Powerhouse ‘failed to deliver social mobility’

THE NORTHERN Powerhouse agenda is among a raft of government policies spanning the last two decades that have failed to tackle the country’s social mobility problem, a new report has found.

Publishing its first ever longterm assessment of the country’s progress toward closing the “opportunity gap”, the Social Mobility Commission has offered a damning verdict as it claims successive governments have delivered “too little” change.

Highlighting a number of flagship educational and economic policies from the last 20 years, it urges Ministers to learn from “mistakes” and commit to radical reform to avoid “unsustainable” levels of social division. It argues there is a “mood for change in Britain”, and a failure to deliver this will add to a growing sense of disenfranchisement.

“When more and more people feel like they are losing out, social mobility matters more than ever before,” said commission chairman Alan Milburn. “For two decades, successive governments have made the pursuit of higher levels of social mobility one of the holy grails of public policy. While there has been some progress, it has not gone far enough.

“If we go on like this, these divisions are set to widen... these divisions are not sustainable.

“There is hunger for change.

“New approaches are needed if Britain is to become a fairer and more equal country.”

The Time for Change report covers four life stages, from the early years and school through to the world of work. It gives red, amber and green ratings depending on how successful

governments have been in translating policy into positive social outcomes – but did not allocate a single green rating to any of the life stages.

On child poverty, the Commission warns that poverty rates rose in the aftermath of the recession “and there is currently no prospect of it ending”. And in its assessment of schools, it states that while “significant progress” has been made in reducing the attainment gap between poorer betteroff pupils at primary school, the gap “increases substantially” at secondary school.

Mr Milburn adds that one of the study’s most “striking” findings was the emergence of new social divisions over the last few decades, including “a new geographical divide” between the South East and other parts of the UK.

The report notes that one of the key policies unveiled under the 2010 government to tackle regional disparities in education and employment opportunities was George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse Agenda.

However, while it concludes that pay and skill levels in many northern communities have improved in recent years, areas like Yorkshire continue to lag behind other regions on employment rates, job quality and access to high-level qualifications. This prompts the Commission to call on Government to use its new Industrial Strategy to address this imbalance. The publication of the Time for

Change report coincides with the release of the latest poverty figures, which reveal a year-on-year increase in the rate of “persistent” poverty. The study also coincides with an announcement that the education charity SHINE is moving from London to Leeds, with bosses pledging to invest at least £1m per year into areas of deprivation across the North of England.

Responding to the report, Labour MP Dan Jarvis said the findings on child poverty in particular were “deeply concerning”.

“This government’s deprioritisation of child poverty is not only shameful but extremely shortsighted. It represents a systemic failure to invest in the future of our country,” he said.

The Government was approached for comment.