§ John MannTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children whose fathers are coal miners or former coal miners entered higher education in each year since 1997; and how this compares with the national average. [82249]
§ Margaret HodgeThe available information, showing participation by young people in higher education for each of the standard social class categories, is shown in the following table. Participation rates for individual occupations within these categories are not held centrally. There was an increase in entrant numbers in 1997 related partly to the funding arrangements for higher education, with students choosing to enter HE rather than wait until 1998. There was a corresponding reduction in 1998 before the entry rates started to increase again in 1999.
The Government is committed to raising the participation rates for people from less affluent family backgrounds, and has introduced Excellence Challenge, including the AimHigher campaign, which is targeted at raising attainment and aspirations among young people who traditionally would not consider going to university.
Age Participation Index (API)1 by social class Great Britain Per cen.t entering HE in academic year beginning Social class 1997 1998 1999 2000 I Professional 79 72 73 76 II Intermediate 48 45 45 48 IIIN Skilled non manual 31 29 30 33 HIM Skilled Manual 19 18 18 19 IV Partly skilled 18 17 17 19 728W
1998 1999 2000 Nursery/primary Secondary Nursery/primary Secondary Nursery/primary Secondary City of London 0 0 1 0 0 1 Camden 12 2 21 8 17 13 Greenwich 31 22 52 9 16 14 Hackney 51 9 38 30 47 22 Hammersmith and Fulham 35 12 15 8 14 8 Islington 27 15 10 3 20 11 Kensington and Chelsea 17 3 3 6 3 2 Lambeth 6 6 46 12 36 12
Age Participation Index (API) 1 by social class Great Britain Per cen.t entering HE in academic year beginning Social class 1997 1998 1999 2000 V Unskilled 14 13 13 14 I—IIIN 48 45 45 48 HIM—V 18 17 17 18 All classes 33 31 32 33 1The API is defined as the number of GB domiciled initial entrants to full-time and sandwich undergraduate HEaged under 21, expressed as a percentage of the average number of 18 and 19 year olds in the population.