English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill

Lord Ravensdale Excerpts

Monday 2nd February 2026 Grand Committee

Moved by

[Lord Ravensdale]

122: After Clause 31, insert the following new Clause—
“Preventing youth unemploymentIn their delivery of functions under this Act, strategic authorities must work in partnership with local businesses and education (including further education) providers to prevent and reduce local youth unemployment.”

[Lord Ravensdale (CB)]

My Lords, for now, I am going to steer us away from transport and on to a no less important topic: social mobility. I thank the noble Lords who have signed these amendments and the Social Mobility Commission, with which I worked to develop them.

Social mobility has been a continued focus over the years across all Governments. All noble Lords would agree, I think, that a person’s life chances should not be prescribed by their backgrounds—either their place of birth or their family—and that all should be allowed to develop their talents and interests through education and work. It is to the benefit of individuals, society and the economy that opportunities are open to all.

We have made progress here in recent years. A school friend of mine in Nottingham skipped A-levels and went on to do an apprenticeship at Mercedes-Benz as a car mechanic. He told me that, when one of his teachers heard that he was applying for an apprenticeship, he told him that he would never amount to anything. My friend is now a director of a company that runs a network of garages across the Midlands and is a great example of social mobility. Of course, anyone can point to a story about someone who has defied the odds and succeeded, but I tell this story because it illustrates progress in that the perception of apprenticeships has completely changed; they are now seen the best way to go for many young people.

However, there are some concerning trends in social mobility. In particular, relative income mobility in the UK—the strength of the link between parents’ income and their children’s income—is poor when compared internationally. We consistently rank near the USA among the least mobile developed nations. So social mobility needs continued focus from the Government, as they have recognised through their opportunity mission.

I submitted the successful special inquiry proposal for what became the Social Mobility Policy Committee, which has now reported. One of the key areas we looked at was the regional nature of social mobility; indeed, the report is entitled Social Mobility: Local Routes, Lasting Change. It is all about the move away from a top-down view of social mobility—looking at, for example, broad educational initiatives or early years—to recognising that each area has its own unique determinants and that, therefore, a regional and local approach is needed to drive mobility and improve things. The Social Mobility Commission highlighted this in its recent State of the Nation report, highlighting the facts that prosperous areas in London and the surrounding regions consistently provide better conditions for social mobility than, for example, the Midlands and the north; and that extreme regional differences persist.

One of the key issues is where leadership lies. Initiatives to tackle barriers to social mobility are not one size fits all; they must be built with an understanding of the characteristics of the particular area. The Government need to ensure that local authorities and partners are empowered to lead and to come up with the right policies for their areas. Where does that lead us? In the Bill, there is an excellent opportunity for the Government to ensure that social mobility is embedded in their approach to devolution. It is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to change how local authorities and strategic authorities deliver on this long-standing problem and enable a step change in progress to deliver opportunity for all.

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I trust that, with the assurances I have outlined, the noble Lord will consider withdrawing his amendment.

[Lord Ravensdale (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that very detailed response. I should have declared my own interest in the cost of childcare, as a father of twins; it is a subject that is close to my heart too. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, for their support on this group.

I will certainly reflect on the detail of the Minister’s response, but I hope she will also reflect and have some further engagement with me between Committee and Report. A lot of this comes from the comprehensive work that your Lordships’ House has done on social mobility over the past year through the Social Mobility Policy Committee. We have done a thorough investigation into this with many stakeholders and there are many areas that are not working or are working in a haphazard way, as the various local authorities and combined authorities are not joined up, which is why these amendments have tried to get a partnership approach going.

This is of such importance that it needs to be driven through primary legislation. We come back to that debate we often have on what should be guidance and what should be legislation. I look forward to engaging further with the Minister and her team between now and Report. With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 122 withdrawn.