Bill Rammell - Diversity Matters

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Good morning everyone. It's a great pleasure for me to be here today. It's a privilege to have been invited by the Professional Associations Research Network to give the keynote speech on such an important subject.

The subject that I've been asked to address is the Government's vision of the professions in relation to the outcome of the gateways to the professions review and in particular in terms of equality and diversity.

That's a big subject, to cover in twenty minutes, but it's one I'm happy to take on. And I have to begin by saying that, quite unusually for a politician, I approach it as something of an outsider. Before entering Parliament, I was a linguist by training and a student union manager by career.

When I look around the chamber of the House of Commons, and still more the House of Lords, I see large numbers of lawyers, more doctors and surgeons than you might expect, quite a few former school and university teachers and, in the Lords at least, a good sprinkling of bishops and clerics of other faiths.

There are quite a few merchant bankers as well.

The professions have always been part of the establishment, in the sense that members of the professions, whether in politics or outside, are part of the way in which this country is run. That doesn't necessarily mean that they're a force for conservatism, but it does mean that they're important.

So it's important who can and can't gain entry to the professions.

I think that a general consensus has been developing here since the 1960s that the only viable way forward for our country is as a more inclusive and fairer society. But also that if that is the direction we want to take, then real effort is needed to break down the barriers that impede the achievement of any part of the community and in particular to open up the pathways to power and influence in British life.

There's certainly a lot of achievement represented at this conference today, both on the platform and in the audience. A lot of work is going on to make our society more equal.

That can be seen in the work community groups and volunteers are doing with black kids on the streets of south London to turn young people away from gangs and drugs.

It can be seen in our schools and colleges, where teachers and their support staff are doing that little bit more to help youngsters from minority groups to break out of the vicious circle of underachievement. There are so many people making that extra bit of effort that doesn't necessarily fall within their terms of employment, but which they put in because they know it's in the cause of something that's right.

In our universities, academic staff and students alike are reaching out increasingly into schools and communities, trying to make sure that the Robbins Principle - that all who could benefit from a higher education get the chance of one - at long last becomes a reality.

In the professions themselves - notably the teaching profession, the medical profession and the legal profession - the awareness that people don't just get an equal chance, that someone has to do something to give it to them, is growing. The same can be said for many boardrooms up and down the country.

And it's even true to an extent about all the mainstream political parties, and about Parliament itself.

That's all to the good and I'm sure that it's a change that all right-thinking people can only welcome. But at the same time it's no reason for anyone to become complacent.

Despite everything that has been done, despite all the legislation that has been put in place and the efforts of Patrick and his colleagues at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and the Equally Professional Network there is still substantial inequality in this country.

So we mustn't just sit back thinking that the job's done. Quite the opposite.

And nowhere is that more true than in the professions.

The professions remain far too preponderantly a preserve of the white, able-bodied middle classes.

I'll give just a few examples of what I mean and I'll start with the school teaching profession, for no other reason that that Keith Bartley's chairing this session.

Not so very many years ago, one of the questions that was asked on the application form for teacher training courses in England was whether or not your parents were teachers. And it was a question to which there was a right and a wrong answer. The theory was that someone who'd grown up with teachers probably had a good idea what the profession was about. The reality was that it helped only to deter people from non-traditional backgrounds from coming into teaching.

That sort of approach perpetuated not only a teaching profession that was partly hereditary but, again, one that was predominantly white and middle class.

It's not long ago when the only black headteacher most people could name was William Atkinson at the Phoenix School in Hammersmith. He was so unusual that Lenny Henry based a whole television series on his career.

Of course, things have moved on a great deal since then. Thanks largely to the efforts of the Teacher Training Agency and its successor, the Training and Development Agency for Schools, the last ten years have seen teachers and other school staff become not only more numerous, but also much more socially and ethnically diverse. But problems remain and work to tackle them still goes on. Black men are still far less likely to make a career in teaching than any other social group, and that has a knock-on effect caused by a shortage of positive role-models for the rising generation.

