Purpose

To establish a cross-directorate and multi-agency taskforce
with the purpose of improving social mobility, reducing poverty, and ensuring
cohesive responses across the Council and with wider partners.

Content

That a cross-directorate and multi-agency taskforce be
established, with the purpose of improving social mobility, reducing poverty,
and ensuring cohesive responses across the Council and with wider partners.

 

This would: -

·      
Revisit the recommendations made to the Place
and Resources Scrutiny Committee in the paper ‘Social Mobility in Dorset’,
November 2021 and use this to inform the taskforce membership suggested in
Appendix two of the report to Cabinet 19 November 2014.

·      
Define and agree future actions as suggested in
Appendix two.

·      
Develop local data insights and analysis to
inform and refine our approaches at both community and authority level.

·      
Implement relevant recommendations at a local
level from the national Social Mobility Commission’s annual reports.

·      
Report progress annually.

 

Reason for the decision

 

Working to reduce inequalities was not a one-off piece
of work; improving life chances for all was already what we strive to do and
was woven throughout our various strategies and long-term plans. This approach
brought together all our ambitions to ensure we were moving collectively
towards reducing poverty and improving social mobility as business as usual for
Dorset Council.

The
challenges were complex and could not be held by any one directorate or
organisation. These were deep rooted socio-economic structural issues that
warrant a considered, coordinated, and long-term response.