Pre-Budget Report

We are in the middle of a £70 million investment programme involving building three new schools and a £140 million investment programme involving building schools for the future. I assure my right hon. Friend that educational spending is not the spin claimed by the Opposition. It looks like teachers, computers and new school buildings. However, is he also aware that inner London, in particular, faces exceptional challenges with education and skills? As a consequence of that, I have one ward—a mere mile from the west end—in which 83 per cent. of all children are growing up in workless households. In the run-up to the Budget and the spending review, will he look urgently at skills training, the tax credit system and affordable child care to make sure that no child or community is left behind?