National LINC team publish report challenging Education and Health Inequity through challenging policy

The consequences of health inequality can be seen clearly through a comparison between the North and South of England.  However, an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is seeking to understand why these inequalities exist so that political parties can work together to improve outcomes for children born in these areas.

‘Child of the North’ is an APPG who recently called on expert witnesses from across the UK to address the issue of educational inequalities faced by children and young people in the North of England.

Through highlighting work from across the research community, including the LINC consortium, we were able to show how research is generating creative and innovative solutions that can help improve outcomes for children and young people.

The evidence presented was well received and led to the development of a written report which included a set of recommendations for policy changes that apply to all political parties.

The report, “Addressing Education and Health Inequity: Perspectives from the North of England ”, provided evidence to support the intersection between health and education, inequalities in school funding, the use of connected datasets, how we can address the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) crisis, as well as perspectives from a school leader and young person from the North.

After a successful launch of the report in Westminster on the 11^th of September 2023, we are extremely pleased to announce there will now be a parliamentary debate to kickstart the process of bringing about desperately needed changes.

Our goal is to improve outcomes for generations to come, not just in the North but across the entire UK.

We are hopeful that the report and debate will now form the basis for the introduction of policies and programmes that will go on to transform the education, health, and life outcomes of children.

This news piece was written by Professor Mark Mon-Williams and Dr Megan Wood from the University of Leeds.