This week’s Letter from Westminster comes from Reading East MP Matt Rodda. He writes:

I want to congratulate young people in Reading and Woodley who have taken their A-levels this year, whose results came out today, and I’d also like to congratulate all those receiving results for GCSEs, BTEC and other qualifications.

Young people work incredibly hard to achieve good results and they should be praised and recognised for the huge efforts they have put in.

Many young people will be going on to university and it is important that as a society we support them, and that we support young people more generally, which is why I think it is time for a rethink of how universities offer places.

I would like to see this carried out as part of a wider review of how students and young people should be supported, including scrapping tuition fees and providing more affordable housing to buy and rent and a range of other policies that would help young people, many of whom have been on the receiving end of a long list of Government cuts to education and other services since 2010.

The traditional system of using predicted grades has been shown to be inaccurate, with many young people doing better than expected. And, tens of thousands of young people across the country could have a wider choice of universities to apply to if they applied after their A-level results based on the grades they actually got rather than their predicted grades.

I believe this could particularly help sixth formers in Reading and Woodley, including many at local schools and colleges.

While it would mean applying later, this system would also have the advantage of removing the stress and uncertainty of having to use clearing which affects many young people.

And, it would also remove the practice of some universities making unconditional offers, which teachers, employers and young people have raised concerns about - both the risk of young people taking the first attractive offer rather than considering their options for longer or the risk that they lose some of the incentive to study.

I would be interested to know what you think about this issue or in other problems affecting young people, please email me at mattroddampcasework@parliament.uk

Finally, I would like to add that it is never too late to learn something new and there are older people who will receive their results today who have also achieved something outstanding. Education offers amazing opportunities and needs to be available to everyone.