Education key to stop city being ‘one of most deprived’

ACADEMY SYSTEM AND GRADUATES RELOCATING BLAMED FOR LOW RANKING

IMPROVING schools and getting skilled graduates to stay are the keys to dragging Leicester out of deprivation, it has been claimed.

Leicester was placed 14th from the bottom in a table ranking all 324 local authority areas on their economies, crime, health and education.

While Leicester fared badly for crime and the economy, it was the lack of qualifications where it really suffered. Only five councils in England have a more unqualified population.

Neighbouring Nottingham, which fared worse than Leicester overall, did far better when it came to its citizens’ qualifications – coming 57th from the bottom compared with Leicester’s sixth from the bottom.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby blamed the academy system for taking control of schools away from politicians and preventing them from doing anything to boost education.

He said: “It’s incredibly frustrating. The education system is so fragmented now and I look forward to the day schools are back under the influence of councils.

“It’s a sad fact. It’s left every school or group of academies to do their own thing and the results have been very variable.”

While some big cities like Nottingham and Manchester did worse than Leicester overall, others managed to do a lot better due to their betterqualified residents, which also often went hand-in-hand with a better score for the economy.

Leeds, which ranked 68th from the bottom, was helped by a wellqualified population, for which it came 144th from the bottom.

A historic problem for Leicester has been the reluctance of graduates from the Leicester and De Montfort universities to stay in the city after finishing their degrees.

Sir Peter said that was a problem he was working to address.

said: “We’ve got a major drive, working with both universities, to promote graduate retention.

“I came here to study and stayed myself and increasing the number of students who stay after graduation is good for the economy of the city.

“It’s very good to see IBM coming into the city – that’s hundreds of technology graduates who have been able to find jobs in this city instead of going to Birmingham or somewhere else.

“But that’s only the start and I want to see more graduates making their future in Leicester.”

Jon Ashworth, MP for Leicester South, said the low score for Leicester reflected what he saw every week in the city.

He said: “These are absolutely shocking figures.

The fact so many children are growing up in poverty is a disgrace.

“But I see it every week in my surHe gery – all the people in difficult circumstances.

“We set up a food bank in Highfields and I’ve seen demand for it increasing.”

The Labour MP, who is also the shadow health secretary, said he did not have much hope of things in Leicester improving under the Conservative government. He said: “It’s getting worse due to austerity and all the cuts to support people get.”

cONcerN: MP Jon Ashworth