Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Levelling Up: Social Mobility

Thursday 14 July 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Jon Trickett asked the Minister about the effectiveness of the Government's levelling up agenda in increasing social mobility.
  • The Minister stated that the Government's mission is to spread opportunity more equally across the whole country.
  • The Minister acknowledged that 20 million from levelling-up funding is supporting the Tileyard North development in Wakefield.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Jon Trickett Lab Normanton and Hemsworth
Education Economy Employment
Context

The question arises from concerns about the effectiveness of the government's 'levelling up' initiative in promoting social mobility across different regions.

Question

Whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the effectiveness of the Government's levelling up agenda in increasing social mobility.

Answer from Kit Malthouse

The Government's central mission is to level up the UK by spreading opportunity more equally across the whole country. Representatives of the Equality Hub in the Cabinet Office and the Social Mobility Commission are having regular discussions with levelling up leads and sharing key data on socioeconomic geographic equality, and that includes information on the commission's new social mobility index.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer avoids providing specifics about whether these discussions address the effectiveness of the 'levelling up' initiative in increasing social mobility.

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Q2 Jon Trickett Lab Normanton and Hemsworth
Education Economy Employment
Context

The question stems from criticism of the government's 'levelling up' agenda, suggesting it has not addressed systemic barriers to social mobility in various sectors.

Question

But the Government's own social mobility mission drew the conclusion that there was no social mobility in Britain, and in the meantime, levelling up is being used as a way of dishing out funds to Tory marginals. The truth is that in politics, the law, sport, the arts and business, working-class people face systemic barriers to personal progress. Has the Minister noticed that the wealth of the few is rooted in the poverty of the many? Does he agree, on behalf of the Government, that we need a root- and-branch transformation of the way our country works so that every single individual can achieve their full potential?

Answer from Kit Malthouse

That was a long question and I am afraid I only agree with the last sentence: we do want opportunity to be spread to every single individual. In his part of the world, £20 million from levelling-up funding is supporting the Tileyard North development in Wakefield, we have put £24.9 million into the Wakefield town deal and the Mayor of West Yorkshire will get £1.4 billion for transport improvements in the coming cycle.

Not addressed: The answer shifts focus from systemic barriers to specific funding details without addressing the need for systemic change or acknowledging existing barriers.

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