Live Urgent Question House of Commons

for no longer than half an hour, not

because it isn't important, it is

extremely important, but so is the

eight hours of protected business to

follow. I have to balance these

considerations, so self discipline

is required. Urgent question,

surveys and cable.

Can I ask the Minister for the

Cabinet Office if he will make a

statement on the resignation of the

board of the social mobility

commission.

Minister Robert

Goodwill.

Thank you for taking this

a urgent question, which gives us an

opportunity to underline our

commitment to improving social

mobility in our country. I'm

extremely grateful to Alan Milburn

for his work as chair of the social

mobility commission over the past

five years. We are already told that

we plan to appoint a new chair, and

will hold an open application

process for that role. To ensure we

continue to build on this important

work and the foundation laid by Alan

and his team can be built on.

Tackling social mobility is the

department's priority. We have made

real progress in recent years, the

attainment gap between disadvantaged

children has narrowed.

We are putting more money into the

early years than ever before,

spending a record 6 billion per year

on childcare and early education

support by 2019-20. We are

increasing the number of school

places with 4.9 billion more

children. There are more than 15,500

more teachers and state funded

schools in England than in 2010.

£140 million will target resources

to support school performance and

pupil attainment at the schools that

need it most. The attainment gap, as

highlighted by the commission,

between disadvantaged pupils and

peers has narrowed since we

introduced the pupil premium, now

worth 2.5 billion per year. In 2011,

a Coalition policy, we continue to

embrace. We know there is more to

do. We focused on areas of the

country with the greatest challenges

and fewest opportunities, including

72 million in the queue was the

opportunity areas. We will publish

plans for the second six areas in

early November. The outgoing chair

of the social mobility commission

welcomed the launch of the programme

and the government's commitment to

addressing disadvantage, remaining a

priority for the government.

Sir

Vincent cable.

I don't think

conservatives have ever claimed to

be a party of equality, but they

have always claimed to be a party of

equality of opportunity, in other

words, social mobility. When the

Prime Minister took office, her

first speech set out clearly the

objective to do everything to help

anybody, whatever their background,

to go as far as their talents will

take them. So what does the

resignation of the commission tell

us about the government's success in

achieving that objective? The

chairman of the commission was very

pointed, he said, the worst possible

position in politics is to set out a

proposition that you want to heal

social division, and then do nothing

about it. It would be very

difficult, I think, to spin the

resignation of the commission in

partisan terms, because Alan Milburn

has served conscientiously, Labour

Coalition and Conservative

governments, amongst the

commissioners who have resigned

along with him, one was a highly

respected former Conservative

Secretary of State for Education.

Very specifically, can I ask him

about the most recent of the mission

reports, to which he would no doubt

be able to respond. Why is it that,

of the 65 social mobility,

everywhere from East Somerset to

Midlands cities, or why only five

has been covered by growth deals

negotiated by the government? And

since the report makes the point

that geographical vision in Britain

is now more extreme than in any

other country in Europe, will the

government consider reinstating the

regional growth fund, which played

an important role in the Coalition

in addressing that point. And since

the barriers to social mobility

often rest in incentives to work,

can I ask the Minister if he will

explain how the 3 million cuts in

the work allowance will affect

people's willingness to work once

they're in low-income employment.

Finally, the specific points, the

commission is even handed, and it

praises the Secretary of State for

Education for her commitment, but

what does it say about the

government's commitment when the

most committed and conscientious

member of the Cabinet is Pezzella

over a 60% cut in apprentice should,

blocking social mobility through

vocational education, under 6% will

cut in school spending in the next

five years.

In conclusion, can I ask if he would

agree with the chair's point that

Brexit is now sucking the lifeblood

of Government. The extreme Brexit of

withdrawing from the single market

and the customs union, the biggest

casualties will be the social

mobility cold spots that voted for

Brexit.

Thank you very much indeed,

Mr Speaker. I would not recognise

the characterisation that the Right

Honourable gentleman made that we

have done nothing, in his words, to

address social mobility.

