Entity references being returned in response

Hi Guys,

I have a bit of groovy which generates a username :-
("userName", "&<" + generateRandomString(10))
It has to include an '&' and an '<'
I generate the values, place them in my properties file, where they are shown as:-
&<nrxnqrzwky

I push the request through and the
xml response is shown as '&<nrxnqrzwky'

the raw response is shown as '&<nrxnqrzwky'

the outline response is shown correctly as '&'

When I use the other references i.e

> >
" "
' '

they are formatted correctly in the response i.e

">'nrxnqrzwky

This messes up the assertion as I'm asserting against the content of ">'nrxnqrzwky, not '&<nrxnqrzwky'

Is this a known issue with these two entity references in SOAP?

Is there a workaround?

Cheers