Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
2:45 pm
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
With respect to the hon. Gentleman, whom I do respect, I think that it is right to probe such issues. He is right to say that there has been good conduct: universities have genuine good will toward the legislation, but if they are over-regulated—for example, if they have a run-in with the director of fair access—that may become an irritant and turn them toward the kind of approach that I have described. I hope that that will not happen—indeed, it probably will not—but it would be quite wrong if the Minister could not assure us that the cap that the Government wish to impose will be effective and cannot be subverted. I am at one with the hon. Gentleman on this matter: clearly, it is offensive to institutions that do their best and play by the rules if other institutions, which are particularly well advised by lawyers, and want to chance their luck or pursue a political agenda, find a way to break the rules and do something else. Labour Members would be just as angry as me—even a touch more so—if that were to happen.
With the amendment, I seek formally to strengthen the Minister's powers and to probe their use. It would help the Committee if he answered the following questions. First, how does the system work, and how has it worked in practice? Secondly, to what extent will it be transposed into the new legislation? Will there be differences, and if so, why? Thirdly, would it be possible for someone to take a fee that is effectively obligatory on the student and use it as a vehicle for busting the system? Finally, when we pass into the world of eccentric orbits and loops around the solar system, would there be any way of devising a pattern
of charging that would make a monkey of the whole thing? I doubt whether that will happen in practice, but with respect, it is the Minister's job to tell us that it will not.