Probably the best part of my week was the impromptu tour of Parliament that I did for Tregolls Academy & Nursery and Truro Learning Academy & Nursery and answering their thoughtful (and sometimes difficult) questions afterwards.

We saw a debate in the chamber, the House of Commons library, the underground chapel, the broom cupboard where suffragette Emily Davison hid during the 1911 census and then went out onto the House of Commons terrace until the division bell rang and I had to rush off as I only have eight minutes to get into the lobby to vote before they lock the doors! Coming to Parliament and doing a tour is a great learning experience for schools and there is also funding available to do it. Slots are quite hard to get and need to be booked in advance so do contact your MP if you need assistance.

We’ve had some positive recent announcements for schools. The two Truro schools I met both already have nurseries, but funding has been announced to begin Labour’s pledge to roll out school based nurseries: with 300 across the country and some in Cornwall.

From September, working parents will get 30 government-funded hours of childcare a week, from nine months of age right up to starting school - saving parents up to £7,500 a year. These new nurseries will help deliver additional places needed for the scheme. I will be working to ensure that Falmouth and Truro particularly get some of the new nursery places. Falmouth currently has no school-based nurseries in the town since the ones there were closed during the last government.

The early years are the time when the biggest difference to a child’s life can be made, where we can set our children up well to start school, and where opportunities for better life chances first take root. That’s why the Prime Minister has set out the target of a record share of children starting school confident and ready. Our standalone maintained nurseries are also vitally important and provide a flagship standard of early years provision. We have two in Cornwall. I visited the Truro one recently and the standard of care and education was exemplary.

Later this month, the first 750 schools across the country also start free universal breakfast clubs, including 15 in Cornwall, so every child can start the day well and fed.

At the other end of the scale, in further education, we have also had announcements this week.

A strong skills system is so important. We are setting up Skills England to coordinate skills provision across the country and investing £600-million in training people to work in construction. However, we inherited a college estate that is struggling with leaky roofs, broken windows and dilapidated buildings. That’s why this Labour government is now giving further education colleges a £302-million cash injection to fix these buildings. As part of this scheme, Truro and Falmouth will receive a funding boost of nearly £4-million for our FE college buildings.