Today I visited Havering College's Quarles Campus, Harold Hill, to see their innovative Railway Academy. The Academy offers an intensive five-week course to train jobseekers and ex-offenders using TfL equipment, placing people in long-term work on some of Britain’s biggest infrastructure projects.

I met a fantastic group of Academy students who talked me through their backgrounds. Some were looking to build a career with a more sustainable future or were bored of their existing work and loved getting practical, hands-on skills, while others had recently come out of prison or were looking to find a more engaging course than the ones they had experienced in the past with the Jobcentre. 

The visit followed a meeting I attended with Havering College and Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling to discuss rolling out the Railway Academy to more jobseekers or people looking to retrain. The meeting was attended by Mary, who set up the Railway Academy, and Iain Duncan Smith who had worked with her as part of his role at the Centre for Social Justice. 

While at Quarles, I also visited their catering school and was treated to a lunch made and served by eager trainees.