Birbalsingh clarifies girls' choices on maths and physics A-levels

A government social mobility adviser criticised for comments on A-level choices has admitted her language was clunky but that she had explained things as she saw them.

Appearing before MPs on Wednesday, Katharine Birbalsingh said physics was not a subject girls "tend to fancy", as it included “hard maths”.

On Thursday's Politics Live, she clarified this was a single comment based about her own school, and she had also given 20 minutes on other issues across the country that did not get the same publicity.

She added: "I am quite sincere, and I have not planned what I am going to say.”

Katharine Birbalsingh: Girls dislike hard maths, says education adviser