PEOPLE living in parts of Sefton are five times more likely to lack a single qualification than those residing in some areas of Wirral, a new report reveals.

And the startling statistics also show that, out of Merseyside’s 16 constituencies, only five – Wirral South, Crosby, Southport, Wirral West and Garston – manage to hit or beat the 29% national average of people managing to get a degree or equivalent qualification.

The authors of the figures, the University and Colleges Union (UCU) said the statistics were proof that “education ghettos” still exist and reflected the widening gap nationally between traditionally high and low pockets of university participation.

But last night education officials pointed to the fact the number of students going on to university in Merseyside has soared.

The UCU has ranked Merseyside’s constituencies in order based on 2008 Office for National Statistics figures.

The tables show around 30% of Bootle residents lack a single qualification.

That compared to Wirral West, which tops the chart with only 6.32% of constituents without a qualification to their name.

While the percentage of people in Bootle achieving a degree or equivalent is just 10.7% compared to Wirral South at the top of the list with 38.9%.

But last night Ben Chapman, MP for Wirral South, said it was a good mix of schools, rather than income levels, which were behind his constituency’s lofty position.

“School education in Wirral South is excellent. Yes, it has its grammar schools, but it also has an excellent mix of all ability schools alongside them. These schools are the foundation for university performance. Wirral South is not an area exclusively home to the well-to-do but a very mixed constituency and in many ways a microcosm of the UK.”

Paul Kinsella is head at St Monica’s Catholic Primary School in Bootle – one of just 20 schools nationally saluted by Ofsted for achieving at least two consecutive outstanding reports and “excelling against the odds”.