The second of the three themes of the Queen’s Speech is increasing the life chances of the most disadvantaged. The government is proposing reforms to try and tackle some of the biggest social problems in society and remove barriers to opportunity.
There will be a Children and Social Work Bill which will include changing the considerations courts must take account of when deciding on adoptions for children, changing the balance in favour of permanent adoption and a new system of regulating social workers.
The Education for All Bill will include new laws to enable the academies programme to be expanded and a new funding formula to deliver fairer funding for every school and every pupil across the Country.
The Higher Education and Research Bill will make it easier for new Universities to open and require all Universities to publish detailed information about applications, offers and outcomes so it will be easier to assess what they are doing to help social mobility.
There will also be bills to reform prisons giving governors more powers and to expand the National Citizen’s Service.
David Nuttall 