Results 1-15 of 15 for ("top up" fees) speaker:Barry Sheerman

Opposition Day — [17th Allotted Day]: Higher Education (14 Oct 2009) has video

Barry Sheerman: ...arrival in the Chamber. The hon. Gentleman was a member of the Education and Skills Committee, and he mentioned confusion. I am confused about whether the Liberal Democrats now believe in variable fees—top-up fees as they are called—or whether they have changed their minds? Is it that their leader does not like them, but the party does?

[Hywel Williams in the Chair] — Testing and Assessment (9 Oct 2008)

Barry Sheerman: It is a great pleasure to be able to appear—[Interruption.] I see that the Minister has arrived in the nick of time, as ever—seven strong men dug him out of his foxhole. He said, "No, no, I don't want to see Barry Sheerman." It is a pleasure to be back in Westminster Hall to discuss a major report from our Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families. As many people with an...

Business of the House: Higher Education (15 Mar 2007)

Barry Sheerman: ...incentives that he can give to people who put something back by investing in the institutions from which they have benefited. Although we have teased each other about this, it is true that variable fees, or top-up fees, as the Lib Dems successfully called them, have been a success story. Those of us who passionately believed in variable fees and still have the bruises from our discussions...

Business of the House: Higher Education (15 Mar 2007)

Barry Sheerman: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I was merely trying to help my hon. Friend the Minister to answer an earlier intervention. On the breakdown of the figures, we really should make it plain to those who opposed top-up fees and variable fees that applications are up by 6.7 per cent. in England, but down in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. That is a success story, but some on the Liberal Democrat Benches...

Health and Education (30 Nov 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...and diminishing the power of local education authorities while desiring more co-operation across the piece, because it will probably end in tears. I shall make a final point because I have taken up far too much time, albeit only half that taken by anyone else who has spoken. It is proven that the best target for great investment in education is the early years, but another aspect of...

University Admissions Policy (25 Oct 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: I am sorry, but that depends on which bit of the Ivy league is considered—[Interruption.] I freely admit that there is a problem, which is faced by all developed countries. Good educational opportunity has been vastly extended to a much higher percentage of the population during the past 20 years—I make no party political point about that—but whether in France, Germany,...

Higher Education (14 Sep 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...straight A-level results was too blunt an instrument to judge a student accurately. We believe that a SAT score, college examinations, the submission of a piece of work and a teacher's report add up to four or five different factors that could be weighed before a student was accepted into a college. It is interesting that the one thing that bound the six elite universities that we visited...

Higher Education (14 Sep 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...at the White Paper and I wish that people would read and re-read the Select Committee reports. We could have saved a lot of money on the Schwartz inquiry if they had been read thoroughly. As I said a couple of weeks ago about the exam results, if people had considered our recommendations about examinations and A-levels, they might have saved themselves some trouble. The Select Committee...

Higher Education (14 Sep 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...at the Minister at the moment because we seem to be living in an era in which we like to avoid such difficult questions. Yes, it seems to be all right that we will get more money from flexible fees, but there is cap on that for a significant time, so such large sums of money will not come only from student contributions. I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West will agree...

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation (18 Mar 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...point a little later. If the hon. Gentleman reads the Select Committee's commentary on the White Paper on higher education, he will find strong criticisms of the Government's policy—not on top-up fees, but on their focus on investment in research at too few institutions. Will he please read the report before drawing conclusions?

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation (18 Mar 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: I believe that to be so. I think back to the wonderful debate that we had on top-up fees when the Chamber was absolutely packed and the atmosphere was electric. I wish that my colleagues and the right hon. Gentleman's colleagues were here. I must say in passing that the opening part of the debate looked rather like a Feydeau farce: people who were sitting on the Opposition Front Bench...

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation (18 Mar 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: My hon. Friend is right. Any sensible person knows that a pound invested early on is much the best investment. Much more money has to be spent later on trying to make up for the deficiencies of the system. My hon. Friend serves on the Education and Skills Committee and she knows of the interesting seminar that we held on prison education only last week when that became startlingly clear....

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...and used for other purposes, but the Government did not accept that, for reasons that I understand. Overall, my hon. Friend is right. The package before the House will build on our other reforms to open up educational opportunities in the educational system. As politicians, we should always admit it when we are wrong. I was wrong—and my Select Committee agreed with me—when I...

Higher Education (18 Sep 2003)

Mr Barry Sheerman: Yes. When we took evidence and, more valuably, made visits, either individually or as a team, vice-chancellors would flag up the fact that although they had managed up to that point, there was fear of the next step. Many established university personnel are retiring—it is a generational thing. We are not worried about professorial salaries, but the message that I got when I met the...

Top-up Fees (16 Jul 2003)

Mr Barry Sheerman: ...the Chamber. The Select Committee listened to many experts when taking oral evidence. We received evidence from around the country in Belfast, Edinburgh, Oxford and Cambridge. We met the Russell group, and talked to many people, including parents and others. What the report came down to—it is good when one gets to this stage—was the fact that the unique nature of British higher...