Baroness Tyler of Enfield today tabled an oral question in the House of Lords on the barriers young people from disadvantaged backgrounds face in accessing elite universities and top professions. Baroness Tyler drew the Lords’ attention to the final report from the APPG on Social Mobility, and highlighted the recommendations in the report to address inequalities in the leading professions.

In his response, Lord Nash, the Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Education, cited the Sutton Trust’s Leading People report, agreeing more work must be done to address the fact that two thirds of jobs in leading professions are held by the privately educated, who make up only 7% of the population.

Lord Nash also referred to the Sutton Trust’s work on extracurricular inequalities and the gap in ‘essential life skills’, citing the need to ensure continued additional support for disadvantaged students in careers and personality skills to navigate the job market.

The Government has stated it will issue a full response to the APPG’s report in due course.

The full discussion can be seen below.

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