Data Bites – Data for social mobility: improving the collection and availability of data across government

In December 2022, the Social Mobility Commission published their latest report, ‘Data for social mobility: improving the collection and availability of data across government‘. Join us on Wednesday 25 January as we launch the report at the Institute for Government’s event series, Data Bites, where members of the SMC will speak alongside similarly data driven organisations and individuals.

In this report we have identified the current barriers to finding and using socio-economic data, outlined an ambition of what an improved data environment could look like, and discussed how it might benefit future policy-making. This research acts as an aspirational paper to stimulate discussion and engagement across the government. We have provided a high-level overview of some of the challenges in the sharing and use of socio-economic data and highlighted some of the benefits if these problems were addressed.

On Wednesday 25 January we’ll be taking part in the Institute for Government’s regular Data Bites series to discuss our report in more detail. The SMC’s Interim Chair, Alun Francis OBE, will provide a deep dive into our data gaps report, followed by Michael Pandazis, Head of Evidence for the SMC, who will discuss how this impacts our annual State of the Nation report.

Alun and Michael will be joined by Oliver Anderson, Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) Strategic Analysis Lead, at the Department for Education, who will be speaking on post-16 education and labour market activities and outcomes. Anna Powell-Smith, Director of the Centre for Public Data, will provide an update on their Missing Numbers work.

Admission is free for all members of the public,. You can register to attend in person or online here.