Who would disagree with the idea that every person in this country with the talent and ability, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to achieve their full potential?

The fact is that over the last decade Britain has become a fairer place. The glass ceiling has been steadily raised. Alan Milburn and his panel report on Fair Access to the Professions, published last summer, points to record numbers of young people who are going to university, the one in three people of working age who are members of a profession and the narrowing of the gender pay gap.

But the Milburn report also emphasised that our work is far from done and that there is more for us to do to break that raised glass ceiling. In other words, for too many people the professions remain a closed shop.

Although effectively the legal profession employs more than 250,000 people it is, in some ways, less socially mobile than it used to be. A few decades ago taking articles was a route to the profession for many from lower income families. Today, more than 50% of solicitors and barristers attended independent schools, compared to just 7% of the population as a whole. And an astonishing 75% of judges were privately educated. Are we really saying that the talent and ability of young people in this country is concentrated in the 7% at private school rather than being equally spread across location, race and background?

This matters and raising it is not a question of class war. Indeed, the real class war position would be to justify the status quo. Any time someone with talent is stopped from developing that talent it is a tragic waste. But it is also important for our economy. We are an island, but we compete within a global market. Using the talents of all is not just right in terms of spreading opportunity. It is also in our national interest. We simply cannot afford to go on with so much untapped potential.

This is why we have put social mobility at the heart of our work in government and, in our recently published official response to the Milburn report, we have agreed to implement the vast majority of the recommendations. But this is not simply about ensuring more people from low-income backgrounds, more women or those from ethnic minority communities have legal qualifications.

It is also about soft skills. It is about saying to the next generation ‘if you have the ability and the will to succeed we will give you the opportunity to realise your potential. We will help you develop the networks and confidence necessary to succeed’.

So we have made £8m of financial support available for up to 10,000 undergraduates from low-income backgrounds to take up short internships, including in the legal profession. And, with the help of employers, we are building on the graduate talent pool and creating a new online national internship service advertising thousands of internship opportunities and information. This will give more people the chance to get experience of the key professions – meet the people, learn the language and access the networks that will open doors for them in the future.

Working with youBut it is not all about government action. We can only make a difference by working with the professions. After all, you are in the best position to know the best ways of opening up the way you do what you do. I know the legal profession is in broad agreement with this stance and we were fortunate to have the esteemed law lord David Neuberger serving on the fair access panel.

There are already a number of schemes designed to break down some of the traditional barriers to getting on in the law. Initiatives like ‘A Local Lawyer In Every School’, which brings legal profession and education sector together and encourages more lawyers to become school governors. Or the mock trial competitions run by the Citizenship Foundation in partnership with the Magistrates’ Association and the Bar Council. These involve some 6,500 students drawn annually from across the secondary age range in almost 600 state schools.

The foundation also runs the rapidly expanding Lawyers in Schools project, which places practising and trainee lawyers into the classroom to work with young people to develop their awareness and understanding of the law.

So there is plenty going on, but we now have to build on these existing networks of professionals supporting young people. To do that we have relaunched a Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum, made up of senior representatives from over 60 professions, including Chris Kenny, chief executive of the Legal Services Board and Desmond Hudson, chief executive of the Law Society. They will be working with the government to put concrete plans in place for each profession to tackle the barriers people face in obtaining a professional career and developing quality standards and kitemarking for internships.

Of course, further change will not happen overnight. Like most great causes, tackling social immobility is a long-term goal. But if we succeed in freeing up people to pursue professional careers no matter their race, their gender, their income or the background of their parents, then not only will we have acted in the long-term interests of a strong and vibrant economy, but in the interests of a stronger, fairer and more prosperous society as well.

Pat McFadden is minister for business, innovation and skills