Clause 23 - Condition that may be required to be imposed by English funding bodies

Part of Higher Education Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:00 am on 26 February 2004.

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Photo of Eleanor Laing Eleanor Laing Conservative, Epping Forest 10:00, 26 February 2004

I am honestly grateful to the hon. Gentleman for those excellent statistics, but that does not change my argument at all, although it makes me slightly less concerned about the other 37.78 per cent. in the middle, who will get some help. However, those people, especially those in families with more than one student, still come from families whose income is modest, although not necessarily low. I am concerned that the help that that middle group of potential students would receive will not be enough to counteract the deterrent effect of having to pay up-front fees. Therefore, although I thank the hon. Member for Nottingham, North for his brilliant statistics, I am concerned that more than 30 per cent. of potential students in my constituency, and all round the country no doubt, will not receive any financial help at all. Again, we are talking about modest family incomes. There are a small number of rich people in this country, to whom any financial encouragement or deterrent does not matter, but they are a tiny group.