Universities that make university

entrance, where 43% of disadvantaged

children are more likely to go to

university than in 2009. We have 1.9

more children going to outstanding

schools than in 2010. I wouldn't

recognise that characterisation. We

have made particular progress in a

number of areas, including our free

childcare offer of 30 hours, which

helps working families cope with the

cost of childcare and juggling work

at the same time. I would reaffirm

the fact that we are fully committed

to this. He talked about the

geographical spread. In the report,

you will see that it is patchy, with

parts of London demonstrating real

need for more assistance. We need to

look at the Midlands, where more

needs to be done, which is why we

have designated the 12 opportunity

areas in those areas where we've

need to address children in early

years, in terms of aspiration to get

into employment, to get good

qualifications, and the most

difficult nut to crack - the home

learning environment. Many children

are starting nursery provision

without the basic skills that many

children from better off backgrounds

would have. Can I also make clear

that whilst Brexit is very important

to the Government, we can walk and

chew gum at the same time. We are

absolutely committed to ensuring

that we continue this process of

improving social mobility for

everyone in the country.

Can I

remind the House of what I said

fewer than ten minutes ago, which is

that the question is about the

resignation of the board. Questions

should be about that matter. It is

not unreasonable to hope that the

same might be said also of answers.

Many people were inspired by what

the Prime Minister said on the steps

of Downing Street when she took

office. Would my honourable friend

look at the idea of using this

opportunity of reforming the

commission to create a social

Justice commission at the heart of

Downing Street and using it to

assess the impact on every bit of

domestic legislation on social

Justice?

I will put on record our

commitment to maintain the social

mobility commission. It has done

great work in the last five years. I

once again paid tribute to Alan

Milburn for his work as chair. We

need to bring in some new people and

refresh the commission, some people

that will hold us to account, hold

our feet to the fire to make sure we

have a good spread of representation

on that commission.

Angela Rayner.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and may I

thank the right Honourable member

for Twickenham for securing this

urgent question. Once again, this

Prime Minister is not for turning

up, nor is the Education Secretary.

No wonder the former chair of the

commission said that number ten were

no longer listening. Perhaps the

Minister can actually answer the

questions he raised in his

resignation letter. Is the

Government really committed to the

commission as an independent body?

Although the Government have said

they put on record their commitment,

what do they see as its role? And

what will its remit be now? And how

much funding will the commission

have? Can he confirm that in the

years since the commission's 2016

report, the Government has not

adopted a single one of its

recommendations and tell us if the

commissioners raised that with

ministers before resigning? The

report said Britain had a deep

social mobility problem, an unfair

education system, a two tier labour

market, and imbalanced economy and

an unaffordable housing market, so

what are the Government actually

doing about it? Was this a factor in

those resignations? On the labour

market, the Prime Minister made a

defining speech on insecure jobs.

She has been developing an expertise

on that lately. What ever happened

to the Taylor Review? In education,

has the Minister seen the

commission's findings on the

teaching workforce, an early years

and kids in care who are still

denied the 30 hours' entitlement?

And has he listen to the

recommendations on housing, regional

transport infrastructure and

rebalanced investment to create more

decent jobs across the country? Mr

Speaker, when a former Tory

Education Secretary resigns from a

Tory Government commission, we know

this goes well beyond party

politics. In his resignation letter,

the chair of the commission said

they were resigning because he had

little hope of the current

Government building a fairer

Britain. If their own commission, Mr

Speaker, has little faith in this

Government, then why should the rest

of us?

Thank you very much indeed,

Mr Speaker. I am happy to answer

this question on behalf of the

department, as the Minister for

children and families and also the

minister responsible for opportunity

areas, which I think demonstrates

our commitment to tackling social

mobility in the cold spots, as laid

out by the commission itself. She

asked that the Government is

committed to the commission - the

answer is yes, absolutely. She asked

about the role of the commission -

that will not change. I pay tribute

to the commission for the work it

has done, and to Alan over that

time. She asked about the workforce

and education. We have 457,000

teachers working in state funded

education at the moment, more than

15,500 more than before. She drew

attention to the 30 hours of free

childcare - that is an example of

how we're helping working families.

