Call to promote social mobility

The report's author Alan Milburn said the creation of a "fair, open and mobile society" should be the number one social priority of this Government and those which follow it.

He warned that Britain was losing out economically because of the elitism which sees the route to top jobs barred not only to many talented young people from working-class background but also those from modest middle-class homes.

The increase in social mobility seen in the post-war decades has stalled and the professions have become "more socially exclusive, not less", said Mr Milburn, pointing to statistics showing that three-quarters of judges and half of senior civil servants are privately educated, while today's doctors and lawyers grew up in families with incomes two-thirds higher than the average.

He said young people from upper middle class backgrounds benefited in the race for professional jobs because their parents were able to arrange and fund unpaid internships for them. And he said the extra-curricular activities such sport, music and drama offered by private schools gave them the "soft skills" like teamwork and confidence valued by employers.

Writing in The Observer, Mr Milburn said: "We need a new recognition that a closed shop mentality means that too many people from middle-income as well as low-income families find doors shut to their talents."

The former Health Secretary added: "Britain's got talent - lots of it. It is not ability that is unevenly distributed in our society. It is opportunity. In this sense, the professions simply reflect a wider problem - a governing assumption in too many of our institutions that progress can be achieved on the basis of a limited pool of talent having access to a limited set of opportunities.

"Such elitism is unjust socially. And it can no longer work economically. Our success in a globally competitive economy relies on using all of our country's talent, not just some of it."

Mr Milburn's Fair Access to the Professions report, commissioned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in January, will be launched on Tuesday. It will contain 80 recommendations to open up access to the professions and is expected to suggest that private schools should be forced to share facilities with state pupils.

The Government agreed more could be done to ensure people have the opportunities to reach the top regardless of their background. Pat McFadden, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, said: "The hands which people are dealt in early life should not be a barrier to accessing work and education... We continue to work with employers and businesses to make sure access to jobs is fair, open and transparent. But there is more we can do which is why Alan's conclusions will be tremendously important in informing the Government's next steps on widening participation."