Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to co-ordinate cross-Whitehall working to increase social mobility in response to the recommendations of the Social Mobility Commission report, State of the Nation 2017: Social Mobility in Great Britain.

We welcome the Social Mobility Commission’s annual reports to Parliament.

Social mobility is a cross-government priority. The government’s Industrial Strategy, published in November, sets out a clear plan to boost prosperity and productivity by focusing on places and people. We are also boosting salaries through the introduction of the National Living Wage, creating more full-time, permanent jobs, and investing in affordable housing. Together, these policies will improve lives and tackle injustice in society.

In December, the department published ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, a plan for improving social mobility through education. Government departments across Whitehall were engaged in the policy development and drafting of this document. We are also investing £72 million in 12 Opportunity Areas, to focus effort on areas of the country with the greatest challenges and fewest opportunities. The Commission identified all 12 of these areas as social mobility coldspots in its 2016 Social Mobility Index.