Social mobility blueprint awaited

Social mobility is a litmus test of a government's achievements

Ministers are to outline proposals aimed at increasing social mobility in the UK, amid opposition claims progress in the area has stalled.

Cabinet Office Minister Liam Byrne will publish a White Paper expected to form the basis of future legislation.

Gordon Brown has said more must be done to improve people's life chances, describing it as a "national crusade".

But the Conservatives say Labour has wasted 11 years while the Lib Dems say UK society is "persistently unequal".

The government proposals are likely to focus on ways of breaking down barriers to social advancement in secondary and higher education, business and professions such as law and medicine.

They are set to include help for schools in economically deprived areas including financial incentives to help recruit and retain the best teachers.

'Glass ceiling'

Former health secretary Alan Milburn has already been asked to head up a new body to look at ways of widening access for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to jobs in the civil service, media and the armed services where they are acutely under-represented.

Labour acknowledges progress in this area has been slower than it would have wished since 1997 but says it remains committed to reducing economic and social disparities.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Milburn said that Labour had "raised the glass ceiling but we haven't broken through it".

A report published by No 10 in November suggested that social mobility had neither improved nor worsened between 1970 and 2000 but that some advances had been made since then.

However, a recent report produced by a Lib Dem think tank concluded that a child's success in life was still largely determined by its parents' income and social background.

The Social Mobility Commission said education had not proved "the great leveller" that had been hoped.

It proposed affirmative financial action, such as interest-free loans and tax credits, to help open educational doors to low-income families as well as a review of schools' admission policies.

The Tories argue that the UK is now one of the most socially entrenched societies in the world and that Labour has made little or no difference over the past decade.

In its own report published last month, it called for early intervention to break the cycle of what it said was family breakdown, educational underachievement and unemployment in areas of the country.

Specific pledges included increased funding for health visitors and apprenticeships and greater focus on important academic subjects like maths and foreign languages.