Results 1-20 of 21 for ("top up" fees) speaker:Tim Yeo

Higher Education Bill: Clause 24 — Regulations under section 23(6) relating to basic or higher amount (31 Mar 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...lost the argument about the policy comprehensively on Second Reading. They lost it again comprehensively in Committee, and they lost it yet again comprehensively during the debate on the last group of amendments, when my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins) demolished their case in a particularly effective analysis of the consequences of the Bill. The Bill is...

Higher Education Bill: Clause 24 — Regulations under section 23(6) relating to basic or higher amount (31 Mar 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...lower at all times than it was throughout the 18 years of Conservative government. Funding from the Department per student has fallen dramatically since 1997. Although Labour introduced tuition fees over five years ago, the Treasury clawed back all the extra income that universities might have hoped those fees would give them. Nothing that the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the Secretary...

Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills: Student Finance (12 Feb 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: Now that it is clear that the next generation of students will be burdened with a record level of debt because the Government broke their promise not to introduce top-up fees, may we be clear about what that means to universities? Will the Secretary of State confirm that just as the introduction of tuition fees five years later has left universities with less funding per student in real...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...the numbers of people going to university. That is why yesterday's written answer by the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education is so relevant. He said, in relation to those pupils who are qualified to go to university by achieving two A-level passes, that one of the main reasons why they do not go is the expected costs involved. That is the evidence from the research...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: I shall give way presently. A couple of weeks ago, on 14 January, the Prime Minister spoke to the Institute of Public Policy Research about his new policy of top-up fees. He said: "These changes are imperative for Britain's future". He went on to say: "They are in tune with Labour values" and that they "are a prime example of the modern path to social justice". That is quite a shift from the...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: I shall deal first with the intervention made by the hon. Lady's colleague. Many vice-chancellors want the Bill to be given a Second Reading today, because they know that it will unlock the door to top-up fees not of £3,000 but of £6,000, £10,000 or £15,000. I shall quote one of the many vice-chancellors who have made this point. Richard Sykes of Imperial college has said:...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: Yes, I can. I turn now to the detail of the Bill. It creates a new regulatory structure—[Interruption.] Do Labour Members want to hear about the Bill or not? It creates a new regulatory structure which removes, for the first time, the freedom of universities to decide which students they should admit. It imposes huge new burdens on the vast majority of students, which, in many cases,...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: I shall give way in a moment. If fees average £2,500 a year, about £1 billion will be paid to universities by students in top-up fees. Of that £1 billion, at least 10 per cent. will have to be paid out by the universities in bursaries to students from poorer families. The Secretary of State would like us to believe that that will leave about £900 million in the hands of...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...of the new university regulator, referred to in the Bill as the Director of Fair Access to higher education, is central to Government policy. No university will be able to charge a penny in top-up fees without the regulator's say so. As the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education told the House on 15 January, in a comment that revealed which universities the...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...a very important point, because part 3 sets out how the burden of regulations from which universities already suffer will be increased. As the explanatory notes explain, universities cannot charge top-up fees until "they have in force a plan . . . approved by the relevant authority." In other words, that means the regulator. Governing bodies will have to show how they are attracting...

Higher Education Bill (27 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: I must make progress. In the document entitled "Higher Education Funding", the Government stated: "International experience suggests that higher variable fees can be introduced without adversely affecting the participation of students from less well-off families." Yet a survey for the Australian Education Department pointed out only last month that students from disadvantaged backgrounds make...

Oral Answers to Questions — Education and Skills: Higher Education (15 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: If the costs are going to be met within the higher education budget, does that not imply that universities will not receive the full benefit of the income generated by top-up fees? If that is the case—and possibly even if it is not the case—is it not clear that the cap of £3,000 to the fees will mean that university funding needs cannot possibly be met by fees charged within...

Higher Education (Student Support) (8 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...breach of a specific pledge given by every Labour Member of Parliament to voters at the last general election. I remind hon. Members that the Labour manifesto in 2001 said: "We will not introduce 'top-up' fees and we have legislated to prevent them." That promise was made without any qualification whatever. Even hon. Members who read the totality of the Labour manifesto would not have...

Higher Education (Student Support) (8 Jan 2004)

Mr Tim Yeo: Will the Secretary of State guarantee that Exchequer funding per student will grow in real terms after the introduction of top-up fees? Has the Chancellor of the Exchequer, notable today by his absence from the Front Bench, guaranteed the Secretary of State that that is indeed the case and that there will be no repeat of the previous clawback? Secondly, if the Secretary of State does not...

Public Services, Health and Education (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...; deplore the inclusion of measures likely to burden the average student with £33,000 debt on graduation by 2010; regret the violation of the Government's 2001 manifesto pledge not to introduce top-up fees; call on Ministers to concentrate on raising standards, improving the credibility of qualifications and ensuring access to higher education on the basis of merit, not ability to...

Public Services, Health and Education (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Tim Yeo: My hon. Friend makes a powerful point and his experience is reflected in that of many of my hon. Friends. To return to top-up fees, has there ever been a Queen's Speech in which the very first Bill to be mentioned was not a Bill that honoured an election pledge but one that specifically dishonoured such a pledge? What did the Secretary of State for Education and Skills think when he read the...

Public Services, Health and Education (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Tim Yeo: In a moment—[Interruption.] Debating the Government's policy on top-up fees—[Interruption.]

Public Services, Health and Education (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...that the hon. Member for Ilford, South said that my comments were made five years ago, so I hope he will acknowledge that he misled the House at that moment. Debating the Government's policy on top-up fees is made harder by the fact that each time a few more Back Benchers sign the early-day motion, the details of the policy change. Last Wednesday, the Bill was the first in the Queen's...

Public Services, Health and Education (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Tim Yeo: ...but I want to place it on the record that it is Conservative party policy that every young person sufficiently qualified to go to university should have the chance to do so, without paying tuition fees or top-up fees. It is the policy of the Labour party to burden young people with such huge debts that many who are talented and qualified will be deterred from taking a university course by...

Public Services, Health and Education (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Tim Yeo: Let me say first that I welcome the fact that the hon. Gentleman has signed the early-day motion that criticises the Government's policy. I hope that he will take the opportunity to vote in support of his views when the Bill's Second Reading takes place in the new year. The right way for universities to decide who to accept on to their degree courses is for them to set the criteria, publish...