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Written Question
Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
Monday 18th January 2016

Asked by: Owen Smith (Labour - Pontypridd)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to respond to the recommendations in the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission's 2015 State of the Nation Annual Report.

Answered by Sam Gyimah

The government is grateful to the Commission for its wide-ranging and comprehensive report and will study the findings and recommendations very carefully. As the Prime Minister announced on 11 January, we are committed to publishing a Life Chances Strategy in the Spring.The Strategy will set out a comprehensive plan to fight disadvantage and extend opportunity, including a wider set of non-statutory measures on root causes of child poverty such as family breakdown, problem debt, and drug and alcohol dependency. The government looks forward to working with the new Social Mobility Commission, which will continue to play a very important role in the drive to promote and increase social mobility in the years to come.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"I know that the hon. Gentleman is very interested in this subject and that it is very close to his heart. Is he not at all worried that the greater degree of autonomy that academies will exercise will inevitably make it much easier for selection, whether overt or covert, to …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"As a Welsh Member, I beg the House’s indulgence in contributing to this debate. I have three children, and they, like all children in Wales, will be insulated from some of the more malign effects of this Bill by virtue of our rather more progressive coalition...."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"That might be a good idea.

I wanted to speak tonight because the Bill is such an important piece of legislation. It is one of the real key, signature pieces of legislation from this rather less progressive coalition Government at Westminster, and I feel that all Members, wherever they hail …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and completely agree. This is a very familiar and, indeed, old debate, because from Government Members we have heard the warmed-up arguments of Thatcherism: effectively, the privatisation by stealth of our schools and education, and, coming up later in the year no …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"There is a deep irony in that. On the contortions that the Liberal Democrats are having to perform between Wales and Westminster, I understand that they are actively considering what they would do in the unlikely event of their winning greater power in Wales—as in, thinking about whether they could …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"I cannot but agree, wholeheartedly.

I have already touched on our second, perhaps more profound concern, which is about the longer-term philosophical underpinnings of the Bill. We see similarities between what is being proposed in respect of education and in the health White Paper, and what we will no doubt …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 19 Jul 2010
Academies Bill [Lords]

"Absolutely, and one point that I will come to is that the evidence on the free schools system in Sweden and the charter schools in the US has been presented extremely partially. That evidence is not as uncontested, and the findings are not as clear, as has been suggested. I …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Academies Bill [Lords]
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 02 Jun 2010
Education and Health

"Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for calling me to make my maiden speech this evening. I would like to congratulate the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Gordon Henderson) warmly on his maiden speech. I share his passion and conviction in wanting to represent my constituents. He is …..."
Owen Smith - View Speech

View all Owen Smith (Lab - Pontypridd) contributions to the debate on: Education and Health