Carmel College provides a first-rate education for young people across St Helens borough. I spoke in Westminster about the fantastic impact they have on increasing social mobility, with over a third of high-achieving students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Unfortunately, Carmel and other Catholic sixth form colleges face significant financial disadvantages compared to other sixth forms and 16 to 19 academies – which of course are also under huge funding pressures because of cuts. Under current legislation, they are unable to access VAT refunds as well as access to a teacher’s pay grant. It is vital that we address this unfair anomaly to enable fantastic educational institutions like Carmel College to continue to make a real difference