On Monday, a packed audience filled a room in Westminster to hear education secretary Damian Hinds give an eloquent and relaxed presentation about social mobility.

Billed as a “major speech”, it was certainly refreshing to hear a cabinet minister using evidence both openly and ably to frame what is always going to be a contested area of public policy. The space to make a speech like this (big on analysis and light on solutions) has opened up what feels like a phoney war before the Treasury engages with government departments in the overdue spending review.

Hinds clearly believes that more needs to be done to address the enormous inequalities between rich and poor and to ensure that the circumstances you are born into do not predetermine your life chances. Across five key themes, the secretary of state set out depressing and persistent dimensions and statistics showing how ethnicity, language, place, home and adversity all conspire against large numbers of people in our unequal society.

So far, so good. Strong analysis of the problem, a wide description of the unequal education outcomes and a sense that, while no solutions were identified in his presentation, here is a man who wants to do something about it.

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Social mobility and the pupil premium

That may be fair enough for a politician who could be wondering what his next role in government will be – particularly one who has managed to navigate the choppy Brexit waters without being part of any factions, while staying loyal to the prime minister and cabinet and looking like a safe pair of hands. This approach may be sensible given how uncertain things are – a new PM, a no-deal Brexit a distinct possibility and no sign that a proper spending review will be possible before the end of the year.

The closest we got to a solution was a shout-out on the importance of pupil premium in schools and a recommendation to look at the new Education Endowment Foundation publication on how best to use it. Colleges will be watching enviously the additional funding schools receive for pupils who need more support, not least because many of them end up in colleges without that extra resource. If pupil premium is such a powerful approach to social mobility in schools, it does beg the question as to why it stops at 16 years old.

Unsurprisingly, given the impossibility of announcing anything new, there was no mention of the Augar report. I had hoped, without much expectation, a nod towards the analysis in the report which confirmed that after being neglected for too long, college investment was essential to enhance social mobility as well as economic growth. But sadly not. If teachers are critical to the success of education in addressing social mobility, then how urgent is it to close the pay gap of around £7,000 between college and school teachers? Likewise, the difference between college pay and industry pay in skills shortage areas such as engineering, construction and digital?

Working across silos

Beyond that omission, it was disappointing that there was little analysis of how important regional inequalities in economic success are in social mobility and fairness. The enormous differences between London and the South East and the rest of the country in terms of productivity, wages, infrastructure and opportunities play a big part in this debate. But that is another department and we have always struggled in this country to work across silos. Education plays an important part in social mobility, but if the jobs are not available then financial inequalities will persist.

I have never really liked the rather singular focus on of the past decade on social mobility and how education is seen as the silver bullet, at the expense of a more balanced view of disadvantage, inequality, work and industrial strategy. There were signs in this speech that Hinds appreciates this. It may be where the Labour party is moving after the announcement last week that they are going to focus more on social justice – giving every child the chance to flourish, not just a “lucky few”.

I hope we can widen out the debate and I look forward to being able to argue for the role that colleges can play in stimulating stronger economic growth, inclusion and social justice as part of policy and spending decisions. Once the new PM is in post, I’m expecting there will be a mad rush of policy and spending announcements – my expectation is that college investment will be a big winner in that. It has to be if the new PM truly wants a society that works for everyone and an economy that can thrive outside of the EU.

David Hughes is chief executive of the Association of Colleges