Schools still break admissions code

Speaking at a conference on fair access and school admissions, PhilipHunter said many schools operate an unfair and unclear admissionsprocess. He said some schools still ask parents unreasonable questionsabout their marital status and occupation, but he insisted that schoolsare not breaching the code deliberately.

Schools are uncertain about the admissions process and break the codebecause of "administrative" issues, he said.

Hunter revealed his interim findings at the London conference and willunveil his full report next month. He said Children's Secretary Ed Ballsasked him to address a series of problems with the code. He added he was"pretty confident" this had been done.

Martin Rogers, the Children's Services Network's policy consultant atthe Local Government Information Unit, said: "We want to encourage localauthorities and their partners to look more critically at the wayadmissions arrangements in their area work and what the outcome is foryoung people in terms of fair access to provision."