GOSPORT MP Caroline Dinenage was joined by television star Johnny Ball to unveil her parliamentary group gor maths and numeracy's report on early years learning.

The first report from the All Party Parliamentary Group calls for better trained and qualified qorkforce that inspires a "can-do" attitude in early years maths teaching.

It comes as 28 per cent of children in England failed to achieve the expected level in mathematics at the end of the early years foundation stage in the year 2013/14.

At the presentation, skills minister Nick Boles MP spoke about the significant impact a child's early experience with maths can have on their numerical ability as an adult.

Johnny Ball, who presented Johnny Ball Reveals All, highlighted the need to promote maths in play.

Ms Dinenage said: "Only one in five 16-64 year olds in England have numeracy skills equivalent to GCSE grade C and this situation is estimated to cost the UK economy £20 billion per year.

"It is clear that we need to act fast. I’m pleased that the thought piece launched today by the APPG sets out some clear recommendations to the Government and am confident that Nick Boles will feed back to the rest of his department positively about the contents of the document.”

Caroline formed the All Party Parliamentary Group at the beginning of the year in order to raise awareness about the importance of basic maths skills and to inform policy on improving adult numeracy and the future teaching of maths in schools.