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What a week in politics that was! We had the fifth anniversary of the Brexit vote, another report highlighting lack of progress being made by white working class children and there were (and probably still are) some awkward questions to answer for Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
KM Group political editor Paul Francis gives his take on proceedings...
Five years since referendum
The question politicians and others were asking this week was can it really be five years since the Brexit vote? To coin a familiar political slogan, yes it can.
The fact the question is being asked at all illustrates just how complicated exiting the EU is proving to be.
But if people were to be asked how they would vote today, one survey suggests the outcome would be the same.
The snail-like progress may be frustrating for businesses and companies but is is highly unlikely the pace will change.
Anything new?
We have heard a lot this week about the under-performance of white working class children and why it is that they often appear not to share the same aspirations as their peers.
Unsurprisingly, there was not a single answer but multiple reasons were given as to why there was a poverty of ambition among this group.
The issue came to the fore after a Commons select committee report was published which highlighted the extent of the problem.
Was it, though, saying anything new? Not exactly. Five years ago, county councillors carried out a lengthy investigation into the lack of social mobility in Kent grammar schools.
It concluded that considerably more could be done by way of help and encouragement for brighter poorer children to apply for places and to take the 11-plus.
The report said: “It is clear from the evidence that nationally, white working class children are falling behind compared to other groups.
"It is essential that everything possible is done to raise aspirations and provide support to families in areas of deprivation so that their children benefit from an education that is best suited to their abilities, whether it be a grammar or non-selective education.”
The report honed in on a particular issue – the pupil premium fund, allocated by the government to raise the horizons of those from socially different backgrounds.
It said: “That just 57% of high ability children in receipt of Pupil Premium in Kent attend a grammar school, compared to 79% of similar ability children not eligible for Pupil Premium, highlights that concerted action needs to be taken to ensure that more academically able children from poorer backgrounds have the same access to selective education as their more affluent peers.”
Some five years on, the issue of pupil premium money is in the headlines after the government announced it was moving the goalposts by saying eligibility for the additional money would be determined by census data from October last year rather than January this year when more pupils would have been eligible.
In Kent’s case, that amounts to a £4 million cut in the amount available to allocate to schools to help improve performance and cut what is called the attainment gap.
More opportunities for young people
Meanwhile, on a more positive note, Kent County Council has unveiled more details of its £10m “Reconnect” programme – designed to “help get Kent’s children and young people back to enjoying the activities and opportunities they took part in before Covid-19”.
A report detailing how the programme will work makes clear that activities will be based not on academic studies but on providing opportunities for young people to ‘reconnect’ through social events and opportunities.
Doing something rather than doing nothing is to be commended and the scheme will inevitably have things that will work and others that won’t.
A report to county councillors could have done with some judicious pruning to cut out some of the inevitable jargon and buzzwords plundered from the local government thesaurus.
Describing it as a scheme that will “harness the variety of funding streams that exist now, and in the future providing a vehicle for coalescing, corralling and delivering opportunities” is the kind of gobbledegook we could live without.
Awkward questions
The Health Secretary Matt Hancock won’t be the last politician faced with some awkward questions after being caught on camera in a clinch with an aide.
As is common with these tabloid stings, the defence has been to say this is a personal matter and nothing to do with his ministerial remit.
Which is true, up to a point: the aide in question happens to be a long-standing friend and former lobbyist before being appointed as a non-executive director of the NHS.
That has inevitably prompted Labour to ask whether the correct procedures had been followed in her recruitment.
