Mr. Robert AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in the percentage of applicants to the Universities Central Council on Admissions from social class V between 1986 and 1991.
§ Mr. BoswellUCCA has collected these details from the academic year 1989–90 onwards. The percentage of applicants to UCCA from social class V has increased slightly since then from 1.2 per cent. in 1989 to 1.7 per cent. in 1992. A number of factors will have contributed to this change. Data collected by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys suggest the proportion of the total young population in social classes IV and V declined over this period.
Mr. Robert AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish figures for the social class of 1992 university applicants on the same basis as has been published in UCCA's statistics in previous years.
§ Mr. BoswellComparable data on the social class of applicants have been published by UCCA in its annual 77W statistical supplement for more than the last 10 years, the latest for 1992. Students applying to the former polytechnics and colleges which are members of PCAS —Polytechnics central admissions systems—have also been asked, since 1991, to provide information on their social background on the same basis as UCCA applicants. The new joint admissions agency, UCAS—Universities and Colleges Admissions Service—will continue to collect and publish information on the social background of higher education applicants.