Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to page 77 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the increase in the reliance on formal qualifications in some professions on the accessibility of those professions to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The government is committed to supporting all young people to access good careers.

We are improving access to, and the quality of, formal qualifications and training routes. We are investing over half a billion pounds a year of new funding for technical education, centred around T-levels, a set of 15 high-quality technical routes based on employer-designed standards. We are increasing the quality and quantity of apprenticeships to reach our commitment of 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 and making available around £60million to support take-up by individuals from disadvantaged areas. We are also increasing numbers of traineeships to support young people, including those from areas of disadvantage, into apprenticeships and work.

We know that education alone cannot transform social mobility. We support the Social Mobility Employer Index, which celebrates those employers leading the way in opening up access and progression. These employers are already taking important steps to engage young people, introduce fairer recruitment practices, and manage talent.