In further education, about 7 per cent of the workforce is from black and minority ethnic groups. That's quite an achievement, but more remains to do. For example, in Greater London, 50 per cent of learners, but only 28 per cent of managers in further education are from black and minority ethnic groups. Here, too, there are continuing problems that my Department and Lifelong Learning UK are seeking to address through the Workforce Strategy for the Further Education Sector, which we published only last year.

In higher education, we have encouraged the sector to ensure that its workforce is representative of the communities it serves and the wider UK population.

Through the Rewarding and Developing Staff initiative, we have supported institutions in developing their human resource capability - recruitment and retention, and equal opportunities were two of the six priority areas.

There has been a rising trend in the numbers of black and minority academics working in higher education, although from a low starting point.

In 2005/06, 8.4 per cent of academics in UK HE institutions were from a black and minority ethnic background, compared to 6 per cent in 1996/97.

There have also been increases in the numbers of women academics working in higher education. In 2006/07, 42.3 per cent of academics in UK universities were female, compared to 32.9 per cent in 1996/97.

The Equality Challenge Unit, a sector body which provides advice on equality issues, also supports HEIs to help them improve their equality practice.

In terms of higher education students, we have seen the proportion of all traditionally under-represented groups rise steadily and I acknowledge the work that universities have done to bring this about. Between 2002 and 2006, for example, the proportion of accepted applicants to university from a known ethnic minority background rose by nearly three whole percentage points, from 16.5 per cent to 19.4 per cent. The proportion of students from lower socio-economic groups rose, too.

And if you look at courses leading to the professions, you find that the proportion of students from both the lower socio-economic groups and some ethnic minorities studying subjects like law and, especially, medicine is far lower than the average.

I know these facts concern the professional associations themselves, and that they are without exception working hard to promote more inclusive professions. I must make clear that the Government welcomes and supports them in their efforts.

But the fact that the make-up of the professions is not more representative now concerns me. And it should concern all of us.

Sir Alan Langlands' Review was originally commissioned in 2004 out of a concern that the introduction of variable tuition fees would have an adverse impact on recruitment to the professions.

Events have proved that those concerns were largely misplaced. All evidence so far, including the current university applications round, are that the new student support arrangements are encouraging many more young people - and, despite what some people who don't understand the figures very well have claimed, more from traditionally under-represented in higher education - to apply.

Despite the fears which led to it being established proving unfounded, the Langlands Review process has still served a useful purpose. It found an equally important and more positive outlet in the work it has carried out on the question of how to widen access to the professions. Anyone who looks at how greatly the social backgrounds of new recruits to professions like medicine and the law differs from those in other graduate careers will realise how necessary that work is.

That is why through the Gateways to the Professions Development fund, we have supported projects which aim to improve access to graduate jobs in the professions for those from a wider range of backgrounds. The projects have provided valuable insights about the effectiveness of approaches including work-based learning, placements and mentoring. Over a period of two years we have funded 24 projects to the tune of nearly four million pounds.

You will be hearing from two of them later today - the PARN research on the approaches which professional bodies are taking to embed support for diversity, and the QED report on ethnic minorities' experience of entering the professions.

Other Gateways projects are confronting particular challenges. The General Medical Council has produced guidance for medical schools to make it easier for students with disabilities to train as doctors; I know there has been huge interest in this and I look forward to seeing the results. The Social Mobility Foundation are providing internships with professional employers for academically-talented students from low-income families. It is important to provide these students with the opportunity to see professionals at work and envisage themselves in that same situation.

But we aren't expecting them to provide all the answers. For many it is still 'unfinished business' and they will continue to develop their initiatives. But their ideas should act as a trigger for you to think about what works and what doesn't and how that applies to you. They should prompt you to take the work that began with Langlands forward into the future.

Because equality of education and career prospects isn't just socially necessary. It's an economic necessity, too. The greater economic competitiveness that we will need over the coming years and decades and the greater social cohesion to which we should all aspire will remain pipe-dreams if we continue to let talent go to waste.

We must work harder to unlock the talent of all our people.

