Excerpt from a Q&A on education policy where members of the public brought questions for their MP

What is the LPUK's plan for reforming education?

We believe that ensuring children receive a quality education is one of the most important things we must do to ensure they live a life of prosperity and fulfilment. That's why we are so concerned about the amount of bloat and bureaucracy in the education sector, this doesn't serve the students or provide better outcomes. Our plan is to expand school choice and ensure that everyone has the ability to choose the best education for their children. While this has been criticized as too abstract that doesn't provide a clear benefit to working people, I always make it clear that our current system provides school choice for the well-to-do already. If they have a choice, so should you. I will be pushing for a system that offers more choice for all, from more grammar schools for our younger students to more vocational training options for those nearing entry into the workforce.

How will you ensure there is an improvement?

We plan to raise the standards in schools, to ensure that children are being rigorously educated. There is a tendency to lower standards as a way of covering up problems in the system, this is another way that the education bureaucracy serves itself and not our children. We want those elevated standards to expose weaknesses in our educational system so that we can target them and correct them quickly. To do otherwise is only to ensure that, year after year, our students fall behind.

How do your plans affect secondary schools?

This is the part of our plan I am most excited about. To be upfront, we wish to ensure that going to university is not the only path students can take toward a fulfilling career. University isn't for everyone, and we have to ensure that those students are able to get as much from their secondary education as those preparing for university. This will involve greater focus on apprenticeships and vocational learning, exposing students to new skills and practical careers they may not have otherwise considered. Similar systems have proven very successful in places like Germany and South Korea. The focus here, as in primary schools, is to provide greater choice.

What will you do to combat the rising cost of university education?

As we transition increasingly toward a knowledge based economy, we need to ensure that universities are providing good value to students. We believe that the best ways to do is to create a system where universities are the ones providing any loans to students, with some caps on amounts. This will force universities to provide a good value to students, for if they don't it will be the university that must absorb any defaults. It will also ensure that these loans are only given to those who are on degree paths that will ensure they are repaid.