Text of a speech by Rt. Hon Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families at the Labour Party Spring Conference, Birmingham, 2008

- CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY -

Conference,

It's great to be here in Birmingham today - and at the ICC.

Built by a Labour Council - a Labour Council led by Sir Richard Knowles - who sadly passed away last week.

And what greater legacy could there be for him than this tremendous conference centre in this transformed city?

And when you look at Dick's work for Birmingham and our movement, let no one tell us that politics doesn't matter.

That local government doesn't make a difference - and that our Councillors aren't doing fantastic work in communities up and down our country.

Friends, Dick Knowles believed passionately in the power of education.

He never believed poverty or disadvantage should be a cap on ambition - or an excuse for poor performance.

And what greater privilege could there be than to take forward in this new century what has been the driving mission of our Party since its formation:

- fairness for all and not just some;
- every child, and not just a few, a first class start in life;
- all young people not just free from poverty but able to have a happy and healthy childhood and helped to go as far as their talents can take them.

For over a century our movement's historic mission has been to change our country - so children are no longer held back by poverty, disability or disdvantage.

And 100 years on, we are still a campaigning party.

Thousands of party members and trade unionists campaigning to make child poverty history - across the developing world, and here in Britain too.

And in Parliament,
- Helen Southworth - campaigning for runaway children;
- Sharon Hodgson - campaigning for children with dyslexia;
- Tom Clark, Joan Humble, Sylvia Heal and so many others - campaigning for disabled children and their families.

In local government too, as Hazel has just said, it is Labour which is campaigning for better homes, safer and greener communities, more jobs and local investment.

And let us also today commit ourselves to do everything we can to secure the re-election of the Lo ndon Mayor - our Labour London Mayor - Ken Livingstone.

And when you look at Ken's achievements, leading probably the most dynamic and diverse city in the world, isn't it quite clear - that Boris Johnson is just not fit to do that job.

And Conference, I want today to recognise the vital role that local government has played over the past decade - not just in London, but up and down the country.

Without you:

- we would not have over 2000 Sure Start Children's Centres;
- we would not have over 100,000 more apprenticeships;
- we would not have 1,100 new or rebuilt schools.


And you know, of the 20 local authorities that delivered the biggest improvements in GCSE results over the last ten years, 15 of them are led by Labour:

- from Hackney and Tower Hamlets to Haringey
- Hartlepool to Halton
- from Nottingham to Knowsley
- Sunderland to Salford and Sandwell
- Labour Lambeth to Wakefield
- from Barking & Dagenham to Gateshead, and Middlesbrough too.

Conference, we can all be proud of what they have done.

But when I hear - day in, day out - Tories running down the achievements of our young people:

When I hear them mocking their qualifications and belittling the efforts of teachers.

When they claim rising standards and more young people staying on in education must mean 'dumbing down' - and attack any role in education for local government.

I say come with me to visit George Salter Collegiate Academy in West Bromwich - as I did this morning with Bill Thomas the Labour leader of Sandwell Council - and you'll see a school which has gone from 16% of pupils getting 5 good GCSEs to 85% in just four years.

Then let's go to Labour-led Tower Hamlets - one of the most deprived areas in Britain - which has delivered the biggest rise in GCSE results of any local authority in the country.

And then let us say - it is Labour councils and Labour councillors who are leading the way and lifting up the life chances of hundreds of thousands of children right across Britain.

But friends, we know there is more to do.

Because if there's just one child left in poverty; just one school leaver without a skill;

just one young person let down at school because of where they live or their parents' income -;

Britain needs a Labour government.

And that is why even after 10 years of rising school standards and falling poverty, we cannot rest.

I say now is not the time to slow down our reforms, but to step up the pace.

Since we last met in Bournemouth, we have published the first ever Children's Plan.

We have listened to parents who told us they want to be more involved in their children's schooling - and they want every school to be a good school - no excuses.

And we have listened to teachers and support staff who want greater recognition for their professionalism and more help to deal with bullying and bad behaviour.

And we have listened to young people themselves - and heard how angry they are when a small minority ruin things for everyone else.

And that they too want tough action on crime, and more places for young people to go after school and at the weekend.

We have listened - and in our Children's Plan - Bev Hughes, Jim Knight, Andrew Adonis, Kevin Brennan and I - we are responding, with:

- more power for parents, with regular, up to date information on their children's attendance, behaviour and progress;

- with radical reforms to drive up standards and so that all new teachers will be able to study for a Masters-level qualification;

- with curriculum reform to free up more time for the basics and support the progress of every child;

- free nursery places for disadvantaged two year-olds;

- £160 million over the next two years to invest in new places for young people to go in every community;

- 30 supervised adventure play parks and 3,500 play areas built or upgraded, starting this April - the biggest Government investment in children's play we have ever seen.

And let me tell you one really powerful message we heard from everyone we spoke to:

Don't wait until it is too late before you act, until young people really fall behind or go down the wrong track.

