All-Party Parliamentary Group on Social Mobility

On 19 July 2023, the APPG held a meeting in the Jubilee Room at the Palace of Westminster on parental engagement as a tool for social mobility. 

The session focussed on the impact of parental engagement on children’s outcomes at all stages of education, as well as the potential barriers to increasing parental engagement and recommendations to overcome these. 

The APPG were pleased to host:

• Anne-Marie Canning, Chief Executive, The Brilliant Club 
• Sam Phripp, Head of Policy, ParentKind 
• Becky Young, Growing Minds Manager, Peeple 

Read the minutes of the meeting or view slides from the presentations. 

On 19 April 2021, the APPG held a virtual meeting on education recovery.

The session focussed on education recovery and the interventions that need to be put in place to help disadvantaged children and young people over the coming years, covering early years, schools, further education and transitions to higher education.

The APPG were pleased to host:

• Catherine Roche, Chief Executive of Place2Be
• Mouhssin Ismail, Principal of Newham Collegiate Sixth Form
• David Hughes, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges
• Sarah Thomas, Joint Director of Stonecroft Day Nursery

Each panellist spoke about the challenges that are facing their sectors as a result of the pandemic, and the actions that they would like to see taken to address these. This was followed by a Q&A session which covered issues ranging from the role of community in education recovery, mental health support in schools and how to effectively measure the success of government funding.

Read the minutes of the session.

On 16 July 2020, the APPG held a virtual meeting on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic titled What next for social mobility? The impact of coronavirus and beyond.

The session focused on the impact of the Covid-19 on education and social mobility, looking at the early years, schools, further education and university access.

The APPG were pleased to host:

• Dr Chris Pascal, Co-founder and Director at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood
• Jo Hutchinson, Director for Social Mobility and Vulnerable Learners at the Education Policy Institute (EPI)
• Kirsti Lord, Deputy Chief Executive at the Association of Colleges
• Laura Bruce, Director of Programmes at the Sutton Trust

Each panellist spoke about the impact coronavirus has had on disadvantaged children and young people in their education stage of focus. This was followed by a Q&A session which covered issues ranging from international students, the role of Ofsted and collaboration across the education sector.

Catch up on the minutes of the session or read our blog.

Ali Jaffer and Lindsay Turner Trammell, Heads of Policy and Innovation at the Social Mobility Commission did a short presentation recapping their recent State of the Nation report. This was followed by a question and answer session that touched on some common threads including cross party and cross departmental co-operation, local, regional and national perspectives, as well as early years and parenting.

Catch up on the session through our blog, or read the minutes from the session.

The first session presented an overview of the regional attainment gap. There was discussion about where the disparities lie and what underpins them, as well as why narrowing this gap is so important for increasing social mobility. Read the minutes of the first session or catch up with our blog.

The second session explored regional examples of best practice, including from the London Challenge, the Somerset Challenge and the Norwich Opportunity Partnership. Read the minutes of the second session or catch up with our blog.

The third session built on the evidence gathered from previous sessions, hearing from Justine Greening MP, James Turner Deputy Chief Exec at the EEF, Prof Rebecca Alan, and Prof Kathy Sylva. Catch up on the session with our blog.

This session explored the perception that law, finance and professional services are dominated by people from particular socio-economic backgrounds. The session asked whether this is the case, how we can address the issue if so, and what is being done by charities and the professions to widen access. Panelists included representatives from the charity sector, as well as senior representatives from the professions themselves.

This session investigated why the medical profession is recruiting such a disproportionate number of people educated in the independent sector. The issue of access into medicine emerged as one of particular interest following the publication of the Sutton Trust’s report Leading People 2016. This session included representatives from across the medical profession from organisations such as the Medical Schools Council, the Royal College of Nursing and a junior doctor.

This session of the inquiry explored how politics and the civil service could be more representative of society so that people do not feel alienated from them, as recent developments suggest they could be. Panelists included Dan Jarvis MP (Parliamentary Champion of the Speaker’s Parliamentary Placement Scheme), beneficiaries of the scheme, and Cabinet Office Minister Ben Gummer MP.

This session of the inquiry explored challenges for accessing the entertainment and media professions, with some discussion regarding unpaid internships, and an agreement that there was a need for a more diverse group of people producing the news that we consume. This session saw senior representatives from the media and arts sector including actor Michael Sheen, as well as the National Council for the Training of Journalists, Sky News and ITV.