Labour party conference: Change begins?

This week the Sutton Trust team attended the first Labour Party Conference since the party’s return to power after 14 years in opposition. As the new government continues to shape its vision for the next five years, it was an excellent opportunity to look at the key issues in social mobility and educational inequality, and discuss what the government should be doing to improve the life chances of young people across the country as part of the Opportunity Mission.  

We spoke at and attended a range of fringe events, as well as paying close attention to speeches from the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Education Secretary.  

We were particularly delighted to have partnered with the Education Policy Institute and AQA to host a reception for those working across the education sector, focusing on closing the disadvantage gap. Speaking at the reception, our CEO, Nick Harrison, discussed the hard work that lies ahead for the sector in closing the gaps between pupils from low-income backgrounds and their peers that have widened significantly since the pandemic, emphasising that we will never achieve opportunities for all if the disadvantage gap stays as it is today.  

It was also great to be joined by the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, who spoke about the challenges our schools are facing, the importance of high-quality early years education, and the work the government are doing to support disadvantaged young people. Early Education Minister, Stephen Morgan, also attended for the duration of the event. 

Our senior representatives also spoke on a number of fringe events. On Sunday, Nick Harrison, spoke on a panel hosted by Million Plus which considered the role of higher education in breaking down barriers to opportunity, including the experience of modern universities in supporting efforts to widen participation in HE and as anchor institutions in their local communities. He discussed the important role that universities play in driving social mobility, and driving the growth that the country needs by harnessing the talents of young people from all social backgrounds.  

On Monday, our Director of Research and Policy, Carl Cullinane spoke on a panel hosted by the Education Policy Institute on education recovery since the pandemic. Carl spoke about the clear impact that the pandemic had on the disadvantage gap, and the lack of national investment in education recovery. He also discussed the important role that tutoring played in providing additional support for disadvantaged young people, arguing that it must be part of any solution to close the attainment gap.  

Following the publication of our recent report Life Lessons 2024, our Head of Research and Policy, Dr Rebecca Montacute, spoke on a panel hosted by the Oracy Commission, focusing on how oracy can deliver for young people from all backgrounds. She spoke about differences in oracy provision between schools, the barriers to improving oracy in state schools, and how important it is that the new curriculum ensures that state school students at all ability levels have the opportunity to develop their oracy skills.   

Whilst there weren’t any major government education announcements, we did hear more from the ministers about their plans to alleviate the issues around a lack of nursery places ahead of the rollout of the previous government’s childcare and early education offer, their pledge to provide free breakfast clubs in all primary schools, and reform of the apprenticeship levy.  

On the early years, the Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced that the government plan to open three hundred new state nurseries in England’s schools by next September. The government’s pledge to set up new nurseries in schools is a sensible one given the pressures on the early years system to deliver the expansion of funded hours, and the focus of the Secretary of State on the importance of high-quality early education, and not just childcare, was good to hear.  However, we urgently need a plan to equalise access for children from poorer backgrounds to this expansion. These children stand to benefit most from early years education but are excluded from the 30 hours entitlement because of their parent’s work status. 

In the Chancellor’s speech, Rachel Reeves said that the government is making “an investment in reducing child poverty”, referring to their breakfast club scheme. She announced that a pilot of the £315 million scheme would begin in April across 750 primary schools in England. This first step in the expansion of breakfast clubs is a positive move for tackling hunger in schools, with research by the Education Endowment Foundation showing the positive impacts that this kind of intervention has on the attainment of children.  

However, we would like to see this go even further through the extension of Free School Meals to all families on Universal Credit to ensure that no children are going hungry throughout the day. The current income cap excludes 1.7 million children in families eligible for Universal Credit, with research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showing that families who are eligible for UC are six times more likely to be classified as food insecure than ineligible families. 

It was also positive to see education and skills highlighted in the Prime Minister’s conference speech, where he pledged to “rebalance” apprenticeship spending in favour of younger people, by shortening the programmes and restricting employer levy investment on level 7 training. Sir Keir Starmer also confirmed plans for new, paid “foundation” apprenticeships, that offer training to young people who are not ready to start at Level 2 or Level 3. 

While there is still a long way to go in levelling the playing field for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and much more we’d like to see the government do, we will continue to work constructively with policymakers as we champion social mobility from birth to the workplace.  

This weekend, representatives from the Trust will be heading to Conservative Party Conference, to continue these important discussions around reducing educational inequality and promoting social mobility. Look out for a similar summary next week!