Last Friday, I had the privilege of taking questions from a group of school children from across Plymouth. A large group of primary and secondary aged children took over Plymouth City Council Chamber for the afternoon.

The children are representatives of MKC Heroes (MKC stands for Military Kids Club). Schools across Plymouth have a club for children whose parents are either serving or have served in the military. It provides them with an opportunity to support each other through friendship and by taking part in fun activities together. The children are advocates and ambassadors for others in a similar situation.

The event held in the Council Chamber provided these inspiring young people with an opportunity to quiz local politicians. They held the attention of all three of the city's MPs, the Lord Mayor, Cllr Pauline Murphy, and two senior Councillors, Cllr Terri Beer and Cllr Glenn Jordan for over an hour, taking it in turn to ask questions.

The range of knowledge of current affairs which the children and young people displayed was impressive. Their questions included how each of the MPs got into politics and what we each enjoy most about our work, why only 2% of GDP is spent on defence, and what happens to the money made by the incinerator each year.

I was particularly pleased to see how many schools from my constituency were present such as Glen Park Primary, Hele's School and Yealmpstone Farm Primary School.