Social Mobility Commission Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Education
Huw Merriman
Main Page: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)Department Debates - View all Huw Merriman's debates with the Department for Education
(7 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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Mr Goodwill
I am certainly aware of the Joseph Rowntree report on relative poverty. I point out to the hon. Gentleman that absolute poverty has fallen by over 300,000 since 2010 and pensioner poverty remains close to historical levels. That is the sort of poverty that affects people in their everyday lives. Perhaps people are not as aware of the measure of relative poverty as they would be of real poverty.
Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
I am very sorry that the board has chosen to resign. The Conservative party has done so much for social mobility; I would consider myself an example from the ’80s. When it comes to appointing a new board, could we look at having more than four members to provide a bit more diversity?
Mr Goodwill
My hon. Friend makes a good point. There is no limit on the number of people on the board; indeed, I think it had almost 10 at one time. I hope that the publicity surrounding this question may encourage people to apply to be on the board, because we want a wide cross-section of applications, including perhaps somebody who has not necessarily been in political life but has been involved at the cutting edge in delivering better social mobility solutions.