Social Mobility Strategy published

The Cabinet Office has published a new strategy looking at inter-generational social mobility. The document contains a number of new policy announcements, including:

Information, Advice and Guidance

The Government will incentivise schools to provide high-quality careers guidance by introducing a “destination measure.” The new measure will focus on how many pupils continue in education, training or employment after leaving school.

The government will be working with the Education and Employers taskforce to get 100,000 people to go into schools and colleges to talk about jobs and career routes.

Flexible apprenticeships

The strategy contains a commitment to support the provision of flexible apprenticeships to improve the diversity of apprenticeship starters.

Business Compact

The government and Business in the Community are working to create a business compact. This will ask businesses to commit to:

• Support communities and local schools by allowing staff time off to participate in mentoring schemes and give careers talks.
• Improve skills and create jobs by providing opportunities for all young people by advertising work experience in local schools rather than through informal networks, as well as offering financial support for transparently offered internships.
• Recruit openly and fairly, ensuring non-discrimination.

The Government will be establishing a statutory Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. Alan Milburn, the current Independent Reviewer on Social Mobility, will be interim chair of the new body.

The document also reveals that the Government will be publishing a strategy on participation of young people in education and employment later in the year.

Read the strategy