14. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university. (S5O-02220)

We are committed to ensuring that all our young people, no matter their background, have an equal chance of going to university. Our target is for 20 per cent of students who enter university to be from Scotland’s 20 per cent most deprived backgrounds by 2030. The 2017 Universities and Colleges Admissions Service statistics on entrants demonstrate that we are making good progress towards that goal, with a 13 per cent increase in the number of Scots from the most deprived communities who are getting places to study at Scottish universities. That means 605 additional people from the most deprived communities being accepted to study.

Through the access delivery group, we will continue to work with universities to push forward our fair access agenda.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

The supplementary must be brief.

Despite the Government’s rhetoric, recent UCAS stats show that the percentage of applicants who are from disadvantaged backgrounds is declining, whereas the percentage from advantaged backgrounds is increasing. What action is the Government taking to reverse that worrying trend and give pupils from all areas of Scotland equal access to university?

As I said in my original answer, the latest stats from UCAS demonstrate progress on the widening access agenda. The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council’s report on widening access produced baseline figures for 2016-17 that refer to university applications before the report of the commission on widening access was implemented. The Government is carrying out that report’s recommendations and we expect further progress in future years.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

We started late, so I will take question 15 briefly.