By Angela Harrison BBC News Online education staff

The government has intervened to prevent universities being set official targets on getting less well-off students onto courses.

The body which gives English universities public money has released a draft strategic plan for the next five years in which targets for widening access across the higher education sector are given.

The body - the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) - says its draft plan was discussed with the government recently.

But amid heated debate about the rights and wrongs of university admissions policies, the government has insisted there are no plans for targets and that the funding council's plan will be revised.

A statement from the Department for Education and Skills said: "These are draft proposals. The forthcoming document on access that the government will publish will set out the definitive position. In the light of this document, Hefce will reconsider its position on targets.

"We have said before that there are no plans by the government to introduce targets to reduce the social class gap in university participation."

"Cat out of bag"

Hefce says its performance targets do not amount to individual targets for universities to increase numbers of poorer students, but are for the sector in general.

A spokesman for the organisation said: "These are draft key performance targets which we did discuss with the Department for Education and Skills.

"They have been issued for consultation and do not involve the funding council setting quotas or targets for individual universities or colleges.

"We fully expected to review the key performance targets in light of consultation and the government's key access document."

Universities don't know what on earth they are meant to be doing. Sally Hunt, Association of University Teachers

Shadow Education Secretary Damien Green said he thought Hefce had "let the cat out of the bag" - that the government had planned to set universities targets on access but had got cold feet.

"It's clear that the government is trying to hide the fact that it does have admissions targets for different social groups.

"Hefce would not have produced a strategic plan without close consultation with ministers so the fact they are rushing to disown it even before it is published shows how chaotic the situation has become.

"Students and universities are right to be both concerned and confused about the government's attitude."

Discrimination

Last week, the Higher Education Minister Margaret Hodge did a u-turn on university targets.

On a visit to China, she said she wanted targets for universities to increase access, but the department quickly put out a statement in her name saying there were no plans for targets and that they would not be appropriate.

The debate over increasing participation has been fuelled by head teachers at independent schools who say their pupils face discrimination in favour of state school pupils, especially those from disadvantaged areas.

Universities are already encouraged to widen access.

They are given "benchmarks" - which Hefce insists are not the same as targets - for the number of students they ought to be admitting from state schools.

Academics describe the situation as ridiculous.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said: "We're now in the ridiculous situation where the government and Hefce are sending out conflicting signals.

"Universities don't know what on earth they are meant to be doing.

"The government should conduct a fresh round of consultations - including all the key stakeholders - on the specific question of widening participation on how it should best be achieved."

She also said Hefce should revise its strategic aims to include one of improving pay in higher education.