A Government minister has accused Oxford University of prejudice and said it needed to do more for black and disadvantaged communities.

But figures from the university appear to give the lie to the claim made by Labour MP David Lammy.

According to a list published by the university, 324 out of 2,940 undergraduate places -- 11 per cent -- offered in this academic year were taken up by British students from Asian, African, Far Eastern, Caribbean or mixed race backgrounds.

Figures for overseas students were not available, but a university spokesman said if they were included, the percentage would rise significantly. A spokesman for Oxford said: "Oxford University works very hard to attract more ethnic minority students, as well as other under-represented groups, to apply.

"It's true that we don't get very high numbers of black students applying, perhaps because of a false perception that Oxford isn't for them.

"But those students who do come and visit the university through our various access schemes find out what a welcoming and diverse place it is."

Mr Lammy, 31, the MP for Tottenham, in London, called on Oxford and Cambridge universities to do more to attract black and disadvantaged students, accusing them of still being "tinged with old-fashioned class prejudice".

Mr Lammy -- who went to London University and Harvard in the US -- said there were too few black people at Oxford and Cambridge, the latter having just 84 black British students out of a total of 11,600 undergraduates.

The minister for constitutional affairs was speaking after a BBC2 documentary on January 7 about black students at Cambridge.

He said: "In fairness to Oxford and Cambridge, both have tried hard to widen access in recent years. But it is still not good enough. I know from my experience of higher education in the US that British universities still have an awful long way to go."

He said while at Harvard he was impressed by its outreach and bursary programmes.

Mr Lammy added: "There is still elitism, but it is genuine academic elitism, neither as aloof, nor as tinged with old-fashioned class prejudice as one finds in Britain."

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