Clause 30 - General duties of relevant authority

Part of Higher Education Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 4 March 2004.

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Photo of Alan Johnson Alan Johnson Minister of State (Education and Skills) (Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education) 4:30, 4 March 2004

I accept the point that the hon. Gentleman makes. I just happen to have the verbatim transcript.

My hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East made an impassioned speech. He is absolutely right: we had 40 years of free higher education with generous maintenance grants post-Robbins report, but the social class gap has not narrowed, but widened. It is still the case that one is five times more likely to go to university if one's parents are professionals than if they are unskilled. The whole Bill can move us on from that. To insist that the regulator had power over admissions would not be the right way forward. The Schwartz committee, which is examining admissions, is the right way forward.

The issue is about applications. If we can solve the issue of low aspirations and the aspiration to apply to the university that best meets an individual's needs, we will have cracked the problem that has bedevilled the country for many years.