Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Simon Thomas (Chief Whip; Ceredigion, Plaid Cymru)
I just want to return to the interesting point made by the hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Jonathan Shaw), which should be teased out and explained. He said that the issue was about attainment, not debt aversion. We know from the studies done by Claire callender that debt was cited by three quarters of respondents from poorer backgrounds as the No. 1 reason for not going to university. I would suggest to the hon. Gentleman through the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr. Rendel) that young people should make decisions post-16. If they get to A-levels, they are already well on the way to considering a place at university. It is a post-16 decision.