Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed has welcomed measures laid out in today’s Queen’s Speech, which will ensure that the UK builds back better and stronger from the pandemic.
Her Majesty opened the new session of Parliament today and outlined the Government’s legislative programme for the coming year in a speech to the members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.
The much-anticipated Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee was announced in the form of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill which seeks to transform access to skills across the country, ensuring that people can train and retrain at any stage in their lives, supporting them to move into higher quality, higher skilled jobs and equipping the workforce with the skills employers need.
Speaking of the Bill, Anne-Marie said:
“It is important to move past the outdated notion that there is only one route up the career ladder, and ensure that everyone has the opportunity to retrain or upskill. By revolutionising the skills system, we are levelling up our country and ensuring equal opportunities for all, setting people on the route to better, well-paid jobs.
“This new Bill will give people the tools to change careers in mid and later life, which might be especially useful to those who have had to take a break from work, perhaps to raise children. Access to new skills and jobs should be for everyone, regardless of the stage of their life.”
The legislative programme also included measures to improve public health by tackling backlogs and improving patient care in the NHS, creating safer streets and neighbourhoods, and achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, for a cleaner, greener UK.
Anne-Marie said: “Today’s Queen’s Speech will not only address the legacies of the pandemic, but will go further to unite and level up the country, spreading opportunity across the country as we build back better and greener. I was particularly pleased to see plans announced to reform our rail and bus networks to deliver a better, greener and more reliable service for passengers, including simpler fares.”