Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the Social Mobility Commission board are (a) women, (b) from black or minority ethnic backgrounds, (c) disabled or (d) from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

The appointing Departments – Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, and Cabinet Office – received 98 applications for the position of Commission Member for the Social Mobility Commission during the last recruitment process.

The Board of the Social Mobility Commission comprises the Rt Hon Alan Milburn as Chair, the Rt Hon Baroness Gillian Shephard as Deputy Chair and two other commissioners, Paul Gregg and David Johnston. We do not hold detailed profiling information on Commission members, however you can find their biographies on the Social Mobility Commission webpage at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/social-mobility-commission

All members of the Commission are appointed by a Minister of the Crown and the positions are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. All appointments are undertaken in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments, which you can find at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/578498/governance_code_on_public_appointments_16_12_2016.pdf