Easy as ABC to give kids a future
ENSURING your child has basic language skills and can count to ten before they start primary school is one of the most basic requirements of any parent.
Sadly . For those youngsters it’s like starting on the race of your life with both feet tied together.
At the moment the Government aims only for 75 per cent of five-year-olds to be school-ready.
So jobs czar is absolutely right to set a basic skills target for 90 per cent of kids by the time they first become pupils.
Too much damage is done in the early years by parents who don’t even teach their kids how to use a toilet or tie their own shoelaces.
And those who start school without any skills are three times as likely to be on the jobs scrapheap by the time they are 16.
Former Labour Health Secretary Mr Milburn is about to unveil his landmark review into the , which has left a million young people not in , education or training.
It will no doubt set out some sensible solutions. But don’t hold your breath in expectation of welfare cuts to pay for them.
One expert estimates Milburn’s reforms could cost an extra £7billion on top of a bill that is already on course to hit a stratospheric £430BILLION.
The problem is that the endless cycle of handouts only leads to a dependency culture which is self-fulfilling.
And if these plans are all carrot and no stick, will they even work?
Parents on welfare who refuse to teach their pre-school kids the basics must realise their negligence will come at a cost.
Threatening their own benefits would soon focus their minds.
Then perhaps a future generation of youngsters would get the start in life they need from their own family.
Work visa danger
BRITISH sanctions were placed on Russian and Iranian companies for vital reasons of national security.
So how is it possible that a blacklisted oligarch still has the right to sponsor visas for foreign workers that would allow them into our country?
Shadow security minister says it is “utterly absurd” to leave the backdoor open to “immigration sponsored by our enemies”. She is not wrong.
This loophole in Labour’s bill is nonsensical and unnecessarily dangerous.
It must be closed immediately.
