Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies
Higher Education Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education), Department for Education and Skills; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
If I remember rightly, that statement related to the need to look at all elements of education—because access to higher education does not start at 18 age, we have to invest in all parts of the education system. There is no point encouraging more and more youngsters to aspire to university and enabling them to obtain at least two decent A-levels or a level 3 qualification if there are no university places or the university places that are available are ''on the cheap'', so that they will not receive a quality higher education. There must be investment throughout the system.
Can we guarantee that the money will go into higher education? We can guarantee that the element from fees—the £1.8 billion that we predict will come from current fees and variable fees—will go to universities. With regard to the rest of it, the legislation stipulates that HEFCE cannot take fees into account when deciding how much money is allocated from the public purse. There are as many safeguards as possible, but the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough is right that that cannot be guaranteed in the future. However, as Dearing said, we can make a much better attempt at doing so if there is a balance between the graduate contribution, the lion's share paid by the
taxpayer, and employers, about whom we have not talked very much, although doubtless we will before the end of the debate.
Alan Wagner of the OECD appeared before the Cubie commission, which reported his comments in the final report. He said:
''My reading of the comparative experience is that even countries which have most strongly supported 'free education' are finding it necessary to narrow that commitment in the face of expanding enrolment and growing competition on the public budget.''
So the debate is not taking place only in the UK. In Germany and France—countries that were dead set against any interference with the principle of free higher education—people are also having to rethink.
I accept, however, that the Liberal Democrats have a consistent policy, but I cannot understand the Conservative party's change of position.