Local government chiefs have given a cautious welcome to the Government's plans to raise the school leaving age to 18 years. Education secretary, Alan Johnson, announced last week that from 2015, all young people will stay in education until they are 18. ‘We will make education a right for every young person until aged 18,' added the chancellor, Gordon Brown. ‘And we will ensure they take up the opportunities open to them.' Local Government Association children and young people board chairman, Cllr Les Lawrence, said: ‘Questions remain around enforcement, funding and the provision of courses that young people actually want to do. ‘We want to work with the Government from now and until 2013 to iron out all these issues, and ensure all children fulfil their full potential.' Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, condemned the possibility that young people could be threatened with prison if they refused to continue in full-time education after 16. ‘To use prison for this kind of social engineering is wrong,' he said. ‘The Government must end its love affair with the threat of custody.'
