§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 10 May 2004,Official Report, columns 37–8W, on medical students, if he will list the factors taken into account in defining a broad range of social and ethnic backgrounds in respect of the criteria for the establishment of new medical schools; if he will break down the widening participation allocation by institution; and if he will make a statement on widening participation and the maintenance of standards of excellence in the medical profession. [175417]
§ Alan JohnsonThe Government are absolutely committed to widening educational opportunities, not just in medicine but in higher education as a whole. We have always made it clear that admission to university must be on merit, based on the applicant's academic achievement and potential. It is important that universities, as autonomous bodies, ensure that their admission decisions are professional, fair and transparent.
In inviting bids to expand medical school places in September 2000, the Department of Health and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) asked institutions to provide data relating to the following factors pertaining to social and ethnic backgrounds: "A" Level grades of successful medical students and, where known, unsuccessful candidates; demographic profile of applicants and students admitted to medical schools over the last two years by race, gender, socio-economic group and proportion of students admitted straight from state school; and for institutions without existing medical students, the same information for related disciplines, especially healthcare students.
As my answer of 10 May explained, the HEFCE allocation for widening participation is broken down by institution in Table 1 of the HEFCE document "Recurrent Grants for 2004–05" (March 2004/12), a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library. Alternatively, the document can be accessed at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/Pubs/hefce/2004/04_127/ on the internet.