Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Graham Allen (Nottingham North, Labour)
I am pleased to have a straight man this afternoon. If we were to do what the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs. Laing) suggested this morning, we could gear our constituents up to qualify properly. It will take time—there is no magic wand. We could put something in the Liberal Democrats' manifesto that would probably solve the situation immediately, but to be realistic, we need to get people qualified so that they can get A-levels. It is no good the hon. Gentleman tutting: we live with this every day. We are trying to raise standards in primary and secondary schools and in further education.
I was born and bred in my constituency, and I know that my constituents look at the wall around Nottingham university but rarely venture into its nice campus. However, to answer the hon. Gentleman's question directly, instead of having to climb the two mountains of fighting their educational culture and of then having to find their own money to go to university, they will be given a grant of £3,000 or more a year to go the university of their choice if they are qualified.
There is a lot more that we can do, and I have tabled amendments to improve access and get the universities into their local communities not merely to recruit students, but to help education at a lower level. There is a great deal that can happen.