Target three-year-olds in social mobility drive, say MPs But today's report warned that the skewed intake of many top institutions merely reflected the better GCSE and A-level results achieved by children from wealthy homes. It suggested that more effort should be focused on improving standards among deprived children at a young age. Damian Hinds, the Conservative MP for East Hampshire and chairman of the cross-party group, said the scale of the challenge was "immense," adding: "The very earliest years are an obvious place to prioritise." "This is not easy territory because it's about parenting," he said. No one wants to be telling parents what to do in their own home. There are things which we know are good for children, like having books in the home, holding them, a good diet. The challenge is to find ways to encourage good parenting. The report said that a fifth of places at top universities currently went to students from fee-paying schools, even though only seven per cent of the population is privately-educated. But the study said the admissions largely reflected examination results. Almost a fifth of students with three C grades or better at A-level are from private schools, while almost a third of straight A students are also privately-educated, said the study. It said the gulf in results between the private and state sector could be "traced right back to the earliest years." A child's development from nought-to-three is the "point of greatest leverage" for social mobility, said the group.