The all-party Office of the Deputy Prime Minister select committee's report into social cohesion said that the Government policy of allowing parents to choose a child's school was leading to greater racial segregation.
It asked the Department for Education and Skills to commission a survey to find whether results in mono-cultural schools were better than in multi-cultural ones.
The report said: "Parental choice can unfortunately lead to an increase segregation. The quality of school provision is an important, but not the sole determinant of choice.
"Some choices are motivated by ignorance and fear of other cultures, and local education authorities and schools have to be prepared to adopt new techniques to ensure that choices are better informed and not based on misconceptions about whether a particular school is 'for them'."
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