CABINET OFFICE News
Release (CAB025/09) issued by COI News Distribution Service on 14
April 2009
INDEPENDENT PANEL
PUBLISHES FIRST REPORT ON ACCESS TO THE PROFESSIONS
The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, led by Alan Milburn
MP, has today published a first research paper highlighting key
trends and issues in access to the Professions.
The report identifies where progress had been made to widen
access to professions such as law, medicine, media, publishing,
Civil Service and banking for young people but also identifies
where barriers still exist.
The research report finds that many of Britain's professions
have become more socially exclusive and that, as a consequence,
bright children from average income families, not just those from
more disadvantaged backgrounds, are missing out on a professional career.
Amongst its key findings the report says:
* Over half of professional occupations like law and finance are
currently dominated by people from independent schools which are
attended by just 7% of the population
* 75% of judges and 45% of top civil servants were independently schooled
* A typical professional born in 1958 came from a family which
earned 17% more than the average family income; but by 1970 the
family income gap between those who went on to pursue a
professional career and the average family had risen to 27% with
journalism and accountancy seeing the biggest rise
* Lawyers who were born in 1970 grew up in families 64% above the
average family's income and for doctors the figure was 63%
* By contrast the teaching, academic and cultural professions saw
a decline in numbers who had grown up in families with above
average incomes
The report stresses that this data reflects entry to the
Professions as it was in previous decades. It also stresses the
social pattern may be changing as recent evidence suggests that
the link between family background and levels of educational
attainment is being weakened. In addition many professions have
taken action to address access issues and the report points to
progress, for example, on narrowing the pay gap between male and
female professionals.
Panel Chair, the Rt. Hon. Alan Milburn MP said:
"This research report is in an important piece of work that
will give the Panel a solid basis for making our recommendations.
It shows that, whilst progress has been made, there is still a
long way to go to ensure that all young people get a fair crack of
the whip when it comes to pursuing a professional career.
"It is shocking that despite the best efforts of many
professions they seem to have become more not less socially exclusive.
"Bright children from middle class families as well as those
from poorer backgrounds are missing out on top professional jobs.
"Many professions are working hard to put this right but
their efforts need to be intensified.
"Both the Professions and the Government have to do more to
widen the talent pool if Britain is to recruit the estimated 7
million new professionals we will need by 2020."
The research report identifies five key entry steps where support
can be targeted:
1. Young people's aspirations: Only 1 in 5 young people from
average backgrounds and 1 in 8 young people from poorer
backgrounds currently aspire to be a professional. This compares
to 2 in 5 young people whose parents are already in the Professions.
2. Careers and development support for young people: 7 in 10
young people are unhappy with the careers support they receive,
whether through Connexions or schools.
3. Work experience in the Professions: Over 9 in 10 young people
who have been interns say that it helped raise their aspirations
and improved their CV, and 4 in 5 employers recruit former
interns. However, a disproportionate number of internships are in
London and the South East.
4. Recruitment & Selection: 7 in 10 of the top graduate
employers target only 20 of the 167 UK universities.
5. Flexible routes for entry and progression: There has been a
long term decline in the non-graduate routes into the Professions.
Today, only 27 of the Times Top 100 Employers accept alternative
entry routes, such as non-graduate entry.
The Fair Access Panel was commissioned by the Prime Minister to
review the processes and structures that govern recruitment into
the professions, and make recommendations to both the Government
and the Professions on action that will improve access for all.
The Panel will publish a further report summarising evidence from
professional bodies and other stakeholders, including from the
Panel's national Call for Evidence, before it makes its final
recommendations in the early summer.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. The Panel was announced in January as part of the
Government's New Opportunities White Paper, outlining the
Government's strategy to improve social mobility.
2. The Panel consists of eighteen representatives from the
Professions, (including the media, law, business and finance,
architecture, politics, and medicine) with the Rt. Hon. Alan
Milburn MP as Chair. For a full list of representatives and
Professions and further information:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/accessprofessions
3. The panel's work will not touch on the wider drivers of
social mobility as covered elsewhere in the New Opportunities
White Paper, and will not look at employment law, illegal
discrimination, or wider issues of equality such as race or gender.
4. The Panel first convened in February, and are now focusing on
the following five issues:
* Young people's knowledge of, and aspiration to enter the
Professions
* Supporting young people to develop the soft
skills required for the Professions
* Providing opportunities
for practical experience of working in the Professions
*
Encouraging fair selection processes
* Increasing flexible
routes into, and opportunities for progression within, the Professions