The new ministers

Perhaps inevitably, the new ministers are starting to pontificate about their briefs ... and perhaps also inevitably they are talking some sense and some gross simplification and misunderstanding.

So, David Laws has been talking about teachers' failure to raise aspirations among young people, specifically regarding Oxbridge. Ignoring the fact that it is deeply insulting to the very many teachers who do work hard raise aspirations, and that lack of aspiration can't all be laid at teachers' doors, there is a problem in that not enough state school pupils go on to Oxbridge. But it is plainly daft to expect a huge increase in numbers - Oxbridge just can't take many more students!

And while it is important to raise aspirations, to do so on an unrealistic basis is just silly - most young people will not be able to achieve the level of academic achievement required, though of course as many as possible ought to be encouraged to do so.

On the other hand, Edward Timpson has picked up on the poor outcomes for young people leaving the care system. He is right - it is a scandal - but his analysis is flawed and limited - very many local authorities already do all he is proposing, and outcomes remain poor. What we need is a proper debate about what it is that we would want a parent to contribute to their child's preparation for adulthood, and to make that a basic statutory minimum for care leavers.

And it will cost - £2,000 will not really do more than make a start. I know that my family is relatively affluent, but our support for our children both before they became adults and after has been significant, both in monetary terms and ongoing personal support.

I hope they don't feel that there has been a cliff-edge - and that's what we ought to provide for all children for whom we are corporate parents. I hope Edward Timpson will support extra funding in the DfE debates with the Treasury, not just rely on the mantra of non-ringfenced local funding to be deployed as councils decide.

I hope that both ministers will get out and see the real world and start to talk more sensibly before they are reshuffled out.

John Freeman CBE is a former DCS and is now a freelance consultant