Ensuring everyone in Gosport, Stubbington, Lee-on-the-Solent and Hill Head has access to the best education and training is essential to the future of the area.
Caroline wants all children to get the best possible start in life. She fought against Sure Start Children's Centre closures, raising her concerns in Parliament and locally. In 2016, Caroline was appointed Minister for Women, Equalities and Early Years and was responsible for the implementation of 30 hours free childcare.
Since becoming elected, Caroline has visited all of the schools and colleges in her constituency, meeting with hundreds of teachers and pupils to discuss their achievements and the challenges they face. She has also welcomed many local schools and home education groups to Parliament, taking part in lively Q&A sessions with pupils of all ages. Caroline played an important role in securing new sports facilities at Bay House and Bridgemary Schools.
In 2019, Caroline won the star prize in a digital currency competition, winning £10,000 for local schools which she divided amongst them.
She took part in the campaign to keep children safe online as a member of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Child Safety Online and held a Cyber Safety event to help parents be confident with digital parenting.
Caroline has hosted many events for senior school pupils surrounding enterprise and business, welcoming Baroness Karren Brady to Bay House School and Jacqueline Gold CBE and a cohort of successful local businesswomen to Bridgemary School.
She has strived to encourage more girls into STEM and is a keen supporter of Gomer Junior School’s gSTEM project, bringing ministers to see the learning in action. In 2019, the then Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, accepted her invitation to meet with local head teachers and open the Gosport STEM Centre.
Caroline helped to secure funding for CEMAST, which trains over 1100 engineering students annually. Caroline also backed the funding bid to build CETC based at Daedalus, offering practical training so that apprentices are 'work ready' after an intensive 20 week training course. She took the then Skills Minister, Anne Milton, to see their unique model.
She has promoted apprenticeship schemes throughout the area and completed her own mini-apprenticeship at Costa Coffee. She ran a campaign to shine a light on the diversity of apprenticeships in the Gosport constituency, and invited learners to Parliament to meet the then Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, the Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP
Believing that educational opportunities should be available to people whatever their age, Caroline worked hard to save adult education resources when the Rowner RSR closed and was delighted to help secure the new service at the Nimrod Centre. The project was hailed as a European example of excellence and a blueprint for other adult education schemes. The project moved to St Vincent College in 2018 rebranded as "Choices @ The Clocktower".
Through her engagement with Gosport based reading programme 'We CAN Read', Caroline developed a passion for boosting basic skills among the adult population. She led a landmark debate in the House of Commons on adult literacy and numeracy and played a key role in securing a BIS Select Committee Inquiry into adult literacy and numeracy issues. She also formed an All Party Parliamentary Group for Maths and Numeracy with cross party support and was Co-Chair of the group.
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