17th September 2008

At the 2008 Liberal Democrat Party Conference the Fabian Society (in partnership with CentreForum and Oxfam)  hosted a public fringe debate entitled Climbing the Ladder: Can Social Mobility End Child Poverty in the 21st Century?

Speakers were David Laws (Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary) and Martin Narey (Barnado’s), together with Kate Wareing (Oxfam) and Tim Horton (Fabian Society). The panel discussed whether social mobility was a useful concept for formulating anti-poverty policy and what a policy agenda to genuinely improve social mobility might involve. Julian Astle (CentreForum) chaired the debate.

The event was kindly supported by Webb Memorial Trust, Centre Forum and Oxfam.