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Debate on Thursday, 11 June 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Baroness Smith of Basildon. The answering member was Lord Willetts.

Social Mobility and the Professions

Debate on a motion that this House has considered the matter of social mobility and the professions. [Relevant document: The uncorrected transcript of oral evidence taken before the Children, Schools and Families Committee on 8 June 2009, on Social Mobility, HC 624-i.]

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
493 c977-1024 
Session
2008-09
Department
Cabinet Office
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
David Lammy | 493 c987 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will recognise that Britain had 10 successive years of growth. That situation was...
Lord Willetts | 493 c986 (Link to this contribution) There are, of course, a range of reasons why young people are NEET, but I was quoting OECD figures t...
Show all contributions (60)
David Lammy | 493 c986 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows, because we have had this debate before, that all of us, across the House, ...
Lord Willetts | 493 c985-6 (Link to this contribution) Well, we hope so. We will have an unusual development this summer, which will see the toughest recru...
Lord Willetts | 493 c987 (Link to this contribution) I have had this conversation with Professor Pring, and I want to make a further point about NEETs in...
Barry Sheerman | 493 c987 (Link to this contribution) I did not follow the Minister's point, either, but I probably misunderstood because I am sitting dir...
Lord Willetts | 493 c987 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I do not follow the Minister's point.
Lord Willetts | 493 c985 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right, and that is why we propose, as a temporary measure, that extra postgraduate...
David Lammy | 493 c985 (Link to this contribution) The Government are committed to growth in postgraduate education along the lines that the hon. Gentl...
Mark Field | 493 c985 (Link to this contribution) It is also perhaps worth stressing that that applies not only to young people leaving school, but to...
Alan Milburn | 493 c990 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point, but what is his view on the solution that the pane...
Lord Willetts | 493 c988-90 (Link to this contribution) I accept that. That is why the Government's various changes to the careers service over the past 10 ...
Lord Willetts | 493 c990-1 (Link to this contribution) We support apprenticeships, but part of the problem is the new broader definition of apprenticeships...
Barry Sheerman | 493 c991 (Link to this contribution) We are enjoying what the hon. Gentleman is saying, but is not the real gap between the traditional t...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c987 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for explaining his position, but he has misrepresented the Gover...
Lord Willetts | 493 c987-8 (Link to this contribution) I do not think that children's opportunities can or should be determined by their experience in the ...
Barry Sheerman | 493 c988 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a fascinating speech, but all the research done by the Select Committee...
Barry Sheerman | 493 c998 (Link to this contribution) I fear that Quentin Letts will have another go at me for making this point. Let us look at the diver...
Alan Milburn | 493 c997-8 (Link to this contribution) It is important in these debates to ensure that the emphasis is on all groups and not just on some. ...
John Hayes | 493 c997 (Link to this contribution) Does not that tie in closely with the point made by the Chairman of the Children, Schools and Famili...
Alan Milburn | 493 c995-7 (Link to this contribution) Oh happy days! Yes, I do, and I also well remember my hon. Friend's championing of Peninsula's cause...
Linda Gilroy | 493 c995 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to have missed the early part of the debate. I will read it in Hansard and examine the de...
Alan Milburn | 493 c995 (Link to this contribution) When I compare my kids' experiences and life chances with those of my childhood, it shows that we ar...
John Hayes | 493 c994 (Link to this contribution) I am so excited by the right hon. Gentleman's speech, and the one that preceded it, that I am oblige...
Alan Milburn | 493 c994-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is on to a very important point. One thing that I am absolutely convinced about, ...
Alan Milburn | 493 c991-4 (Link to this contribution) It is always a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts). At some points in...
John Hayes | 493 c1003 (Link to this contribution) I was making the point not that that is a bad thing, but that it is a good thing that is largely the...
Jenny Willott | 493 c1004-8 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, and I think that parents have a very important role to play in that. They may want a lot...
John Hayes | 493 c1004 (Link to this contribution) I promise that this is my last intervention, because it might eat into my own time, and that would b...
Alan Milburn | 493 c998-1001 (Link to this contribution) That is a slightly more contentious point. Is it time for my hon. Friend to leave? We know that whe...
Jenny Willott | 493 c1001-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a daunting prospect to follow such a knowledgeable and interesting speech from the right hon. ...
John Hayes | 493 c1002 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, the hon. Lady might go further: I would go so far as to say that the expansion of university...
Alan Milburn | 493 c998 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I have a feeling it will be coming my hon. Friend's way. I guess that we knew that, although i...
Barry Sheerman | 493 c998 (Link to this contribution) I recently wrote an article in the Fabian Review that gave me some notoriety. In it, I pointed out t...
John Bercow | 493 c980 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with respect to the Minister. The Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Prop...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c980 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree; the hon. Gentleman will know that the matter was raised several times in Committee...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c977-80 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of social mobility and fair access to the p...
Lord Willetts | 493 c980 (Link to this contribution) The Minister referred to the report being published in the summer. That has been the official positi...
Mark Field | 493 c983 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady not feel that the emphasis—or, it might be argued, over-emphasis—on aspirations a...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c983 (Link to this contribution) I am puzzled by the hon. Gentleman's point, although I accept that he means it well, in that the two...
Lord Willetts | 493 c984-5 (Link to this contribution) I welcome both the Minister to her new responsibilities, which include this important subject of soc...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c981 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. I think that "summer" was a fair representation, although we ...
Mark Field | 493 c981 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate that the hon. Lady has just started that section of her speech, but will she give at le...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c981 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point. Many professions recognise that if they are to attract the b...
John Hayes | 493 c981 (Link to this contribution) I want to ask the hon. Lady a question, and to do so without prejudice. To what extent has graduate ...
Alan Milburn | 493 c981 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful not to be told what to do by my hon. Friend. If it helps the hon. Member for Havant (M...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c981 (Link to this contribution) That is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Member for Darlington. It is not my report or my panel...
John Hayes | 493 c1013-8 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to take part in this debate on this important subject. Like the right hon. Member for...
Brooks Newmark | 493 c1010-3 (Link to this contribution) Like my hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Mr. Walker), I was not expecting to speak in this deb...
Lord Willetts | 493 c1022-3 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Minister has looked at the evidence—I believe that the right hon. Member for Darl...
David Lammy | 493 c1018-22 (Link to this contribution) This has been a tough few weeks for the House of Commons, but I think it right to say that this deba...
Charles Walker | 493 c1008-9 (Link to this contribution) This is a truly uplifting debate. I was wondering what I would do in Parliament today, and I looked ...
Charles Walker | 493 c1010 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and I totally agree with that philosophy. I should like...
Brooks Newmark | 493 c1009-10 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, and is referring to a philosophy in which I have always bel...
David Lammy | 493 c1023-4 (Link to this contribution) I recognise the description that the hon. Gentleman gives. However, I shall not anticipate the repor...
Lord Willetts | 493 c991 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree, and have nothing to add to that excellent comment. It is one reason why we, thro...
Barry Sheerman | 493 c995 (Link to this contribution) I am fascinated by my right hon. Friend's work in listening to young people. Our Committee has also ...
Jenny Willott | 493 c1002-3 (Link to this contribution) There is an argument for that. Some of the statistics on graduate training show that that has led to...
Jenny Willott | 493 c1003-4 (Link to this contribution) There is certainly a class divide in which children go to university and the universities to which t...
Baroness Smith of Basildon | 493 c981-3 (Link to this contribution) The panel will be looking at, and making recommendations on, precisely those issues. The extent of s...
Subjects
Access Disadvantaged Finance Education Professions Public expenditure Universities Schools Training Young people Social class Social mobility
Link
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