The Government’s plan for children is quite simple but extraordinarily ambitious. Our aim is to make this the best place in the world for our children and young people to grow up.

That is why, since 1997, we have doubled the number of childcare places that are available. That is why we have invested in schools and seen results improve across the board so that more young people than ever are now going to university. And it is why we have set about boosting incomes for families with children and have already removed 600,000 children from poverty.

But that is what we have done in the last ten years – now our plan for children has to look at what we must be done for the next ten.

Parents raise children, not the Government. So in the next ten years we will make sure that parents get the support, advice and resources they need.

Some children, such as those who have a disability, need more help than others. So key workers will help ensure their families get the help they need and we will make sure that more money is available to help those kids, and their carers, get short breaks.

Play is vital for children to develop. Safe play areas, 20mph zones in residential areas and more resources for neighbourhood policing will all be part of making sure kids are free to enjoy their childhood.

And of course, we will keep putting money into improving schools standards and taking on new teachers and learning support assistants. We will keep on encouraging kids to stay on at school with Education Maintenance Allowances and we will pump money into new school buildings through the Building Schools for the Future programme that is providing Kent with £1.8bn to transform the schools right here in our own community.

All this, on our way to making sure that every child stays in school, an apprenticeship or a job with training until they are 18, that half of all young people attend university and that child poverty is eradicated by 2020. That is what I call ambition for children.