At the moment, in this country, 3.5 million people are employed in unskilled jobs. Over the next decade, the number of those sorts of jobs will fall to just 600,000.

The Leitch Review has given us a clear picture of what we need to do in order to achieve the high-skills, high-productivity, high-profit economy that we are aiming for. It has set out a detailed roadmap for that, and we have in the Government have accepted its findings, daunting though they are.

Notably, Sandy Leitch has said - and, again, we accept - that we need to train at least 40 percent of the working-age population to higher education-level by 2020.

Clearly, if we are going to be able to achieve that we must redouble our efforts to get more of our young talent through the doors of a university in the traditional way. That's what we are doing through our 50 per cent higher education participation target for young people and the fair access provisions that are so essential to delivering it.

We know that people are already well aware of the benefits that flow from having had a higher education. During their working lives, they will earn well over £100,000 more at current prices than a person who has just A levels.

For those who go into the professions, the earnings premium can often be much higher than that.

Our job is to ensure that more people have the chance to enjoy those benefits.

But important as that may be, morally, ethically and logically right as it undoubtedly is, it's still not enough. That is just a function of the demographics. Because about 70 per cent of the people who will be at work in 2020 are already in the workforce today.

So we cannot just rely on the young people now going through university to provide the whole high-level skills base that we need. Educational equality must extend to those who are already in work, too.

These facts represent no small challenge for the Government, but an even greater one for the education system.

As my colleagues from the Prime Minister down have striven to make clear, this is not just about high-level technical skills for factory workers. It's about the skills that people will need if they're working in operating theatres, in courtrooms, in classrooms and in boardrooms as well.

So what comes next?

Well, for one thing we in the Government are keen to see the Apprenticeships programme extend beyond traditional areas of the economy into the white-collar professions. Apprenticeships have already proved an effective way of bringing skills to non-traditional groups and mature people in many sectors, and there's scope for them to do so in the professions, too.

And while I'm on the subject, the Skills Pledge isn't just for manufacturing companies either, but for any organisation in which staff development needs to be valued. And that means any organisation. So if yours hasn't signed it yet, I hope that you'll go away from today's event and think seriously about doing so.

But I think that the main route towards developing more representative professions in future years will be that of an ever-closer partnership between the professions and the education and training sector.

The necessity of forging closer partnerships between stakeholders was underlined in Sandy Leitch's analysis of our future skills needs and in his recommendations for action. In particular, he stressed the need for more joint working between higher education institutions, Sector Skills Councils and the professional bodies to meet our requirements for skilled graduates in the professions.

A few weeks ago, I attended an event at the Oval cricket ground which looked at how we can strengthen partnerships between these three bodies - I know that some of you were there too

I hope it is clear to all of us that the Sector Skills Councils have a very valuable role to play in brokering productive cooperation between education providers at all levels and employers. More than this, they are ideally placed to foster better mutual understanding of each others' needs between the sectors.

But the potential contribution of the professional bodies is equally important, because ultimately whether or no the professions become more open will depend in no small measure on them.

This requires a huge culture change, but we are not starting from scratch. There is a wealth of good practice out there already. I want all professions to share such good practice and to learn from each other. That is why I have asked officials to develop a web-based resource which supports and shares what you are doing. I would urge all professional bodies to consider what information, research and 'toolkits' would profitably be lodged on that site.

As some of you will be aware already, we are currently developing a strategy to support the development of higher level skills. Many of the themes I have mentioned today will figure prominently in it.

We must ensure that the talents of all our people can be developed to their fullest extent. If that means smashing glass ceilings, then we must be prepared to do it. If that means giving them the information they need to aspire, to realise just what routes are open to them and to map their way to personal advancement, then we must ensure that sources of the right advice and guidance are at hand.

I apologise for the brevity of the overview that I've tried to give this morning. But I hope I've made clear, the professions remain a key part of this country's political, social and economic fabric. That's why they must be open to the talent that exists among people of every background.

I'm sure that a great deal more will be said about what you can do to help bring this about during the rest of the day.

But for the moment, if there are any questions you would like to ask, I'll do my best to answer them.

Thank you.