This week, it has been my pleasure, along with fellow MPs, Alistair Burt and Nadine Dorries, to arrange a meeting with the Secretary of State for Education about funding for Bedford Borough's schools.

On Thursday, perhaps as you are reading this, we will be at the meeting, arguing the case for our schools, and joined in this effort by David Russell from the Bedford Charity, the chief executive of the counci,l and the mayor.

Leading our concerns is the future of the academies in the borough.
Many schools in our community are seeking to become academies. This week, the legislation to allow them to do this is passing through the House of Commons. This will empower local parents and local teachers, and I am delighted to see so many stepping forward to take this opportunity to enhance further local education.

Our most pressing decision for investment is funding for the Bedford Academy, located at the current John Bunyan School. After years of low achievement the school now stands on the threshold of a dramatic turnaround, led by the Bedford Charity and Bedford College. The case for investment is compelling and well argued.

We will also discuss the implications for the council decision to transition from three-tier to two-tier education and finding out how the new, less bureaucratic, less costly approach to building schools can help the council with its plans.

The push for free schools in the borough will also be highlighted. Our community is at the forefront of educational change – with academies and trusts; with pioneering headteachers; with fantastic resources available at the University of Bedfordshire and Bedford College; and with a nation-leading push to create a free school to offer more choice, and more hope, to a new generation of children.

Despite the missteps of the past year, we can achieve a leap forward if politicians and bureaucrats listen more, and dictate less, to the parents and teachers in our community.

The Academies Bill, and our meeting with Secretary of State this week, are a start to this new approach.