Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
New "Opportunities mission" aims to improve cross-government working and holistic support for children.
Recommendation
Looking ahead, the Department explained that its forward plan and strategy for supporting disadvantaged children would be focussed around government’s mission to “Break down barriers to opportunity.” 92 The Department explained that this is summarised in the government’s Plan for Change, published in December 2024.93 This “mission–led” approach would also improve cross–government working by allowing and encouraging the Department to think holistically across the system, using evidence of what works across different areas, such as with analysis on housing, child poverty and health. The Department also felt the Opportunities mission would create a single shared aim for government to work towards. The benefits were already being seen in the joint Child Poverty Taskforce and closer working with the Department for Health and Social Care on the “best start for life” element of the Opportunities mission, and family hub support.94
Government Response Summary
The department is working across government to deliver the Opportunity Mission, aiming for 75% of children reaching a good level of development at age 5 by 2028 and linking parental income data and outcomes for children.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6. PAC conclusion: The Department is relying on the ‘Opportunities Mission’ to bring together its own, and wider government’s, work to support disadvantaged children but it remains unclear how this will work in practice. 6. PAC recommendation: The Department should set out how it will use the opportunities mission to further join–up data and performance information, and embed the cultural changes needed for effective cross–government working. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: July 2025 6.2 The department is working across government and society to deliver the Opportunity Mission. It has set out a clear priority milestone for this parliament to ensure every child has the Best Start in Life, with 75% of children reaching a good level of development at age 5 by 2028. There is a strong evidence base of the impact of early child development on future outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children. Delivering this target requires effective joined up working across education, health, local government and beyond. 6.3 The mission has a particular focus on improving outcomes for children and young people experiencing economic disadvantage; with experiences of care; and with special educational needs and disabilities. As the report highlights, accurate, consistent and robust cross-government data and performance information is critical to this. 6.4 Across the Opportunity Mission, the department is working to improve and join-up data to understand and track outcomes. Cross-government data work is underway in a range of key areas, including with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to link parental income data and outcomes for children. 6.5 Outcome and delivery metrics are being brought together in a single source of data to track progress across all mission areas, including for key groups of disadvantaged children and young people. This will underpin monitoring and assurance on progress, including through Mission Boards. 6.6 On wider cross-departmental collaboration, key departments are being built into governance for the Mission and its individual pillars. The Spending Review process is bringing together key departmental contributions to the mission. At the same time, multi-disciplinary expert teams have also been formed to support innovation, including Test and Learn approaches, that will help further strengthen cross-government planning and delivery.