisation which will become in time the University of Peterborough. It will have a long-lasting effect upon all of our lives by bringing in large businesses which they can assist with research and becoming one of the foremost universities in this technical age. They have already won three prestigious awards within their sector, and we have become so impressed and grateful for the ambition and vision of their Principal Professor Ross Renton and his enthusiastic team.

To conclude as the Shadow Cabinet for now we intend to ensure this new administration adheres to the same commitment that we have pursued to ensure that the Education Skills and Further and Higher Education sector continues with many future successes - which of course we had already gone a long way to achieve and deliver upon.