WEST Somerset has been chosen as one area where an "evidence champion" has been appointed by the Government to help boost the results and prospects of all young people.

The announcement, by Justine Greening, came as she signalled a move away from a "punitive" approach to struggling schools and warned that the nation is facing a "social mobility emergency".

In a speech to a conference in central London, the Education Secretary said there needs to be a new culture of "the right support, in the right places, at the right time".

Sir Kevan Collins, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), will become "evidence champion", she said, gathering information on what works in the classroom to help boost social mobility - ensuring all children have the chance to get on in life, regardless of their background.

He will work with the Government's "opportunity areas" - 12 social mobility "coldspots" where many youngsters are failing to achieve their potential.

These are Doncaster, Bradford, Fenland & East Cambridgeshire, Hastings, Ipswich, Stoke, Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, Scarborough, and West Somerset.

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Ms Greening told the Sutton Trust summit there should be more tailored support for struggling schools to help improve standards.

"We do need to move away from a perception of a reliance on a pure punitive intervention approach," she said.

"We need to, moreover, move towards a culture of having the right support in the right places at the right time, and I think for too long our strategy hasn't had that breadth to it, and perhaps that clarity around it.

"My approach is to much more target and support and lift up those areas. It's about having a clear plan to improve the schools in these areas, a plan that everyone can buy into at a local and the national level."

Ms Greening told the summit that social mobility is an issue of "profound urgency".

"Britain faces a social mobility emergency, and if that's the case then we should all be worried. Even those of us who don't get this yet, and are wrongly comfortable with the status quo."

The minister said there is a lot of evidence on what works in schools, but this is not often spread through the system.

"You can have some fantastic work and insights being generated in a school in Exeter and there is no way that it will necessarily get up to a school in Newcastle. We have to change that," she said.

The "evidence champion" will help to ensure Government policy is informed by evidence, Ms Greening said.

Under the current system, state schools in England are considered failing by the Government if they do not reach set benchmarks at GCSE or primary school tests. Those that fail to reach the standard face being taken over and turned into an academy if they are run by the local council, or handed to a different sponsor or chain if they are already an academy.

Ms Greening said these floor standards will remain in place.