§ Mr. Tony BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to meet the University Grants Committee to discuss proposals for ethnic monitoring in relation to admission proposals; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. JacksonFurther to my reply to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) on 29 February 1988, at columns 404–5, the Department issued on 8 March its consultative document addressing the issues and options for consideration in the collection of ethically based statistics for students in further and higher education. The University Grants Committee was included among the bodies in the university sector to which copies were sent. In addition, as adumbrated in my previous reply, the Department has raised the question of the ethnic monitoring of university applicants with the Universities Central Council on Admissions, which is now considering the proposal in consultation with other interested bodies.