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Theresa May vows to end 'burning injustices' faced by white working class and ethnic minorities
The plight of the white working class in modern Britain is a "difficult truth" and is as much of an injustice as discrimination against ethnic minorities, Theresa May has suggested.
The Prime Minster has ordered a cross-government review which will reveal for the first time the scale of inequalities in Britain's schools, universities, hospitals and the criminal justice system.
The Government will next year publish the information with regional breakdowns by race, gender and income in a bid to "shine a light on injustices as never before".
The audit will be central to Mrs May's "social justice" agenda, which she announced outside Downing Street shortly after she became Prime Minister as she vowed to fight the "burning inequality" in modern Britain.
The research will address the "disadvantages suffered by white working class people as well as ethnic minorities" and give everyone the opportunity to check how their background affects their prospects in life.
The data will be used to hold public services to account and provide the basis for a series of new policies aimed at reducing levels of inequality.
Mrs May will say: "When I stood on the steps of Downing Street on my first day, I made clear that I believe in a United Kingdom by every definition - and that means the government I lead will stand up for you and your family against injustice and inequality.
"Today, I am launching an audit to look into racial disparities in our public services that stretches right across government. It will highlight the differences in outcomes for people of different backgrounds, in every area from health to education, childcare to welfare, employment, skills and criminal justice.
"This audit will reveal difficult truths, but we should not be apologetic about shining a light on injustices as never before. It is only by doing so we can make this country work for everyone, not just a privileged few."
Downing Street highlighted research showing that just one in three white working class boys continues academic study after taking GCSEs and that they are less likely to go to university than any other group. It will address specific concerns about the levels of deprivation among predominantly white communities in seaside towns.
The Centre for Social Justice, a think tank, has previously described seaside towns as "dumping grounds" for social problems with five towns - Rhyl, Margate, Clacton-on-Sea, Blackpool and Great Yarmouth - costing £365m a year in benefits and housing support.
A Downing Street spokesman said: "This audit will also help understand where there are geographical inequalities in services that affect people of some races more than others, such as the white working class who tend to live in coastal towns or black, minority ethnic communities who tend to live in inner cities."
It will also address inequalities facing ethnic minorities. They include the fact that children from black Caribbean backgrounds are three times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than their peers, and that the employment rate for ethnic minorities is 10 per cent lower than the national average.
Downing Street said that information about inequalities in Britain is "not systematically captured by public services or published transparently for the benefit of the public or the government".
It added: "Only in a few areas has government collected such information specifically for the purpose of revealing racial disparity, and very rarely is it published in an open and accessible way."
As Home Secretary Mrs May published data that revealed people from black and ethnic minority communities were seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.
The audit will be led by a Cabinet Office unit which will report directly into Sajid Javid, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, and Ben Gummer, the Minister for the Cabinet Office.