Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins joins leading Purpose Coalition members to explore how social mobility can boost the economy

Senior Treasury Minister and Member of Parliament for Louth and Horncastle, Victoria Atkins MP has joined Purpose Coalition leaders Tony Simpson of Sodexo, Lynda McVay of Leonardo and Sandhya Sabapathy of The Adecco Group for a panel discussion with Rt Hon Justine Greening, Chair of the Purpose Coalition

The event, hosted by LBC’s Iain Dale, explored the role of social mobility in boosting the economy, particularly in key areas such as improving skills training, how to work with business to improve the apprenticeship levy, and opportunities for prison leavers - a priority for leading Purpose Coalition Member Sodexo, which operates six prisons across the country. Sodexo’s Director of Justice Operations Tony Simpson explained the work of the company to give people a second chance in life through their Starting Fresh programme.

The event was an opportunity to unpack some of the policies announced in the government’s Budget last month, in particular reforms to childcare, which has the potential to have huge impact on social mobility, allowing more parents to work and children to get the care they need. The event also explored the importance of reform to the apprenticeship levy, a key priority for Purpose Coalition Members, and the role of flexible working in allowing employees to work around their busy home and family lives.

As the voice of Purpose-led organisations, the Purpose Coalition holds regular events with politicians of the future to explore ideas around social mobility, equality of opportunity, employment and more. In the last two weeks the Coalition has welcomed Minister for Social Mobility Mims Davies for an employers roundtable, alongside Rt Hon Chloe Smith - who was appointed as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology in the government’s recent reshuffle - to explore solutions to get more people back into employment. Earlier this month, leading Coalition Members also took part in a roundtable to discuss the changing world of work with Shadow Minister for the Future of Work Justin Madders MP.

You can find out about all the Coalition’s events at fit-for-purpose.org/engage