Education committee calls for reforms on social mobility commission

The education committee has said that the social mobility commission should be given the power to publish impact assessments on social injustice in legislative proposals.

The committee is also calling for the commission’s name to be changed to the “social justice commission”.

The recommendations come as the committee published its report ‘The Future of the Social Mobility Commission’.

Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP for Harlow, chair of the Education Committee, said: "Without stronger powers the Social Mobility Commission will do little to tackle social injustices and give the most vulnerable in society the chance they deserve to climb the ladder of opportunity.

“The government needs to co-ordinate the social justice agenda from the centre and should give a Minister in the Cabinet Office specific responsibility to lead on this work and to ensure that the policies deliver in improving opportunities for all.”

He continued: “It's crucial that a new body is created inside government with the levers and powers to co-ordinate and drive forward initiatives across Whitehall and ensure social justice is delivered across the country.

“We need a Commission which has the teeth to undertake objective assessments of the implications for social justice of government policies and is properly equipped to hold Ministers’ feet to the fire on social mobility.”