§ Mr. DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps she is taking to review the arrangements for the ethnic monitoring of school pupils. [17067]
§ Mr. Robin SquireWe have today issued a consultation paper to local education authorities and other interested organisations, reviewing the current arrangements for the ethnic monitoring of school pupils and inviting comments on proposals to change those arrangements. Subject to the outcome of the consultation exercise we propose to replace the ethnic monitoring survey of school pupils in England with a combination of approaches:
- a. to incorporate two additional questions within the schools' census in respect of (i) the number of minority ethnic pupils; and (ii) the number of pupils for whom English is a second language;
- b. to obtain information about the progress of minority ethnic pupils in individual schools, by means of information gathered by Ofsted as part of its regular inspection process; and
- c. to undertake ad hoc surveys and research, as necessary, to look in greater depth at particular issues.
These are designed to check that all minority ethnic groups have equal opportunities to achieve their full potential. Copies of the consultation paper are available in the Library.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps she is taking to increase the number of people from ethnic minorities continuing to higher education. [16388]
§ Mr. BoswellThe Government are concerned to promote wider participation in HE, including participation of people from ethnic minorities. The proportion of people from ethnic minorities continuing to HE is higher than the proportion of people from ethnic minorities in the population at large.