Clause 22 - Power of Secretary of State to impose condition as to student fees, etc.
Higher Education Bill
4:00 pm
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
I can tell him who the Minister was in 1992, and what he said about top-up fees:
''We have made it clear that we do not think that institutions need to introduce top-up fees. Moreover, we regard it as undesirable that they should because such fees might deter students from less well-off backgrounds.''
For the record, that was the right hon. Member for Newport, East (Alan Howarth). His words may not come back to haunt him, but he has had a slight change of view about top-up fees since then.