Board telephone briefing minutes 5 November 2019
Updated 9 November 2021
© Crown copyright 2021
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-mobility-commission-board-meeting-notes/board-telephone-briefing-minutes-5-november-2019
Attendees
Commissioners
Pippa Dunn
Harvey Matthewson
Jody Walker
Sammy Wright
Sam Friedman
Secretariat
Members of the Secretariat
1. Welcome and introductions
1.1 The call was to allow Commissioners who were unable to attend the October board meeting to share their views on board papers and be made aware of decisions made.
1.2 A few of the programme of activities was given by the Secretariat.
2 Opportunity areas
2.1 The following was discussed:
-
our desire for Opportunity Areas (OA) to move beyond education
-
the significance of leadership at political level to bring about change and revive place
2.2 There was discussion about the selection process for Opportunity Areas which was informed by the Commission’s Social Mobility Index. The limitations of the Commission’s 2017 Social Mobility Index was noted, including no analysis of inter-generational mobility. The Secretariat highlighted that an invitation to tender for the 30-year framework project was live. This will update the measurement framework.
3. SMC’s finance
3.1 Commissioners thought the paper was very useful and said they were content to receive an annual update.
3.2 On staffing it was noted: an Accenture secondee will work four days a week on the employers’ work and a Chief Analyst was recruited and would begin at the end of November.
4. Research programme update
4.1 The series of midpoint meetings were discussed and Commissioners gave their input about their experience.
4.2 It was noted that there needed to be a mechanism whereby Commissioners could share information about what they had learned through the research midpoints.
Action: It was agreed that Commissioners would be given time at future Commission meetings. The Secretariat would trial this at the December Commission meeting.
5. Comms and FE campaign update
5.1 The Social Mobility Manifesto had now been produced and circulated.
6. New approaches to our 2020 publications agenda
6.1 Next year’s major publications were discussed. The Commission agreed to keep the State of the Nation (SoN) brand but add sub names, for example, SoN monitoring; SON life cycles.
Action: Secretariat to involve Dr Friedman with the methodology for the next statutory report.
7. Stakeholders update
7.1 An update was given on Secretariat interactions with stakeholder organisations.
8. Evolving the Commission’s work on employers
8.1 It was noted that work on engaging employers was underway.