Transparency data

Social Mobility Commission Quarterly Report: April - June 2019

Updated 3 December 2021

Summary

The Commission published its comprehensive annual report, State of the Nation, in April.

The Commission also jointly published Elitist Britain in June with The Sutton Trust.

Dame Martina Milburn, Chair of the Commission, appeared before the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility in May and the Education Select Committee in June.

State of the Nation 2019

The Commission’s annual report – The State of the Nation – was published on 30 April. The report highlighted that social mobility has stagnated in recent years and made a number of recommendations, to Government and others, to increase social mobility. These recommendations covered all life stages and propose:

• Government to extend the funded childcare offer for 3 and 4 year olds for those whose parents work at least 8 hours per week, lowering the threshold from 16 hours per week
• Government to increase education funding for 16-19 year olds, with an additional student premium specifically for 16-19 year olds from disadvantaged backgrounds
• Government to reform how data is shared between institutions, in particular between schools and further education colleges / sixth form colleges
• Universities to only make unconditional offers where there is a good case for doing so (and an unconditional offer is in the interests of the student)
• Employers to only require those skills and qualifications that are demonstrably required when advertising to fill a role

The report received significant press coverage, including the Today programme, Channel Four News and BBC News at Ten.

Since the publication of the annual report, the Commission secretariat have engaged with government departments and other organisations about the importance of social mobility and how the recommendations in the State of the Nation report will help to improve social mobility. These include discussions with Department for Education officials about the importance of schools effectively using the pupil premium, with Ofsted about how it could recognise high-achieving schools in disadvantaged areas, and with UCAS to highlight the importance of improving the financial information they make available to disadvantaged prospective students.

Chair’s engagements

A list of the Chair’s engagements have been included at Annex A. It includes the Chair’s appearance before the Education Select Committee (with Commissioner Sammy Wright and Sasha Morgan, Head of the Secretariat). The Chair shared her version with the Committee for improving social mobility in future years, including a greater focus on improving further education.

Other Commissioners’ engagements

The Commission held three meetings during this period, including a meeting at No.10. The attendance rate from Commissioners is 86%.

Four Commissioners – Saeed Atcha MBE, Sandra Wallace, Sammy Wright, Steven Cooper – were engaged in media activity around the publication of the State of the Nation and Elitist Britain reports.

Saeed Atcha MBE filmed a video with Manchester Metropolitan University aimed at widening participation and provided a keynote speech at the university’s careers conference in May.

Sammy Wright took part in a panel discussion at the Schools and Academies Show (April), met with Opportunity North East (April), North East Collaborative Outreach Programme (May) and Trinity College Oxford (June) to discuss university outreach work in the north east, and gave a speech at the Teach First North East launch event (June).

Elitist Britain

The Commission published a report (with The Sutton Trust) in June which highlights how pervasive the alumni of private schools and Oxbridge universities are amongst the top professions: 65% of senior judges; 59% of civil service permanent secretaries and 57% of those in the House of Lords have been privately-educated. This is an update on a previous report, published in 2014, expanded to include new professions.

Forthcoming research publications

The Commission is to publish research in July into how extra-curricular activities in the school years can help young people develop skills later in life.

The Commission is also finalising a report looking at how disability intersects with social mobility, to identify the barriers that people with disabilities have in accessing opportunities. This research will be published in the autumn.

An update to the social mobility barometer is also being finalised. The barometer highlights attitudes to social mobility, from awareness of what social mobility is to whether social mobility has improved in recent years and how a respondent considers their opportunities compare to their parents. This report will also be published in the autumn.

New research projects

Eleven research projects have been commissioned in Phase 1 of the 2019-20 Research Programme to help shine a light on a number of key areas that impact on social mobility.

• How some schools in deprived areas have positive Progress 8 scores
• How balanced schools can improve social mobility;
• Investigating the early years workforce;
• Reviewing low pay and in-work progression;
• Investigating subject choice in further education and apprenticeships,
• The links between apprenticeships and social mobility,
• Reviewing the evidence on adult skills;
• Looking at the links between social mobility and mental health
• Also links between social mobility and physical health;
• Do people in deprived areas have to move out of their areas to become socially mobile?
• We are also looking at a project into downward mobility and the actions people take to resist becoming downwardly-mobile

These research reports will be published in 2020.

The Commission is considering other research topics as part of Phase 2 of the Research Programme, including behavioural insight projects and randomised control trials, which will provide greater understanding on factors that can determine a person’s decision-making.

Work is in the early stage of investigating recruitment practices and in-work progression within the civil service to identify the extent to which social background influences one’s chances of progression.

