Southeastern becomes the first rail operator to launch a social mobility action plan

Transcript

The Rt Hon Justine Greening:

Really important day launching the first social mobility action plan in the rail sector with Southeastern Railways, along with Managing Director Steve White.

It’s setting out all of the work that they will be doing in local communities, their relationships with local colleges but also then the commitments around how they're going to be more open for more people to get into careers and also how they're going to progress people once they get into the business.

There are some fantastic careers across the rail industry, I think it's absolutely brilliant and it's great leadership to see Southeastern Railways setting out their stall and I hope they're the first of many companies that follow suit.

Steve White, Managing Director:

I'm delighted to be here today with the Purpose Coalition to launch the industry's first ever social mobility action plan for a railway company, describing how we're going to move from providing simple mobility, to actually enabling social mobility. We're really excited to be working with the Purpose Coalition and other like-minded organisations to really make a difference in this space.

Eric Aboagye, Station Customer Service:

What I did at the Prince’s Trust was to train their new entrants, which is the new apprentices, and also to give them the confidence and the hope to be working at the railways. I'm very proud of being part of the team. Today is a wonderful day to be here, and I say thank you Southeastern for bringing me this opportunity and I'm proud of you all.