We have a high uptake. There are

parents up and down the country who

have told me it has transformed

their lives, enabling them to work

and have childcare and indeed put

£5,500 in their pockets. I am

pleased with what we're doing to

address social mobility. To listen

to the party opposite, you would

think that everything was beautiful

when they power. In many cases, we

are still sorting out the mess they

left behind.

Can the Minister

confirm when the Government is

likely to publish its social

mobility strategy, and are there

likely to be any changes in the

light of what Alan Milburn has said

in recent days and his resignation?

I thank the honourable lady for the

question. We continue to work hard

and our social mobility action plan

and plan to publish it soon.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. Alan Milburn is no

longer a member of this House, so he

observes the Government from a

slightly detached point of view, so

when he says that this Government is

riddled with indecision,

dysfunctionality and a lack of

leadership, I have to say to him, he

should see it from where I'm

standing. It is a lot worse than

that. We are approaching a perfect

storm in this country of freezing

wages in real terms, cutting

benefits in real terms, and rising

prices. A perfect storm where the

poor will pay for the failure of

Government policy. I ask the

Minister, what assurances do we have

that given that the Government

continues to be obsessed by Brexit

that he will listen to any advisors

in this policy area that are

appointed in the future?

Alan

Milburn has advised the Government

through his commission over the last

five years, and much of his advice

has been taken on board by the

Government. Indeed, when he was

publicising his most recent report,

he made some very constructive

comments. I stand by the record as

outlined in the answer to the

initial question from the Right

Honourable gentleman. We have made

progress but there is much left to

be done. The best way of getting

families out of poverty is to ensure

that they get into the workplace.

We have record levels of employment.

The best way to get children the

best opportunities in life is to

deliver a great education, and we

are delivering a better education

for more children in England than

ever before.

I was pleased to hear

from the Minister about the home

learning environment, alongside our

good schools, giving true

opportunity to our children. On this

side of the House, we want our

children to go as far as their

talents will take them. Does this

opportunity not give a renewal which

we can take?

I remind her again, the

resignation of the board, that is

the matter of which we are treating.

The home learning environment is one

of the toughest nuts to crack. Many

children do start education without

the basic skills they need, and much

of that may be to do with the fact

that no one reads to them, that the

television is not switched off. We

want to address that challenge.

The

Minister has come here and is doing

his best to ignore the fact that the

entire board of the social mobility

commission have resigned. Why does

he think that is? Can he give us an

answer?

Well, if she looks back over

the last five years, she will see

that Alan has been supportive of

much of the action we are taking.

Such as the Department for Education

opportunity areas. We are all

working together to tackle the

challenges of social mobility. I

think this will give us an

opportunity to refresh the

commission, to improve the diversity

of the commission, and I can assure

the House that we're not in a

position of employing someone who is

a patsy for the Government. I want

someone who will continue to hold

our feed to the fire and to work

constructively with those in central

Government and local Government to

deliver these solutions.

Before the

commission resigned, did they

suggest one radical idea for driving

social mobility through the

education system? Why don't we

concentrate on the children from the

most deprived backgrounds and most

deprived postcodes, give them an

intelligence test at 11 for which

they cannot be chewed up, put them

in special schools and have a

rigorous academic education? Why do

we call these schools grammar

schools?

That wasn't one of the

suggestions he made as he was

leaving, as I understand it.

Although the question was delivered

with lucidity, it suffered the

disadvantage of being utterly

irrelevant to the resignation of the

board. Perhaps we could again return

to the matter in hand. Let's take a

good, honest, reliable citizen.

There are so many to choose from on

both sides! Peter Kyle.

I will

struggle to live up to that! Alan

Milburn said he has resigned because

of dysfunction in the Government and

a lack of fermentation. The minister

in his response gives the impression

he resigned because all the work was

already done. Can he once again give

us a clearer explanation - why did

this board resign, from his

perspective?

