A photo of Seema Malhotra MP at the summer fair at Belvedere House in Feltham to help raise funds for the Pulse Youth Club.
A photo of Seema Malhotra MP at the summer fair at Belvedere House in Feltham to help raise funds for the Pulse Youth Club.

Over the last week we have seen a renewed focus on our young people, as they have received results for their A Levels, T Levels, GCSEs and BTECS. Students in Hounslow achieved an impressive overall pass rate of 97.3% in A Levels and 98.9% in BTECs, with an increased number of A Level students receiving the top grade of A*.

As the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson commented, our young people have shown enormous resilience in the face of lots of disruption. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all our young people in Hounslow on their hard work and the important milestones they have reached. I wish them every success with their next steps.

Last weekend, I was pleased to be able to attend and support the summer fair at Belvedere House in Feltham to help raise funds for the Pulse Youth Club. This project was started by be amazing Michelle Odell in memory of her 14-year-old son Bradlee Alboni-Odell, who was killed on Bedfont Lane five years ago. The youth club engages young people with games and activities and helps to build a network of support around them. The summer fair was supported by local youth charity Rise and Thrive and attended by many local families.

Too many of our young people are growing up without the opportunities they deserve and that will help them achieve their aspirations for the future. And all too often they are targeted by unscrupulous adults looking to exploit vulnerable young people and involve them in criminal activity.

This government will fight to make sure all our young people, no matter their background, get the opportunities they need to get on and succeed.

Last week, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper noted that teenagers today have it “much, much harder” than previous generations due to knife crime, child criminal exploitation, social media and pressures on adolescent mental health. It was in this context she announced plans for a new unit to prevent violent crime among young people – a new cross-government “young futures” unit to be based in the Home Office, working to support our ambition to halve violent crime in a decade.

The Home Secretary has asked councils and police forces to put proposals in place to tackle crime among young people by Christmas. New Home Office guidelines are expected by the end of the year setting out how networks of police, mental health professionals, local schools, youth offending teams and charities can work together to help steer teenagers away from crime.

I hope everyone will participate in this strategy, because it will take a collective effort to support our young people who are increasingly at risk both on and offline. I look forward to working with all in our community to support young people in their learning and their life, and to ensure they have the chance to grow up to become the confident young adults of tomorrow.

A photo of Seema Malhotra MP at the summer fair at Belvedere House in Feltham to help raise funds for the Pulse Youth Club.
A photo of Seema Malhotra MP at the summer fair at Belvedere House in Feltham to help raise funds for the Pulse Youth Club.
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