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UK to become more divided under Tory policies, says social mobility watchdog Cameron failing to make UK more equal, says social mobility watchdog
(35 minutes later)
David Cameron’s social mobility watchdog has said that there is a gap between the prime minister’s rhetoric on improving people’s life chances and current policies that set Britain on track to become an ever more divided nation. Britain is on track to become an ever more divided nation if the gap between David Cameron’s rhetoric on improving people’s life chances and the reality of current policies remains, the prime minister’s social mobility watchdog has warned.
The commission, led by Labour former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, praised the prime minister’s post-election commitment to making the country somewhere where the “good life” was in reach for everyone. The commission, led by Labour former cabinet minister Alan Milburn, praised Cameron’s post-election commitment to making the country somewhere where the “good life” was in reach for everyone.
But its new state of the nation report said current policies were not ambitious enough to meet Cameron’s goal.But its new state of the nation report said current policies were not ambitious enough to meet Cameron’s goal.
Its key recommendations include setting goals to:• Halve the proportion of people who earn less than two-thirds of median hourly pay.• Halve the development gap between the poorest children and the rest at age five.• Close the attainment gap which sees low ability wealthy children overtake high ability poorer peers.• Improve teaching with better pay to compete with other graduate employers, an end to fees for training and incentives such as a teachers’ help-to-buy scheme. Its key recommendations include setting goals to:
Other recommendations include a fund to test new ways of improving parenting skills, a zero-tolerance approach to schools and further education colleges that fail to meet minimum standards by requiring them to become parts of academy chains, and better employment incentives in universal credit. Other recommendations include a fund to test new ways of improving parenting skills, a zero-tolerance approach to failure in schools and further education colleges to meet minimum standards by requiring them to become parts of academy chains, and better employment incentives in universal credit.
Milburn and his deputy chair, Gillian Shepherd, said: “The gap between rhetoric and reality has to be closed if the prime minister’s one-nation objective is to be realised. Current signs of progress do not go nearly fast enough to address the gulf between the divided Britain of the present and the one-nation Britain we aspire to become.”Milburn and his deputy chair, Gillian Shepherd, said: “The gap between rhetoric and reality has to be closed if the prime minister’s one-nation objective is to be realised. Current signs of progress do not go nearly fast enough to address the gulf between the divided Britain of the present and the one-nation Britain we aspire to become.”
More details soon . . . In terms of progress on social mobility, the report found educational attainment by disadvantaged children had improved but the gap between them and their better-off peers has only got marginally better – by one percentage point.
A primary school-age child in one of the poorest areas of England is twice as likely as a child from one of the wealthiest areas to go to a school that is less than good.
And while the number of disadvantaged children going to university has increased, only 2.2% end up at the most selective third of universities, compared with 18.1% of their better-off peers.
In the workplace, the commission said young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who make it to top jobs are likely to be paid less than their counterparts who grew up in professional families.