Social Mobility: Local Roots, Lasting Change (Social Mobility Policy Committee Report)

Baroness Smith of Malvern Excerpts

Friday 4th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Smith of Malvern) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, for both her leadership of the committee and securing this debate. I thank the committee for the careful and constructive way in which it considered the issues about which we have talked today and which are reflected so well in the report. There is no excuse for the time taken by the Government to respond; I am sorry for that.

The inquiry goes to the heart of a question that should concern every part of government and this House: how can we ensure that background, geography or early disadvantage do not determine a young person’s future? The committee rightly calls for stronger local partnerships, better data, earlier support for those who are at risk of becoming NEET, clearer routes through education and training, and closer links between skills and employment. The Government share those aims. We may differ on some aspects of delivery, but we are united in wanting every young person, wherever they live, to participate, progress and build a good life. Yet too many still leave education without a secure route into further learning, training or work.

The task that we have started, therefore, is to build a nationally coherent but locally responsive system that works around the learner, supports local growth and expands opportunity in every part of the country. The debate and the report have rightly placed a strong focus on place and devolution. As the noble Lord, Lord Young, has identified, the Prime Minister has set out a very clear approach to the way in which we will rewire the state and go far further than ever before in devolving power and budgets to those places that, with greater understanding and bigger ability, will be able both to bring together agencies in the way described by the noble Baroness and to deliver on local priorities. The Government will set out more detail on how that will work in a White Paper in the autumn.

Every young person should be able to see a clear pathway from education into further learning, skilled employment and adult life. Academic, technical and vocational education will be complementary parts of one high-quality offer. As we recently announced, new technical pathways from age 14 will reflect local needs, giving young people earlier access to technical skills, work experience and employers. Here again, regional mayors, schools, colleges and employers will shape those pathways around local industries and growth sectors—from advanced manufacturing, AI and digital technology to clean energy, life sciences, construction, health and care and the creative industries. Mayors will have the powers, flexibility and accountability to bring education, employment, health and local support closer together. We will work with strategic authorities, providers, employers and local government to implement this approach and to ensure that new freedoms translate into better routes to apprenticeships, higher education, high-level skills and employment.

Some noble Lords who contributed today also contributed yesterday to a lengthy debate on many of these issues. I have to say to the noble Lord, Lord Harlech, that it was a debate initiated by a Labour Peer. However, whether in yesterday’s discussion or today’s, there is a common recognition that we face a serious challenge with the numbers of young people who are neither earning nor learning. Almost 1 million young people are in that position. That is not simply a statistic. It represents individual young lives, their ambitions and the potential for them to be held back. That is why we commissioned Alan Milburn to examine the deep-seated drivers of youth inactivity, unemployment and sickness. His interim report was a clear call to action. We will consider the recommendations from the next phase of his work carefully.

However, we are not waiting. Across the DfE and the DWP, the Get Britain Working White Paper and the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper set out a joined-up approach to participation, skills and employment. An important guiding principle is that prevention is better than cure. Once a young person becomes disconnected, re-engagement is much harder. We are therefore strengthening the role of school in supporting successful post-16 transitions so that every young person leaves with a clear destination and those most at risk receive timely help. We are also piloting a post-16 backstop to connect young people without a confirmed place or plan quickly with appropriate educational training, with the wraparound support needed to stay engaged. While it was not the topic of this report, the noble Lord, Lord Winston, is right about the significance of early years and primary and the noble Lord, Lord Crisp, is right that we need to focus on key stage 3 in the early years of secondary, which we are doing.

The report is also right that better data is central to that effort. Too often problems are identified only after a young person has disengaged. Through the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, we are investing in risk of NEET indicator tools, improving data sharing and strengthening attendance monitoring in further education. When young people are outside work or education, we constrain labour supply, limit productivity and store up long-term costs for individuals, the Exchequer and the economy. That is why the Government are investing an additional £2.5 billion over three years into the youth guarantee and the growth and skills levy to support nearly 1 million young people and unlock up to 500,000 jobs, training and learning opportunities and 300,000 work experience places as part of that.

The committee rightly stresses that social mobility is often delivered locally, as I have referenced. Blackpool shows what can happen when leaders have the right data, can convene partners and can act early. The youth guarantee trailblazers are testing innovative local approaches to supporting young people into education, training and employment. However, one of the reasons why we will not necessarily continue those trailblazers in the same format is that, having learned some of the lessons, we are determined that they inform wider policy. We have introduced a national youth guarantee but will ensure that it is delivered in a way that enables local and regional design and use of the links that need to be made between employment support, apprenticeships and education.

We do not believe that one model can be imposed everywhere. It is absolutely right to say that the barriers facing a coastal town, rural community, post-industrial area or major city differ, but the best local practice should shape national reform. Prevention must also be matched by a post-16 system that is clear, high-quality and understood by learners, parents, employers and providers. That is why our reforms will create three clear level 3 routes and, importantly, new level 2 pathways will provide clearer stepping stones for students.

The committee also raised English and maths. Those skills are essential for work, further study and wider life, but repeated resits can become a barrier rather than a bridge. That is why the Curriculum and Assessment Review has emphasised strong foundations in reading, writing and maths, alongside improvements at key stage 3, and we are introducing new 16 to 19 level 1 English and maths qualifications, helping students to consolidate and build the foundation of knowledge that will enable them to progress.

Apprenticeships are an essential route into opportunity. That is why we are prioritising youth starts through the growth and skills levy to reverse the 40% decline in starts by young people over the past decade. We will now fully fund apprenticeships for 16 to 24 year-olds for employers of all sizes. From 1 October, eligible small businesses will also receive a £2,000 payment when they recruit an apprentice aged 16 to 24.

As I said, the youth guarantee will also expand work experience and training placements, work coach support and pathways into employment, apprenticeships, further learning and workplace training. Careers education, information, advice and guidance must sit alongside these reforms, as the report makes clear. Through the Careers & Enterprise Company, a national network of careers hubs reaches the great majority of secondary schools and colleges in England, connecting young people with employers, local labour market opportunities and informed choices about their next steps.

Higher education remains another important route into opportunity. We want everybody with the desire and aptitude to enter it to be empowered to do so, but access gaps remain too wide. Through Uni Connect and the Office for Students’ wider work on access and participation, we are supporting stronger local collaboration to connect people’s ambitions with opportunities and skills needs in their communities, creating clearer pathways from education into good employment.

The access and participation task and finish group is developing proposals for students from disadvantaged backgrounds and underserved areas, with its work continuing through to January 2027. Maintenance loans have now risen by 2.71% for the 2026-27 academic year; we will of course reintroduce maintenance grants to support young people into higher education.

The committee is right that this must be a genuinely cross-government effort. Skills, employment support, welfare, health, local growth and social mobility cannot be treated as separate silos. As Skills Minister across DfE and DWP, I am driving a joined-up approach through the youth guarantee, the Jobs and Careers Service, apprenticeships and skills reform and support for young people on universal credit, as well as the work reforming the curriculum and supporting further and higher education. As a Government, we are working with strategic authorities, local authorities, schools, colleges, employers and the voluntary sector, because improving opportunity requires concerted action at every level.

Our task is to move more young people from inactivity into opportunity, with the confidence to take their next step, the skills to enter work and the chance to fulfil their potential, while supplying the talent our economy needs to grow. I thank noble Lords on the committee for their work, which rightly challenges the Government to go further and faster, and we will take up that challenge.