Opportunity.

As an MP you occasionally come across some sobering statistics. Here’s one that I find particularly painful. In recent years less children in receipt of free school meals (i.e. those from poorer families) won places at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge than those who won places from just two of our top performing public schools. And in case you are wondering how many children receive free school meals – it’s 800,000. So a small group of children from Eton and Westminster are gaining more places at these two World-class seats of learning than 800,000 children from poorer backgrounds. There will be many reasons for this shocking under-representation of less advantaged pupils and I am not going to attempt to set them all out here. But there is one aspect that led this November to a very rewarding visit to my old Oxford college– that of aspiration. I believe that for many bright pupils from poorer backgrounds or more generally from non private schools a key reason why they are not winning places at Oxbridge is that they never apply in the first place because they inappropriately feel that it might be beyond them or a place where they will not fit in. So a while ago I got in touch with the three excellent state funded secondary schools in my constituency; South Dartmoor College (Ashburton), QE in Crediton and Okehampton College and offered to take students up to St Edmund Hall, Oxford, to meet tutors, some previous students and tour the college. Students at these schools come of course from a variety of backgrounds but I wanted them all to have an opportunity to discover through familiarisation that the place is not quite as daunting as some assume and to hopefully pick up tips on how to maximise their chances of success. Around 50 students made the visit. The admissions tutor at St Edmund Hall gave a presentation on the University, how to apply and how to get further information. Some current college students took the group around the college and after lunch we met up again in the dining hall for a chat about how the day had gone and what the students thought. One comment was that in many ways Oxford seemed less daunting than expected. That the students who had shown them around were ‘normal’ – a great relief to them no doubt! All backgrounds are represented at Oxford with 58% coming from state schools, which whilst a strong over-representation of the private sector (which educates 7% of the population yet takes 42% of the places) does destroy the myth that Oxford lacks a breadth of different backgrounds amongst its student population.

I am very grateful to the teachers from South Dartmoor, QE and Okehampton College who supported this initiative in such a positive way and hope that we can build on this approach and work together in the future to give our local students every possible encouragement to aim high.

Flooding

The weather has exacted a terrible toll recently. In Central Devon a number of homes have been flooded with some communities particularly hard hit. Recently I joined the Prime Minister to inspect the damage in Buckfastleigh. This followed an earlier visit by the Secretary of State for the Environment who met with residents in Kennford where a significant proportion of the village went under water. No one should underestimate the dreadful misery that flooding causes – to see your treasured possessions and most personal spaces ruined in a torrent of sludge and filth is sobering stuff - I am particularly grateful to those who gave me time to visit and discuss the challenges they now face.

One point I raised with the Prime Minister during his visit is my concern that those properties that have flooded should still be able to obtain affordable flood insurance even though their homes have been blighted. This issue is the subject of negotiation between the government and the insurance industry and I took the opportunity to press the PM further still on it during Prime Minister’s Questions the day after the PM and I had visited Buckfastleigh. He reassured me that he is on the case.

Another vital point on flooding is to make sure that local communities put Community Flood Plans in place. These ensure that the community in partnership with key services can establish effective ways to warn local residents of flood threats and also to precipitate swift local responses. I would urge any community that faces the possibility of flooding in the future to get involved. These important issues are often forgotten when the sun is shining. With these ghastly memories and further danger perhaps close at hand - now is the time for renewed community engagement.

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