Agenda item

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning the Social Mobility Index (SMI) annual benchmarking and assessment for performance in eight areas on social mobility outcomes and the drivers behind social mobility.

Members noted that the City Corporation had declined in ranking since 2022 and queried how the City Corporation aimed to improve that ranking. The Committee heard that the Social Mobility Foundation, who worked with the City Corporation on the SMI, had a higher number of organisations join in recent years, who often undertook targeted and holistic work which improved their ranking. However, the City Corporation could have provided a stronger case covering all the work undertaken across the organisation. It was noted that the Socio-Economic Taskforce (2020-22) had recommendations for a 5-point pathway for organisations to boost socio-economic diversity and for these to be undertaken under Progress Together. The City Corporation had access to these resources to learn best practices from other firms to improve ranking. The actions suggested in the report aimed to improve the City Corporation’s ranking within the Index.

It was noted that the Appendices detailed the feedback and scores on performance for each of the eight areas, which included more specific actions. Some of the actions were achievable whilst others were more challenging, and it was wished to focus on the areas in which the City Corporation scored lower, and to produce a clear action plan.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted, including:

·       City Corporation SMI rankings from 2018-2023.

·       The 2023 Social Mobility Employer Index report (Appendix 1).

·       The SMI suggested areas of focus for the Corporation to explore in response to the 2023 submission (Appendix 2).