Well, Mr Milburn was

already told on the 22nd of November

that while the post would be

readvertised he would not be

expected to apply, so in terms of

the resignation, as he described it,

we were looking to refresh the board

and bring in some new blood, and I

think that will give us an

opportunity to improve the

functioning of the board. This is no

personal reflection on Alan Milburn

or the work he has done. He has been

very good over the five years he has

done the job and help us to account

and help our feet to the fire, as

the commission was designed to do.

Needless to say, all members are

honest. That goes without saying...

Reports reproduced -- reports

produced show who... While there is

more work to do, does the Minister

believe that there is progress we

should be proud of?

Absolutely,

there are parts of the country were

tremendous progress has been made,

not least in London, not only in

education but in other areas, it has

shown the way ahead. I am optimistic

as our 12 opportunity areas get into

full implementation that we will see

improvements in those areas and we

will learn lessons that can be

applied elsewhere around the

country.

Is the falling social mobility

reported today good reason for the

commission to resign, or should it

be the government resigning for its

failure?

I'm aware of the Joseph

Rowntree Report on relative poverty.

Can I point out to the honourable

gentleman that absolute poverty has

fallen by 300,000 since 2010, and

pensioner poverty remains close to a

historic level. That poverty affects

people in their everyday lives.

Maybe people aren't as aware as they

would be compared to real poverty.

I'm sorry the board has chosen to

resign, this party has done so much

for social mobility, and I would

consider myself an example. When it

comes to re-pointing a new board

whether we can look at having more

than four members to have a bit more

diversity of membership. The

honourable gentleman makes a very

good point. There is no limit on the

number on the board. It had almost

ten at one time. I hope the

publicity surrounding this question

today may encourage people to apply

to be on the board. We want a wide

cross-section of applications, not

necessarily somebody that has been

involved in politics, but someone

that is at the cutting edge of

delivering solutions. The board

members have clearly become

exacerbated by the UK Government

failing to acknowledge and act on

their work lifting people out of

poverty, doesn't the Joseph Rowntree

foundation today highlight and

exacerbate that? I think the report

from Joseph Rowntree on relative

poverty will always of course

perfect changes in levels of

pensions, and levels of employment.

An unfortunate side-effect of that

would be that relative poverty would

increase. There are now over 300,000

people in absolute poverty, a figure

important for them in everyday lives

as they shop for Christmas.

As the

new board is formed, one of the key

areas of expertise we need is to

build on record employment as for

the first time ever those entering

in work will continue to get work

from their job coaches, unlocking

potential to keep their work,

increase hours and pay, and progress

within work. Can that be a real

priority for a new board member.

I

think there are a number of areas of

experience and expertise we wish to

see from new board members. This is

an opportunity to refresh the board,

and I look forward to an aspiring

chair of the social mobility

commission to take forward the work

that Alan Milburn set the

foundations for.

The Minister's

attempt to divert attention from

what has happened has not worked. Is

he in Paris that according to the

Rowntree Report, the government has

presided over a record increase in

poverty, particularly amongst young

people and pensioners.

Once again, I

must repeat that while there are

changes in relative poverty,

absolute poverty has fallen.

Education is key to improving social

mobility, so will the Minister

ensure that the new commissioners

who are appointed recognise that the

proportion of pupils attending good

or outstanding schools has increased

from 66% in 2010 to 87% today.

One

of the best routes out of poverty,

out of the trap that social mobility

failures put people in, we have more

people from underprivileged

backgrounds go to university.

In the years I worked in the

university sector, a great deal of

time was spent going out to schools

to in Courage schools from all

background to apply to university,

what message does it send when the

chairman of the committee 's aunt

and says the government does not

have time for social mobility?

That

is not the case. Social mobility is

absolutely at the top of my priority

list, and the Prime Minister's

priority list, delivering social

mobility is something we are

committed to and the evident already

given in terms of progress in many

areas, including university bears

testament to that.

Rather than

appointing politicians as

replacements to the board, would my

right horrible friend consider

people with experience, because I

can suggest a list of brilliant

people that do incredible work that

he might want to consider.

Absolutely. When we open the

process, and indeed, I must make it

clear that Alan Milburn was told

there would be an open process,

opening up the selection, and he

said in that letter he would not

apply for that. I hope we will get a

wide range of applicants, to choose

the best with the best ability, to

help us in moulding our future

policies in terms of improving

social mobility.

