Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Patrick Hall (Bedford, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman perhaps was not listening, or is a little over-enthusiastic. The Government's commitment is that they will not use the introduction of variable fees as an excuse or a means to reduce the mainstream commitment from the general taxpayer. Whether there are guarantees lasting for 100 years is a different matter—we deal with the reality and the practicality of government year in, year out.
It is right that society should fund higher education to a significant degree, as it does, because society benefits from having graduates, qualified doctors and nurses, teachers, engineers and even lawyers. It is therefore right that society should invest in higher education. The economy benefits from that and the Dearing committee described it as a social rate of return, which is defined as a return to taxpayers for their investment in higher education and is measured by the economic growth associated with and created by graduates. Dearing identified that social rate of return as between 7 and 9 per cent., so it makes sense for society to make a major contribution.
Equally, it makes sense and is inherently fair for individual graduates to make an extra contribution, because graduates benefit from what some have called a private rate of return, which is the rate of return associated with higher wages over a working lifetime. There is no doubt whatever that on average graduates earn considerably higher wages than those who are not graduates.