Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the implications for his Department's policies are of the finding in the British Journal of Sociology that despite rising numbers of young people from non-traditional backgrounds coming through the higher education system, there is declining social mobility.

The findings of the British Journal of Sociology are principally drawn from data in the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies and should be read in the context of other research into the benefits of higher education to individuals. Over their working life, the average graduate will earn comfortably over £100,000 more in today's valuation, net of tax, than a similar individual who completed their education with 2 or more A levels. By lifting the cap on student numbers, the Government is enabling more people than ever before to benefit from higher education.