Why hasn't the government adopted

any of the recommendations of the

social mobility commission since

2016? How does he expect to attract

new commissioners when he ignores

the important work they do

new commissioners when he ignores

the important work they do?

We

haven't ignored the work they do.

The social ability index has been a

useful tool for the government in

prioritising how it should address

some of the problems, and the

opportunity areas, some of which

announced in September, they are

targeted at the areas identified by

the social mobility commission in

its cold spot programme.

Alan

Browne.

The BMJ journal report

estimates that up to 120,000 deaths,

Scotland's children's Commissioner

threatened to take the UK Government

to court over Universal Credit. Life

expectancy has fallen for the first

time in decades. What change is the

government going to make, what's it

going to do to get a new independent

commission in place to hold the

government to account?

The recruitment process will

commence as soon as is all, we will

ensure we get the best people to

advise us, and to advise this House

in the progress that we continue to

make. The situation has improved

since 2010, and we continue to

ensure that it will improve in the

future.

With all the board members

resigning, and with the release of a

new report today by the Joseph

Rowntree foundation, it shows that

there has been a 5% increase in lone

parent families in poverty since

2010-11. Does the Minister agree

that the government's ambition for

social mobility has failed?

Our 30 hours free childcare offer is

available to lone parents that only

need to earn £6,500 a year to

qualify. It is an opportunity for

low and parents to get the

workplace, put that money into the

family budget, and get themselves

and their families out of their

situations.

Can the Minister assure

us that unlike Norwich, his own

social mobility opportunity board,

where they have appointed a crony,

would you consider allowing a select

committee to appoint this public

position in future?

I actually

thought the honourable gentleman was

better than that, we have some great

people on the board in Norwich, and

I look forward to working with them

to improve better opportunities for

people in Norwich.

The Minister is a

plain speaking Yorkshire, and I

wondered whether he could those

attributes to explain why he thinks

the whole of the board resigned.

I think, as I made clear, we need to

refresh the board, and the board

have been very effective. We had a

recruitment earlier in the year,

when we didn't feel we have the

right calibre of new people coming

in. This is a great opportunity to

get new blood onto the commission,

and make sure we can continue the

work as started by Alan and his

board, to ensure we continue to

identify the challenges in terms of

social mobility in this country, and

identify the best ways of addressing

them.

If everything the Minister

says is true, why is it that Gillian

Shephard, a Conservative member of

the board was absolutely livid about

the way the government had treated

the commission?

I can't speak for

the right honourable lady, but as I

say, we had the opportunity to get

new people on the board. A number of

numbers on the board had been

long-standing, and a refresh of the

board and bringing new people in,

whilst at the same time recognising

the contribution made by existing

members of the board, gives an

opportunity to increase diversity

and experience of that particular

body.

Could the Minister confirm

whether he or the Education

Secretary have had the chance to

speak to any of the board since

their resignation? And indeed,

whether they have been able to

establish whether the whole self

closure of our children's centres

across the country and the 25 in

Warwickshire have contributed.

Secretary of State spoke to Alan

Milburn on 22nd November. I

understand the other members that

attended the resignation have

written letters that have not been

made public, which is interesting.

One of the challenges for local

government is how to deliver good

services to children, and the

children's centres are one way to do

that. But the children's Centre in

my own constituency, the real

problem is the kids aren't here,

they stuck at home, their parents

might bring them in. Ministers

around the country will demonstrate

better ability.

The lack of

government seriousness in the issue

of social mobility, which is what

the resigned commissioners claimed

is evidenced by the millennial 's,

the generation earning less than the

generation before. Did that push

them over the edge? Under

discovered, things can only get

worse. -- under this government.

The

honourable lady makes a little pond.

The East Anglia Co-op are now

selling goods past their best before

date, but I don't think...

Order. I

know there are only a fuel left, but

there will be many opportunities to

fully aired this matter, and looking

at the members standing, I am sure

that if I didn't say that, they

would find them anyway.