Intervene early, make prevention work, tackle all the barriers to learning in and out of school.

That is the central message of our Children's Plan.

Because if we are to deliver opportunity for every child and not just some, if we are to break the link between poverty and achievement:

We need parents to get the support and advice they need from the earliest years; we need schools truly at the centre of their community with local services - health, children's services, mental health and police too - working and increasingly located together; we need world class leadership in every school, driving up standards for every child.

And we can't do any of this - and respond to the demands of parents - without the support of local government.

Conference, when we came into government after 18 years of Tory rule, over half of all secondary schools had fewer than 30% of their pupils getting five good grades at GCSE, including English and Maths - over 1,600 school in total.

Over the past decade we have reduced that number from over 1,600 to 638 secondary schools.

And over the next five years the Prime Minister has set us this goal: to get all schools above that 30 per cent threshold.

That is our National Challenge.

So we will back headteachers delivering rising results.

But where schools are letting children down year after year we will act - and we expect local authorities to use the new powers available to them to tackle failure and drive up standards.

Sometimes this will mean good schools collaborating or merging with weaker ones.

Sometimes this will mean innovative new types of school, like the first ever Co-operative Trust school in Reddish or the first parent-promoted school in Lambeth.

And yes this must also mean local government in every part of the country backing and promoting academies.

Because the evidence is clear:

academies are turning round low performing schools in disadvantaged communities;

with fair and comprehensive admissions and even more disadvantaged intakes than their catchment areas; and delivering faster rising results than other schools.

This is progressive politics in action - giving kids in our poorest communities a better chance and showing we can break the link between deprivation and attainment.

Since the reforms we announced last July, 22 universities have already come forward and said they will sponsor an Academy.

I am proud that Labour local government is leading the way on academies in areas like Hackney, Manchester, Tameside and Sheffield.

And today I am giving the go-ahead to new academies:

- in Watford sponsored by both the University of Hertfordshire and the local FE college;
- in Camden, Norwich, Northumberland and Enfield
- and more on the way pioneered in partnership with Labour led councils like Bolton and Oldham.

And by speeding up the decision-making process and cutting consultant fees, we will now further accelerate our Academies programme over the next two years.

Not reform for the sake of reform - but reforms to deliver rising standards and excellence for all.

And Conference, it is because we are willing to make tough choices on reform that we are also now legislating to make the biggest reform in education for fifty years.

Delivering on a dream which the Labour, trade union and co-operative movement has aspired to for more than a century - that all young people should be in education, training or an apprenticeship until the age of 18.

We will not force anyone to stay in school to 18 as the Tories claim.

But we will create 90,000 more apprenticeships for 16 to 18 year olds and ensure all in full-time work get training.

And our new diplomas will break down the old damaging divide between academic and vocational qualifications which has held back our country for decades.

And now that the Tories are opposing our plans to raise the education leaving age to 18, and label them "a gimmick", they are not just out of touch with employers and universities who support our plans, they are writing off the potential of thousands of young people in our country.

When the Tories say our new Diplomas will "undermine academic excellence" and should just be for vocational learning, they reveal their deeply held prejudice that 'excellence' can only ever be for the few.

It is the because of these values that they won't support the future of Education Maintenance Allowances and won't back our plans to get half of our young people going to University.
So conference;

It's not just the stunts and the lack of judgement.

It's not just the playground politics and debating society antics.

And let's be honest - David Cameron and George Osborne give student politics a bad name.

It's not just that on all the big questions in British politics - globalisation, the environment, Europe, social justice - these Tories have no progressive, centre-ground policies at all.

The truth is David Cameron's Conservatives still stand where they always have - for opportunity for some, not for all - wanting to cut public spending on services for the many, to pay for tax cuts for a few.

So let us have confidence and challenge David Cameron on the issues of substance which divide us: His belief in education to 18 for some, but not for all.

Excellent qualifications for some, but not for all.

His vision - two tiers of opportunity in a two-tier Tory Britain.

This is the same old Conservative party.

Conference: Education for all until 18 may have seemed like an impossible dream when it was first proposed in 1918.

Sceptics said it could never be done.

The Tories still say today it shouldn't be done.

But what seemed an impossible dream a hundred years ago is today within our grasp.

Finally delivered, a century on, because of the campaigning and passion for change of Labour councillors, Labour MPs and Labour Party and trade union members.

Every young person in education, training or an apprenticeship to 18.

What an opportunity.

Hosting the Olympics here in Britain in 2012 - and inspiring a whole generation of young people to believe in themselves and our country.

What an opportunity.

And what a great responsibility too.

We will rise to the challenge.

Because we believe in the potential of every young person.

Because hardworking families deserve a fair deal.

Because we know that economic progress and social justice can advance together.

That is our purpose and our pledge.

We are in politics to change Britain - and let's never forget it.