Lord Ravensdale (CB)

My Lords, for me, this journey started all the way back in 2024 when I proposed this topic as a special inquiry, so it is very good at last to see the work brought to a conclusion in this debate. First, I thank our superb chair, the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, for her sterling work in keeping us all focused on delivery, steering us through a complex topic and keeping us entertained with her amazing Cold War spy stories. I also thank our clerks, Andrea, Bruce and Emily, for all their efforts, culminating in an excellent report. Finally, we need to single out the Social Mobility Commission for its expert advice and support throughout the process. We must also note that we are standing on the shoulders of previous work done in the House in this area, in particular, the previous committee in 2015, led by the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Yardley. Something that we have clearly demonstrated throughout this work is the real importance of a regional, local approach, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, to social mobility in making progress in this area, having heard from many of the excellent local partnerships. We have made good progress in this area, both in the government responses to our recommendations and in the work done in your Lordships’ House on the English devolution Act. However, it is an area that the Government need to continue focusing on as they progress their devolution agenda in the coming years. As the noble Baroness, Lady Manningham-Buller, said, many areas of the country do not have that focus on the way that our devolution agenda is currently being progressed. On data, I am pleased to see the acceptance of our recommendations on data and I look forward to seeing the outputs of the government review in March 2027 on the development of broader datasets in social mobility; I cannot overstate the importance of this work in helping to better understand the drivers of social mobility. That is really going to help us design better interventions and ultimately help to improve life chances for so many disadvantaged communities across the UK. I finish with a quote from a noble Lord we all remember fondly, Lord Boyce: “There are no such thing as problems, only solutions in disguise”. I am grateful for the work of the committee and its collaboration with the Government in helping to tease out some of those solutions, which will make a real difference to the life chances of so many in those disadvantaged communities and ultimately continue our journey to a fairer society and opportunity for all, which is something that we can all get behind. I thank again the committee and the Government for all their efforts, and I look forward to hearing from the Minister.