NOW that all the exam results are known and Salisbury schools have celebrated an excellent crop of outcomes, attention turns to the term about to begin and all the fresh starts it will bring the many young people moving on to new schools or entering new phases in their education or training.

Continuing to do all I can to ensure that Salisbury has a diverse educational offer to meet the needs of all our young people is a high priority for me, and I continue to meet and work with head teachers regularly.

For the first time this year there have been changes in the way that some core GCSE subjects are assessed and graded. This is to provide greater differentiation between candidates at both ends of the scale to assist educators and employers in making more nuanced judgements about candidates’ capabilities.

This is not ‘tinkering’ as it is so often portrayed, but a reaction to the fact that our students, more than ever, need to be able to compete in a global marketplace and they need to know that their education has equipped them to do that and that a top grade here is as respected as its equivalent anywhere in the world.

I was also pleased to see this week that Wiltshire is among the counties which have been awarded funding under the government’s low emission bus scheme.

The Government’s support for Low Emission Buses is one part of a £600 million package of measures from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles by 2020, plus £270m announced in the 2016 Autumn Statement to support the roll out of low emission cars, taxis and buses and supporting infrastructure.

Our local grant will be used to fund the purchase of three electric buses to service our Park and Ride sites.

These buses run in and out of the city centre all day every day and the new buses will not only deliver a quieter, cleaner journey for passengers but also make a welcome contribution to reducing the pollution generated by idling buses, which affects pedestrians, shops and residents and is frequently mentioned in my postbag.