The IPT is delighted that the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, will be the guest speaker at this lunchtime briefing.
During this lunch, delegates will have the opportunity to hear the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP outline how 14 - 19 qualifications, including the new Diplomas, are preparing young people to meet the challenges of the future and the needs of employers.
Earlier this year, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families set out plans to simplify and streamline the education system in an attempt to provide more clarity for young people, parents and employers. Key elements of the Qualifications Strategy for 14-19 year olds include:
- Simplifying the system into four main national routes (GCSEs and A Levels, Diplomas, Apprenticeships and the Foundation Learning Tier);
- Development of a set of common criteria to assess if qualifications will be approved for use for young people in the future;
- Appointment of an expert body of external advisers to advise if qualifications should be approved for funding;
- Ensuring that new qualification options are made as comprehensive as possible.
Speaker biography
Ed Balls was appointed Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on 28 June 2007. Prior to this, he was Economic Secretary to the Treasury and has been a Member of the Parliament for Normanton since 2005.
Born in 1967 and educated at Nottingham High School and later at Keble College, Oxford, he went on to become a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University. Ed Balls was a teaching fellow at the Department of Economics at Harvard before taking up post as an Economics Leader writer and columnist at the Financial Times. He was the Economic Adviser to the then Shadow Chancellor Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP from 1994 - 1997 and continued this role when Gordon Brown became Chancellor of the Exchequer until 1999. In the period that followed, Ed was appointed Chief Economic Adviser to HM Treasury where he remained until 2004.
Ed Balls is married with three children and outside of work he enjoys music, cooking and playing football with his kids.
Event format
The event is based around a three-course lunch. The speaker shall address delegates after the first course and an opportunity for full discussion will take place at the end of the meal.
The cost of a lunchtime briefing is £65.00 per person.
