It is a real honour to respond to this debate on this important matter, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Tony Vaughan) for securing it, and for its wide scope as well. The Government believe that the opportunity to enjoy a good life with a great job, and to secure a home, should belong to everyone. Every child and young person should have the opportunity to succeed, no matter who they are, where they are from or how much their parents earn. However, background often counts more towards success than effort and enterprise, and too many children are held back by the circumstances they are born into. Children from the lowest-earning families, those from diverse backgrounds, those with special educational needs and disabilities, those with experience of the care system and young carers face too many barriers to building the best life they can. The Government's aim is to break the unfair link between background and opportunity through a mission-led approach that focuses on giving every child the best start in life. From age 16 onwards, there will be clear pathways into work or further education options like high-quality apprenticeships, colleges, or universities including Open University. Skills policy has too often been made in isolation, leading to a confusing system for employers and individuals; skills shortage vacancies more than doubled between 2017 and 2022 from 226,500 to 531,200. The Government aim to create a clear, flexible, high-quality skills system that supports people of all ages, breaks down barriers to opportunity and drives economic growth. Last month's Budget included an additional £300 million in further education funding and £950 million for skills capital funding including £300 million for college estates. The Government have also commenced a curriculum and assessment review aimed at delivering a rich knowledge-based curriculum led by evidence. They have announced the youth guarantee to ensure young people can acquire necessary skills, and are investing £40 million to support foundation apprenticeships providing clear progression pathways into further work-based training and sustained employment. Skills England is being introduced in shadow form to provide comprehensive choice of apprenticeships, training and technical qualifications for individuals and employers. The Government have also increased the capital allocation for school rebuilding programmes, committing an additional £300 million next year over this year's allocation. Regarding special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the ambition is that all children with SEND will receive the right support to succeed in education and as they move into adult life; improving inclusiveness and expertise in mainstream schools while ensuring special school provision continues to meet complex needs, restoring parents' trust. On free school meals, approximately £1.5 billion annually is spent on providing free lunches for over 3 million pupils, with the aim of reducing child poverty through continued review of the programme's approach. The Government are committed to tackling child poverty and have established a child poverty ministerial taskforce that will develop an ambitious child poverty strategy by next spring, addressing root causes in a 10-year strategy. From April 2025, free breakfast clubs for up to 750 early adopters ahead of national roll-out are planned. The Government will look to introduce further strategies for improving outcomes through the children's wellbeing Bill.