I had a very rewarding two and a half hour session with the Cabinet Member (Don Clapham) and Director (David Lund) of Children’s Services here in Blackpool yesterday, alongside David’s Assistant Directors. We had a fascinating, wide-ranging discussion that encompassed not just education but the wide range of ways in which services to children now interact.

One obvious discussion point was the impact of the Baby P case on social work. I expressed my concern at the strain such cases put on social workers. It is always going to be impossible to prevent every act of evil, and in seeking to prevent such an act of evil, I do fear that the pressure may be on social workers to go too far in the opposite direction. It is a difficult balance to reach, and I do not envy those with the responsibility for the task of protecting our children.

We also discussed the various challenges Blackpool’s children face. But rather than just go through all the negative facts and figures out there, we focused also on the ways in which the new Conservative council was beginning to overcome the awful legacy left by the previous Labour administration. GCSE results are improving – though it would be good to see maths and English improving faster, and everyone recognises the problems in recruiting maths teachers even. But as we also agreed, league tables do not always tell the whole story. I made clear my own belief that we have a cultural problem in this country where a good education is equated with an academic education – and that is a legacy of all post-war governments that needs overcoming.

We also considered some of the potential impact of Conservative proposals for improving discipline in schools, looked at how our plans for establishing new schools and enhancing parental choice could work in a Blackpool setting, and discussed the positive impact I believe our Pupil Premium, targeted at disadvantaged pupils, would have on the average spend per pupil in Blackpool.

It is difficult to do justice to all we discussed. I want to blog about the Building Schools for the Future programme in a few days. Indeed, we didn’t really get on to the issue of targets in nursery education, child and adolescent mental health services and the debate over setting/streaming v. mixed ability teaching. There was a lot of agreement on all sides about so many issues, and I hope I left the impression that the next MP for Blackpool North & Cleveleys will be paying more than just lip service to the mantra of ‘education, education, education’.