Carol Vorderman is heading up a Maths Taskforce for the Conservatives, looking at ways to improve Maths standards in Britain.

Maths is critically important to the future of this country but Britain is falling behind the best performing countries.

In the last decade, 3.5 million children have left school without a basic qualification in Maths – a truly shocking statistic.

As a single parent of two children, and as a school governor, this concerns me greatly.

If our children are to get the best jobs in the future and Britain is to emerge stronger from the recession we have little choice but to sort Maths out now.

That’s why I was delighted to accept David Cameron’s invitation to head up a Maths Taskforce for the Conservatives.

Over the coming months, I’ll be looking at ways to improve Maths standards in Britain. Amongst other things, I’ll be examining:

• What we can learn from the methods other countries use to teach Maths in schools

• Whether tests in Britain are tough enough

• Whether the standard of teaching is high enough for what will be required in the coming decade

• How to break the culture of Maths fear in Britain

I am going to visit schools in every region and meet with experts, teachers, parents and, most importantly, children of all ages to find out what's needed to raise standards faster.

I’ll be posting regular updates, so keep checking back to see how I’m getting on.

TELL ME YOUR VIEWS

But I also want to hear your thoughts on how we can improve Maths standards in this country. Simply send an email to carol@mathstaskforce.com and let me know what you think can be done to raise standards.

David Cameron, Carol Vorderman and Michael Gove launch our new Maths Taskforce. (Photo credits: Steve Back - www.politicalpictures.co.uk)

London's heaviest snowfall for 18 years meant the Maths Taskforce launch had to be moved to our campaign headquarters - leaving David and Carol Vorderman with a bit of time to play in the snow!