THE FIRST report by George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse think tank says schools in the North of England need “urgent attention.”

That will come as no surprise to those in the know and there’s little doubt that school results need to improve here in Bradford if we are to play a full part in creating a thriving economy in the north.

However, there were some encouraging signs for our district in the latest league tables, which focused more closely on overall improvement of pupils rather than just final exam results.

In many ways, that broader view of pupil achievement could be the key to the issue for the north of England because far more needs to be done to train children towards having the skills that industry needs to help growth and expansion.

The Bradford district has one of the largest and fastest-growing young populations in the country.

With that comes massive pressure on services, but also huge economic potential.

While there’s lots of good work under way with a view to unlocking that potential, we probably need to put more money into speeding up the whole process of creating technical schools and colleges, while also working to identify the skills that businesses need for the future.

If people in the district can be helped to achieve skills in areas like manufacturing and the digital technologies, it would help to underpin the region’s future economic success.