Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
9:45 am
Mrs Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest, Conservative)
All right, 18 to 30-year-olds. That is the cohort of young people that we are talking about. The idea that those who do not go on to university are somehow failures is unfair and untrue, and the 50 per cent. target is nonsense. If Ministers really cared about equality of opportunity and about giving everyone in our society a chance, they would agree that 100 per cent. is the only target that we should have. It is nonsense to discriminate by saying that half the population is not capable.
Thirdly, I accept the arguments that many hon. Members, particularly the hon. Member for Cambridge, have made over the past day or so. The single most important factor in determining social mobility—giving everyone a chance, no matter what their background—is opportunity in education. There can be no doubt that telling people that they must pay up-front fees is a deterrent. If it were not, Labour Members would not be so worried about them. Variable fees are also a deterrent.
We should be thinking about giving every young person positive encouragement so that they can develop their abilities and talents to the full. We should do that not only when they are deciding whether to go to university but much earlier in their education. It is wrong of the Government to put such emphasis on the point between A-levels and higher education. [Interruption.] If Labour Members did not talk among themselves so much, or make noises about what I was saying, they might actually understand my point, instead of taking the prejudiced view that I do not care about society because I represent a Conservative constituency and the Conservative party. That is what Labour Members—[Interruption.]