LONDON — Britain's civil service and several major companies have agreed to recruit university graduates and apprentices without knowing the applicants' names in an effort to eliminate bias against people from ethnic minorities.

Prime Minister David Cameron said in a major speech last month it was "disgraceful" that people with "white-sounding" names were twice as likely as others to be shortlisted for jobs.

"Britain has come so far, but the long march to an equal society isn't over," Cameron wrote.

He cited the case of a young woman who said she was advised to use her middle name, Elizabeth, in job applications because it sounded more English than her first name.

Applicants with English names have to send out only half as many resumes as those whose names appear ethnic, according to research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found.

The goal of the new program is to make it easier for young graduates to get interviewed for their first jobs in an extremely competitive market.

Cameron's office said Monday that firms including international bank HSBC, accountants Deloitte, broadcaster BBC and the state-run National Health Service had signed up to the "name blind" recruitment plan, in which employers do not know applicants' names when they are selecting them for interviews.

Details are still scanty. The prime minister's office would not elaborate Monday ahead of a scheduled meeting with business leaders, and HSBC and BBC officials declined to discuss when and how the plan would be implemented.

It is also supposed to extend to the college application process, which is expected to be changed in the next two years.

Cameron has framed the issue in political terms to emphasize that his Conservative Party wants ethnic minorities to do well. He first raised the issue at his party's annual conference last month and emphasized it Monday in the Guardian newspaper with a column headlined "Conservatives have become the party of equality."

The Conservative leader has also vowed to close the gender pay gap that sees women earn 19 percent less than men on average, according to government statistics. The government says companies and the civil service will have to publish details of salaries and bonuses paid to male and female employees.