Media activity

The new Commission is keen to reach new audiences in highlighting the importance of social mobility. A key part of this is using social media. Over this period, there has been a 25% increase in Twitter followers, and the Commission now has almost 9,000 followers.

Our State of the Nation report produced widespread media interest with articles in most of the printed press and high profile broadcasts. These include the Today programme, Channel Four News and BBC News at Ten. This led to a big increase in social media interest. Dame Martina Milburn and several of our commissioners did broadcast interviews on the day of publication.

Similarly, the Elitist Britain research with the Sutton Trust had about 500 mentions in newspapers and magazines, including both news articles and commentary pieces. Several Commissioners gave interviews for radio and television.

Media highlights

• 25% increase in Twitter followers
• 1,472 downloads of State of the Nation
• 511 downloads of Elitist Britain
• 296 retweets / shares on social media
• Over 100 mentions in newspapers
• 27 citations of research and recommendations in Parliament

Awareness of social mobility

Speeches were given by members of the secretariat at seven conferences and roundtables:

• Ali Jaffer attended an Early Childhood Forum in London on 6 June
• Ali Jaffer attended a workshop on how Education Technology can enable social mobility in the higher education sector in London on 11 June
• Ali Jaffer spoke at a Teach First National Schools Forum conference in London on 12 June
• Ali Jaffer spoke at a National Education Opportunities Network conference on higher education in Lancaster on 14 June
• Lindsay Turner Trammell attended an Employers’ Network for Equality & Inclusion workshop in London on 27 June

SMC strategy

The Commission is developing a three-year strategy which will set out:

• The Commission’s vision and values that underpin our work
• The strategic objectives of the Commission
• The goals and key deliverables for the coming years
• How a place-based approach can increase social mobility

Annex A: Chair’s engagements

Date	Who	Organisation	Why
9 July 2018	Nero Ughwujabo, Mike Crowhurst and James Marshall, Advisers, Number 10	Government	Introductory meeting
13 July 2018	Melanie Richards, Vice Chair, KPMG	Business	Introductory meeting
17 July 2018	Lee Elliott Major, Professor of Social Mobility and former CEO, Sutton Trust	Third sector	Introductory meeting
3 September 2018	Nick Clegg, former Deputy PM and former Social Mobility Foundation board member	Third sector	Introductory meeting
29 October 2018	Nero Ughwujabo and Mike Crowhurst, Advisers, Number 10	Government	Regular meeting with Number 10
26 November 2018	Bernadette Kelly, DfT Permanent Secretary and Civil Service Social Mobility Champion	Government	To discuss increasing social mobility within the Civil Service
3 December 2018	David Willetts, Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation	Third sector	Introductory meeting
5 December 2018	Nadhim Zahawi MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families	Government	First of a regular meeting with sponsoring Minister
5 December 2018	Amber Rudd MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions	Government	Introductory meeting
10 December 2018	Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive, Education Endowment Foundation	Third sector	Introductory meeting
10 December 2018	David Isaac, Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission	Third sector	Introductory meeting
10 December 2018	Susan Daniels, CEO of National Deaf Children’s Society	Third sector	Introductory meeting
12 February 2019	Sir Peter Lampl, Chair, Sutton Trust	Third sector	Introductory meeting
16 April 2019	Nero Ughwujabo and Alex Burns Advisers, Number 10	Government	Regular meeting with Number 10
17 April 2019	Jon Yates, Special Adviser, Department for Education	Government	Introductory meeting
17 April 2019	Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England	Government	Introductory meeting
15 May 2019	Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, and Nero Ughwujabo (Number 10 Special Advisor)	Government	To discuss how Number 10 can best help disadvantaged young people
20 May 2019	All Party Parliamentary Group	Parliamentary	To gain support for championing social mobility within Parliament
11 June 2019	Opportunity Areas Partnership Board	Third sector	To contribute thoughts on greater join-up across Government
11 June 2019	Civil Service Social Mobility conference	Government	Gave a speech to highlight the importance of a diverse workforce
13 June 2019	Lord Younger	Parliamentary	To discuss unpaid internships
18 June 2019	Education Select Committee	Parliamentary	To share vision for improving social mobility
N/A	David Lidington, Minister for the Cabinet Office	Government	This meeting in February 2019 was cancelled by DL and the two rescheduled meetings were also cancelled by DL
N/A	James Brokenshire, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government	Government	A meeting was requested but no response received. Two follow-up requests also were not responded to.
N/A	Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care	Government	A meeting was requested but no response received. Two follow-up requests also were not responded to