Chair has written to the
Education Secretary following the conclusion of the Education
Committee’s inquiry into opportunity areas.
The
letter (attached) to MP says that while the
Committee welcomes the programme’s objective of improving social
mobility, it remains ‘unconvinced’ that opportunity areas are the
best way of delivering on the aims.
Rt Hon , Chair of the Education
Committee, said: “We welcome the focus of
opportunity areas on improving social justice and supporting
disadvantaged communities, but we’re not convinced that the
programme is the most effective method of achieving such
aims.
We have concerns over the value for money that the programme
offers. The £2 million spent on administration costs could be far
better spent helping children and young people directly on the
front line and the additional structure creates confusion and
duplication in the system.
There are also questions over how the effectiveness of
opportunity areas is measured. We are unconvinced that we will be
able to see improved outcomes for children and young people from
early years through to improvement. How the programme is
spreading effective practice to other areas is also far from
clear. This is particularly worrying given the number of
disadvantaged communities not covered by opportunity areas.”
The correspondence expresses concern over how opportunity areas
are chosen, the value for money from the £2million administration
costs and a lack of independence from Government. It also
highlights a lack of joined up working across Government and
questions over how the effectiveness of the programme is
measured.
The Committee’s
inquiry explored whether the opportunity areas
programme was delivering on its aim of improving outcomes for
children and young people in the 12 chosen areas, from early
years through to employment, along with the programme’s role in
spreading effective practice to other areas.
