Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Attorney General

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts
Thursday 25th February 2016

(8 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Ruth Cadbury Portrait Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)
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Research shows that while BME students are over-represented in university entrance figures, they tend to go to the new, post-92 universities. The Women and Equalities Committee heard this week that the Russell Group universities are poor at doing outreach to encourage students from disadvantaged and BME backgrounds to apply to their universities compared with the Ivy League universities in the US, which have a far better record on that. Will the Minister join me in seeking to address this issue?

Anna Soubry Portrait Anna Soubry
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The hon. Lady makes a very good point, if I may say so. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities, who makes the point that the London Academy of Excellence is a very good example. I must say that my nearest university, the University of Nottingham is—like Nottingham Trent University and many other universities—making a really positive effort to get into all our schools to make sure that all our pupils have every opportunity and that they, if I may put it this way, aim high.