On Wednesday evening at Mansion House Gordon Brown used a keynote speech to outline his plans to make Britain a world leader in education.   

He said that to achieve this we need to ensure that for the first time every young person has a clear pathway from school to a career.   

This can be either through college or university and then a profession, or through an apprenticeship and skilled work.  Gordon revealed that a new council for educational excellence will take the lead in mobilising support – from employers, universities, colleges - to raise standards in all our schools.  And there will be a clear focus on mastering the basics, personal attention and support for every child, excellent classroom teaching, strong discipline and diversity in schools.  

This is very encouraging stuff from Gordon. I know that as PM he will build on the successes we have had in education in the last 10 years.   

I think these measures will be good for Hove and Portslade and the UK,  equipping people with the skills they need to succeed in the modern world. Gordon Brown's measures include: 

· For the first time young people in Britain will be offered education to 18. There will be improved vocational education through diplomas in subjects like engineering or construction. For others a young apprenticeship with an employer and the numbers doing full apprenticeships will rise over time to be 500,000. 

· Increased investment with an aspiration to spend one pound in every ten of Government spending on education  

· A new council for educational excellence - bringing together leaders in business, higher education, and the voluntary sector, alongside school heads, teachers and parents, all who can play their part 

· A new nationwide programme to enable schools to provide individual guidance and support for every child 

· For each pupil, a personal learning guide or coach to help them make the right curriculum choices and to act as an easy point of contact for parents 

· For pupils at risk of falling behind, early intervention and special support to help them catch up through the 'every child counts' programme for literacy, which is now being matched with a new 'every chid counts' initiative for numeracy, alongside one-to one tuition for up to another 600,000 children 

· For all secondary school pupils, starting with a pilot this year, access to after-school small group tuition in subjects areas they have special interest in 

• For pupils who show a special aptitude or talent, extra support through growing    our gifted and talented programme;  

• For young people at risk of disillusion or dropping out a mentor to help them raise their sights; 

• And to ensure that those on low incomes receive the support they need, we will pilot a new learning credit which they, their parents and the school can agree will be spent on extra provision in order to make the most of their potential. 

• A renewed focus on setting by ability in the key subjects like maths, english, science and languages as the norm in all our schools. 

• More support for excellence in teaching. We will expand our 'teach first' programme for the best graduates and complement it with a new 'teach next' programme, encouraging men and women of talent to move mid or late career into teaching. 

• Strong measures on discipline. Teachers need to be in control in every classroom, so we will work with the profession not just to ensure that teachers can make maximum use of tough new powers, but to emphasise the priority of setting boundaries on what is acceptable and unacceptable including asking ofsted to raise the bar on what is considered to be satisfactory and unsatisfactory behaviour.  

• Consideration given to reduced cash contributions for universities and colleges to make it easier for them to play a fuller part in the expansion of academies.   

Stamp out Abuses at Work- Give us the Evidence and We'll Act 

This week, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, Labour’s Employment Relations Minister has called on unions, businesses and workers to pass on evidence of abuse of vulnerable workers to a joint enforcement body. 

The Vulnerable Worker Enforcement Forum has been set up by Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling to crack down on abuses of workplace rights.  

It will consider whether abuses are tackled effectively through existing enforcement and support mechanisms or whether improvements to existing systems, or new approaches, are needed to raise compliance without increasing burdens for good employers.  

Evidence gathered by the enforcement bodies suggests that hotels and restaurants are the highest risk sectors, followed by healthcare, retail and construction.  

Over the last ten years we have brought in a series of rights to improve conditions for all workers but especially the most vulnerable workers.  While most workers have benefited from initiatives like the National Minimum wage, rights for part time workers, statutory holidays and better health and safety there are still some who are not getting the protection they should.  

Shocking abuses still go on in a minority of workplaces. They are unacceptable and must be stopped.  I want anyone with evidence to send it to the forum. Labour ministers will consider it alongside the evidence from unions and employers and the experiences of our front line enforcement agencies.   

The forum has a dedicated email address -  Vulnerable.workers@dti.gsi.gov.uk   - to collect evidence.   

No targets Means a Return to Long Waits for Patients  

The latest Tory health policy announcement would mean a long wait for patients in Hove and Portslade. This week a poll showed that the majority of Tory MPs wouldn't recreate the NHS given a blank sheet of paper. Whatever David Cameron says, this is the true voice of the Tory party. 

We reject the Tories call to scrap our targets of a maximum 18 week wait for patients between GP referral and treatment and to cut MRSA. These targets are reducing waiting times and hospital infection rates, and delivering real improvements for patients.

 It is outright hypocrisy for the Tories to say they want doctors to make decisions about the NHS when they are organising marches up and down the country against clinically led change. Cameron must answer a simple question: Will he now order his activists to support hospital changes where they have doctors' support? On the proposal to establish an independent NHS board I think it would be unprecedented in British public life for an unelected board to be responsible for allocating £90bn of taxpayer's money. The Tories must tell us how the wider public interest will be guaranteed over vested interests in this system.