Clause 22 - Power of Secretary of State to impose condition as to student fees, etc.
Higher Education Bill
9:10 am
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education), Department for Education and Skills; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
Thank you, Mr. Gale. I add my sentiments to those expressed by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins).
I shall deal first with amendments Nos. 258 and 259, which are well intentioned. They would introduce an additional provision in clause 22(2) to cover
''any other higher education funding body designated by the Secretary of State''.
That is unnecessary. There are only two funding bodies in England—the Teacher Training Agency and the Higher Education Funding Council—and although there is a funding body for Wales, it is covered by clause 25. The creation of a new funding body, for example through a merger, would require primary legislation, so the amendments are unnecessary.
On a technical matter, because there is no amendment to clause 22(1), which refers to the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 and the Education Act 1994, the amendments are irrelevant because only those two funding bodies are mentioned in those Acts.