Former public school pupils will not be discriminated against by employers because of their education, a Government minister has said, as he insisted that he was not waging a “class war” against the rich.

Matt Hancock, the Cabinet Office minister in charge of social mobility policy, stressed that any information collected about schooling would not “form the basis of any individual recruitment decision”.

The comments come after Lord Waldegrave of North Hill, a former Tory Cabinet minister and the Provost of Eton College, last week threatened to resign from the Conservative Party if employers were required to ask candidates whether they attended an independent school.

Mr Hancock had said he had prepared a set of questions allowing firms to check the “socio-economic background” of those applying for jobs. He said that employers must “spot potential, not polish”.

Initially, it was expected that applicants for Civil Service jobs will be asked the questions when applying as part of “equalities' monitoring”.

However, delivering the annual Keith Joseph Memorial lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies on Wednesday night, Mr Hancock signaled he was backtracking on the extent of his proposals.-

Mr Hancock said that under his proposals “any background measures would be collected on an entirely voluntary basis and used anonymously".