Further and Higher Education

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 11:28 am on 27 January 2000.

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Photo of Robin Harper Robin Harper Green 11:28, 27 January 2000

I will come to that. Of course I recognise what Mr Rumbles has said. If he had not interrupted me, he would have heard my next sentence, which is that I am prepared to face the realities that are before us. I am, therefore, addressing the Executive's proposals from a realistic point of view—from the perspective of what needs to be debated in this chamber, rather than in the context of basic policies that have been adumbrated in the past. We must move forward.

The Executive proposal is very different from recommendation 35 of the Cubie report, which seemed fair to the students. Recommendation 35 states that only people who go straight or soon into jobs with salaries of more than £25,000 should contribute to the endowment fund. Students do not think it is fair that people must start to repay once they have a salary of £10,000. The measure is, in effect, a student poll tax.

Mike Russell describes the Executive's proposals as a three card trick—the £2,000 that students pay in addition to everything else has suddenly gone. Where is it? In winding up, will the minister explain how the £2,000 disappears in the Executive's calculations?

It appears that the Executive has examined the realities but has addressed them through a philosophy of fiscal and administrative convenience—similar to the philosophy of Wendy Alexander in extending the right to buy to housing associations. The endowment fund will be the quickest way of raising the money needed to pay for maintenance grants, which I congratulate the minister for addressing first, as that is to get things the right way round.

I ask the minister to pay careful attention to the concerns expressed by Malcolm Chisholm, and by the students in the short time they have had to consider the proposals. The students feel that although maintenance grants are a start, they will not do enough to encourage pupils from poorer families to enter higher education.

I shall have to vote for the SNP amendment. I do not know what I will do in the final vote, because I am not satisfied that the Executive has accepted Cubie in the spirit of fairness in which it should be accepted, either for students who must pay money back or for students who are held back by their straitened circumstances.