THE man charged with improving social mobility in Britain has called on universities to consider more than A-level results when deciding on the future of North East pupils.

Alan Milburn, who served as health secretary under Tony Blair, has criticised the way children from less wealthy backgrounds or deprived families are prevented from applying to or entering university.

Mr Milburn has been appointed the social mobility tsar for the coalition Government and wants universities to switch their spending away from grants for deprived pupils and into extra support for under-achieving schools.

Speaking before business leaders gathered at Northumbria University, Mr Milburn said: “Less than 59% of North East youngsters get five good GCSEs including English and maths compared to almost 63% in London.

“And we have the lowest rate of people going to university in the country, less than 30% compared to 43% in London. I have never believed, however, that it is ability that is unevenly distributed in our society. It is opportunity.”

He added: “Our region’s schools have to do more to close the gap between youngsters’ potential in our region and their academic achievement.

“And our region’s universities will need to do more too. Indeed, across our country all universities need to be doing more to open their doors to a wider pool of talent and potential.

“That means restructuring universities’ admissions processes so that universities admit those with the biggest potential as well as those with the best grades.”

Mr Milburn, who was MP for Darlington and who now lives in Northumberland, said that the social mobility achievements of the last two decades risked being reversed.

He said: “For all the progress that the last Labour Government made, through policies like the minimum wage and the primacy accorded to education, the truth is that the glass ceiling may have been raised, but it has not yet been broken.

“The gender pay gap narrowed but the top jobs still go to men not women. Child poverty fell but has not been eradicated, and now looks set to increase again.

“The education attainment gap between rich and poor narrowed but low ability children from wealthy families still overtake high ability children from poor families during primary school.”

Higher education group Universities UK has said there are already efforts under way to ensure a more diverse intake. A spokesman said: “Evidence shows that students from less selective educational backgrounds perform at least as well at university, and some even better. It is surely in society’s interest as a whole that all young people with the potential to succeed in higher education are given the opportunity to do so.”