Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on improving social mobility in disadvantaged areas.

On 14 December my Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education published ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential: A plan for improving social mobility through education’. In October we published the first six delivery plans for our £72 million Opportunity Area (OA) programme. The plan and the OA programme have a shared aim to ensure no community is left behind by improving social mobility in disadvantaged areas. In developing these policies, the Secretary of State had a range of discussions with colleagues across government. Officials are also in regular contact with their counterparts in other departments to make progress on this issue.