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Question Time, the BBC's premier political debate programme chaired by David Dimbleby, will be in Salford on Thursday 9 July for the special schools edition. The panel will include the Secretary of State for Health Andy Burnham, the Conservative shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport Jeremy Hunt, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on housing Sarah Teather, director of the human rights organisation Liberty Shami Chakrabarti and student and people's panellist Suzanne Burlton.
ANDY BURNHAM MP
Career: Andy Burnham is the new Secretary of State for Health. Up until Gordon Brown's recent reshuffle, he was Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. He joined the Labour Party aged 14 and was elected as Member of Parliament for Leigh in June 2001. Before being elected he worked as a researcher for Tessa Jowell and at the NHS Confederation. He has also been Parliamentary Private Secretary to the former Home Secretary, David Blunkett. He served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from June 2007, as part of Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. Before this, he was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality from 2005 to 2006. Earlier this month, he announced that the government's approach to the swine flu outbreak has moved on from "the containment phase". He told MPs: "cases are doubling every week and on this trend we could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of August."
JEREMY HUNT MP
Career: Jeremy Hunt is the Conservative shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport and the MP for South West Surrey. After university, he worked as an English teacher in Japan, before returning to the UK to run his own marketing company. He was elected to parliament in 2005, and was appointed shadow minister for disabled people soon after. He entered the shadow cabinet as shadow culture minister in June 2007. He has been described in the Daily Telegraph as "one of the ones to watch in Cameron's team". He recently criticised the salary of the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, saying: "I think £816,000 is too much…It is a huge amount of money and one of the areas where we need to have a reality check." He went on to say: "I think to be director general of the BBC is a privilege, just like it is a privilege to be a member of parliament and I don't think we do it for the money."
SARAH TEATHER MP
Career: Sarah Teather is the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on housing, having previously represented the party on innovation, universities and skills. She was first elected to parliament aged 29, at the 2003 Brent East by-election, becoming the youngest member of the House of Commons. Before entering politics, she trained as a scientist and worked for Macmillan Cancer Care Relief, where she advised on health and social policy. She backed eventual leader Nick Clegg in December's Lib Dem leadership battle, having previously been a close supporter of Sir Menzies Campbell in his bid to succeed Charles Kennedy, and was a signatory to the letter urging Kennedy to stand down in January 2006. Last month she called on Labour to "dissolve parliament and call a general election", saying: "people are struggling and desperately want the government to show leadership. Yet for months now the Labour party have been too busy squabbling amongst themselves. Trust in politics is at an all time low and people naturally want a chance to have their say on the future."
SHAMI CHAKRABARTI
Shami Chakrabarti has been director of the human rights organisation Liberty since 2003. She is one of the UK's most prominent voices on civil liberties, spearheading campaigns against proposals to extend detention periods and introduce ID cards. A barrister by background, she was called to the Bar in 1994 and then joined the Home Office as a lawyer. Since becoming Liberty's director, she has written for a number of newspapers, including the Guardian and the Telegraph, and appears regularly on television and radio. She was made a CBE in the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, and was given the Campaigning and Public Life Award at the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Awards 2008. Last month she called on Gordon Brown to scrap control orders for terror suspects, saying: "I can think of no better way for the prime minister to make a fresh start for his government than to abandon the cruel and counterproductive punishments without trial instituted by his predecessor. If protecting the public is the top priority, then control orders do not achieve it."
SUZANNE BURLTON
Suzanne Burlton is the people's panellist on this year's Schools Question Time. Suzanne is an 18-year-old student from North London who has just finished her A-Levels, and is hoping to go to the University of Cambridge in the Autumn. She enjoys theatre and volunteering at her local Oxfam shop. She would like one day to pursue a career in politics or broadcasting, and is excited about the prospect of sitting on the Question Time panel. She says: "It's a great opportunity, and a real honour to be chosen to represent young people."
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