Clause 32 - Approval of plans
Higher Education Bill
9:10 am
Mr Tim Collins (Westmorland and Lonsdale, Conservative)
I am sure that members of the Committee are aware both that, sadly, my hon. Friend must attend another Committee to deliberate on another piece of legislation and that we shall be the poorer for the absence of his learned contributions. For many of us, our knowledge of classical times and military tactics of the ancient Greeks will be all the more lacking if he is not here.
My hon. Friend makes an important point. The clause not does not specify any limit on the time that OFFA may need to consider the approval of a plan. I suspect he would agree that the Minister is likely to say that approval will take place within a framework that has been previously established, that it will be done academic year by academic year, and that it is unlikely that the procedure will drag on for month after month. I am sure that the Minister will also reassure us, as he has done previously, that he expects that most of the time for approval will simply amount to rubber-stamping plans that are already in place in many, if not all, higher education institutions.
We must be careful when legislating to think of the difficult cases that could arise. I dare say that the Government expect the Bill to be on the statute book for some years; we are confident that it will be removed within 18 months. None the less, they must legislate on the basis that it will be in place for a long time, so we have to think of the difficulties that could arise. I am sure that many higher education institutions would have welcomed something to limit the time that can be spent considering the plans, and we will discover whether the Minister can address that point.
Amendment No. 289 is designed to broaden the discretion of the director of OFFA. Instead of the Bill stating that the relevant authority ''may'' issue guidance to institutions, it should state ''shall''. That allows us to explore the problem of higher education institutions being left in limbo as a result of the Bill's wording. We contend that we would be much better off without a director of access to higher education. We do
not want that institution to be created because it will create the possibility for conflict and interference with academic freedom, and for heavy-handed, heavy-booted interventionism.
If we are, however, to have such an institution, it is logical for universities to know the ground on which they stand. Being in a state of not knowing whether they are to be issued with guidance or given a framework, or whether at any time they will be subject to intervention or interference, is the worst of all possible worlds. Uncertainty in such circumstances begets problems and worries. We are interested in exploring why the Bill provides that OFFA merely ''may'' rather than ''shall'' issue guidance.
At the heart of the group are amendments Nos. 288 and 105. In amendment No. 288, we propose to delete subsection (4), which prescribes:
''The relevant authority's functions under this section''—
that is OFFA's function—
''are to be exercised in accordance with regulations.''
That is the deadly part of the Bill because it states that OFFA is to be circumscribed and handcuffed. It is not to be an independent institution, but will be subject to direction in fairly specific terms from the Secretary of State.