Bristol areas some of worst for university attendance

Deprived areas of Bristol have some of the worst records in the country for school leavers going on to university, independent research has revealed.

Just 4.9 per cent of youngsters in the Illminster Avenue East area of the Knowle council ward, where a third of households are on low incomes, made it on to higher education.

Only 20 other areas in England have a lower rate, according to the Office of National Statistics.

But almost every teenager – 99 per cent – in the more affluent council wards of Clifton, Cabot, Stoke Bishop and Cotham made it to university.

The Tories seized on the report as proof that Labour was failing to widen access to education to the most deprived young people, despite ploughing more than £2bn a year in to bridging the gap.

Shadow innovation, universities and skills secretary David Willetts said: "These statistics reveal the scandal of low social mobility in Britain.

"Going to university should be about academic ability, not where you were born. Millions of pounds have been spent on widening access but we have not seen the results to match.

"Far too many school leavers from poorer backgrounds, who have similar aspirations to their wealthier peers, are not getting the opportunities they need to match their ambitions."

Nationally, twice as many school leavers in richest neighbourhoods go to university than in the poorest neighbourhoods, the figures show.

Bristol West MP Stephen Williams, Lib Dem universities spokesman, said: "The Government's target is for 50 per cent of young people to go in to higher education and that is supposed to happen by next year, but obviously will not.

"In Bristol, the ship has stopped sinking when it comes to schools but it hasn't turned around yet.

"Children who could go to university need to be mentored and universities need to build up closer links with schools."

Skills secretary John Denham said: "Raising the aspirations of young people is vital to overturning the generations of disadvantage that affects some of our country's young people.

"And it is working. Our policy of fully funded expansion of higher education has seen by far the biggest increases in those going to university in the poorest constituencies in the country.

"This year, the number of young people going to university from poorer backgrounds rose by 8 per cent, compared to a 3.8 per cent rise for those from more privileged backgrounds."