Questions from Wisbech Grammar students (2): the pupil premium

I believe passionately that every child, whatever its background, deserves the best possible start in life. I grew up in a cramped council flat, with parents on a low wage, but I was fortunate to have a mother and father who were determined to encourage me through my state education, teachers who went the extra mile to support me through school and into university - and an anonymous benefactor who every Christmas Eve would leave a bag of new books on the family's doorstep for myself and my sisters and brother, without waiting to be thanked.

Recent figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that the poorest children are only half as likely as their better-off classmates to get five good GCSEs including English and maths. What an indictment of thirteen years of a Labour government!

I'm therefore particularly pleased that two of the Liberal Democrats' key policies are the introduction of the pupil premium, and the scrapping of university tuition fees. Due to the comprehensive duffing-up of the British economy by the combined efforts of bankers and politicians, the second policy will now need six years to implement in full, but that doesn't mean we're any less committed to it.

As for the pupil premium, this is a proposal for an additional £2,500 to be spent on the education of each of the one million most deprived children in the country. It would be paid for by reducing tax credit payments to families on above-average incomes, and by scrapping Labour's ridiculous Child Trust Fund.

In our household, we're in the fortunate position of having an above-average income, and I always found it extraordinary that when my children were small I received every year a thick Tax Credit booklet from the Government encouraging me to check I was getting public money that other families needed far more.

And as for Child Trust Funds, my friend Susan told a very revealing story at our recent party conference. When her daughter was born, the Government gave her £250 Child Trust Fund money. This was duly invested in stocks and shares, and every year Susan would get a statement telling her how her daughter's Child Trust Fund was getting on. This year, thanks to the state of the economy, the £250 the Government gave her is now worth £200. What a waste of public money!

It's time to target cash at those children to whom it will make the most difference, and to that ladder by which they have the greatest potential to improve their prospects and make the best of their abilities - a good education.