Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 277, in
clause 23, page 9, line 18, at end insert—
'(1A) A condition under this subsection may, at a time when an English approved plan is in force in relation to the institution, after consultation with the institution, impose such requirements as are necessary to regulate the charging of fees on students or former students which are irregular or eccentric or the charging of such sums as are tantamount to fees.'.
In moving the amendment, which stands in my name exclusively, I must make two confessions to the Committee that, in view of their weight, I should meter out a little, although I do not mean to speak at length.
The intention behind the amendment is to assist the Government by enabling them to impose a further condition under which HEFCE operates in its dealings with universities and other higher education institutions. The Minister will note that the amendment would require consultation with the institutions, so the matter would not be arbitrary or completely unconsidered. The proposal to impose whatever requirements are necessary to regulate the charging of irregular or eccentric fees to students or former students is relevant, because the Bill occasionally mentions, for instance in part 1, the relationship between universities and their former students. The amendment would give the Minister another weapon, and I am sure that he will be grateful for the spirit in which that is offered.
I now make my first, unashamed confession, which is that I am one of those unusual Members of Parliament—you can call us nerds or anoraks if you wish, Mr. Hood—who actually enjoys the process of legislation and, dare I say it, Committee work. We like to get things right or to think about the difficulties that legislation might introduce. I understand, as I am sure we all do, the passion that the hon. Member for Nottingham, North (Mr. Allen) brings to the substantive, real-world issue of getting students more involved in the decision-making process. I do not want to revisit that issue now, save only to say that the very first piece of work that I commissioned when I took the job for real in 1992 was on the socio-economic characteristics of entry. That is something that interests me.
I do not seek to demean hon. Members' concerns in any way, but we have an obligation to get the legislation right, however important the issue is. It is therefore entirely appropriate to move amendments such as amendment No. 277; indeed, had it not been, I am sure that you would not have selected it, Mr. Hood. It is designed to probe the Government on how the legislation will work. If we must spend time on such matters, it will be time well spent.
My second confession has already been smoked out by the Minister in a response to an amendment that I tabled to clause 22. He went slightly further than my intention and suggested that I had in my mind a scenario where a higher education institution could get up to some monkey business by forming a private institution in parallel with itself, thereby escaping regulation. The confession I wish to make the to the Committee is that he is absolutely right in his analysis, and that I do have a somewhat oblique mind.
Reflecting on what I should say this afternoon, I realised that I have missed my vocation as a highly paid tax consultant, seeking ways to subvert the intentions of legislation. I will not go down that road now, but I hope at least to use some of those forensic skills to look at what is going on here.
I need to explain this amendment at three possible levels of engagement. They are important for the future conduct of the complex relationship between authority in all its forms and higher education institutions. It is essential we have a clear understanding of the matter.
Before we go on, for the avoidance of doubt, I would like to say that I have no evidence, nor am I looking for trouble by seeking to claim, that higher education institutions have operated since the impositions of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 in anything other than an entirely responsible and straightforward way. There is no problem in this area, but it is our duty to ensure that none could arise even if some bright spark of a lawyer decided to try and exploit the legislation.
During my own time where the Minister is sitting, metaphorically, I had interesting discussions with officials about the support package—which in those days provided grants, but we need not go into that—for students undertaking a period of study leading to the award of a first degree. The founder of my former college, William of Wykeham, apart from being Bishop of Winchester, was no mean administrator. I bet he would have made a first-rate tax consultant in his time, as he collected rather a lot for the King. The Bishop organised matters so that young boys went to Winchester College as choristers, then went through the school and eventually moved on by osmosis to New college, Oxford. It could be argued that the whole course of life, from the age of 10 all the way through to graduation at 22, could be taken as one long period of study leading up to a degree. No higher education institution has ever done that, and I hope that any of them listening in on our deliberations would not be minded to do it, but I just warn the Minister that someone might try it on.
In exactly the same spirit, we may consider, without a prior agenda, whether the amendment is necessary to deal with a potential problem.