Reports on widening access contradictory
7th Feb 2010
CONFLICTING messages have emerged this week regarding Labour’s success in combating social inequality.
The Government-commissioned Hills report claims that the chasm separating the richest and poorest segments of society is the same today as the 1980s.
The report – and Gordon Brown – apportion significant responsibility to the Tory governments who presided over the huge rise in unemployment and social divisions during that decade.
Yet it also intimates that Labour have failed in their efforts to reverse the trend, despite a repeatedly stated commitment to increasing social mobility and developing a meritocracy.
The average household wealth of the richest 10 per cent currently stands at £853,000 – almost 100 times higher than the figure for the poorest 10 per cent.
However, as the Prime Minister steels himself for the class warfare that traditionally precedes elections – which found recent expression in his jibes aimed at David Cameron and George Osborne’s Eton education – he may find a measure of solace in the findings of a study by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
They reveal that children from the most disadvantaged areas of the country are now 50 per cent more likely to go to university than they were 15 years ago.
The report praises Labour’s increased funding for schools and education, and suggests – perhaps controversially – that increased fees have not deterred poorer students from embarking on degree programmes.
Several institutions have implemented specific schemes which aim to improve access to higher education among areas of ‘low participation.’
Birmingham’s ‘Access to Birmingham’ programme is tasked with raising awareness and aspirations in such neighbourhoods, as well as recruiting potential students.
Since its inception in 2000 it has supported over 800 people who have gone on to gain a place at the University.
The news came against a backdrop of concern over access to universities in the immediate future. Peter Mandelson recently having announced that almost £1 billion must be cut from the higher education budget over the next three years.









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