Messers Connolly, Griffiths-Jones, Otty and Powell should brace themselves for a phone call from Alan Milburn, the former health secretary parachuted back onto the political frontline over the weekend.

He has been asked by Gordon Brown to improve social mobility in the UK and chair a panel 'looking at what more needs to be done so that the best people, regardless of their backgrounds, have a fair crack of the whip when it comes to securing a professional career'. It will be followed by a white paper on social mobility later this week.

Presumably Milburn will be getting in touch with the heads of Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers in the coming weeks or months.

And what might he say? Well, writing in The Sunday Times yesterday, he said:

'It cannot be right that bright young people find themselves unable to get on the professional career ladder simply for these sorts of reasons. And the professions themselves need access to the widest possible pool of talent. That is why the prime minister has asked me to chair a panel looking at what more needs to be done so that the best people, regardless of their backgrounds, have a fair crack of the whip when it comes to securing a professional career. With 90% fewer unskilled jobs and 50% more professional jobs expected in Britain by 2020, our future success depends on unlocking the talents of all our people.'

Milburn isn't as familiar a politician to accountants as many of his peers. He made the Accountancy Age Top 50 power list in 2001 for championing a hypothecated NHS tax and also grabbed a few column inches in the mag when PFI accounting (ie keeping it off the government balance sheet) was being sorted out.

To my mind it's always questionable how much benefit will follow from formal government intervention on a matter like this. But anything that improves access to accountancy should be welcomed. And as I've written before the firms still need to do more on that front.