IT WAS with some pride that I visited the new National Skills Academy for creative and cultural skills in Purfleet.

The academy will teach students all the disciplines required for staging and theatrical performance.

It was always a very ambitious project and for a time looked uncertain due to financial pressures.

Having now seen the finished facility, I am very pleased to have played some part in making it happen.

But real credit rests with the team at the National Skills Academy. They have created a world-class facility with facilities designed to the highest specification.

Purfleet will be used by artists and production companies at the highest level to prepare for live stage shows.

The facility also boasts a state-of-the-art recording studio. Added to the Royal Opera House production park, what we now have in Thurrock is a new centre of excellence for the creative industries.

While we mourn the passing of some of our traditional industries, this is a powerful reminder that as economies evolve, new industries arrive to replace the old.

While the academy will bring some big names into Purfleet, the real purpose is to allow young people who want to work in the industry to gain the necessary skills.

This facility is perhaps the best illustration there is that we serve our young people best by making training opportunities available to them.

Anyone wishing to work in production will be better placed by taking a course in Purfleet, than they would doing an arts course at university. We need to make sure young people really understand the opportunities available to them.

Expanding apprenticeships is improving the vocational training available to our young people, but we need to do so much more.

I am lobbying the Government to expand apprenticeships further and to offer more choice and opportunities to young people as they prepare for work.