Clause 34 - Variation of plans
Higher Education Bill
10:45 am
Mr Jonathan R Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford, Labour)
I am grateful for the comments made by my right hon. Friend the Minister. He has provided the reassurance that Universities UK and I sought—that is that institutions alone can vary the plan. If there is a departure from the agreed plan, it is reasonable that the institution should then return to the regulator to seek permission for that change. As the Minister said, such a change might be minor or major. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Mr. Hall) said, recourse to the regulator should be seen in a positive way, because one of the purposes of the regulator is to spread good practice. The Minister is not sinister in this context—[Interruption.] Or in any other context, despite what was implied by the usual assortment of highly emotive words used by the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale. We heard from him that the Secretary of State might take offence, might engage in a vendetta, or that if OFFA was his plaything, he might use it as a weapon. That is the weird world of Westmorland.
I hope that the Committee was reassured by the sound words from my right hon. Friend the Minister and that the debate has been useful in providing clarification. It is important that we get OFFA right, and that the universities understand both what we mean by OFFA and what the expectations of institutions' relationships with it are. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Motion made, and Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill:—
The Committee divided: Ayes 19, Noes 2.