Higher Education (Fee Limits and Fee Limit Condition) (England) Regulations 2018

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Liddle

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, building on the reviews by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, can the Minister say what progress the Government have made in appointing the independent reviewer of the teaching excellence framework? I can only apologise if I have missed the announcement somewhere along the line.

What assurances can the Government give that the independent reviewer of the teaching excellence framework will be a genuine exercise that influences the future design of the scheme? We would oppose any attempts to link tuition fee rises to the quality of teaching as determined by the TEF, which we maintain has flawed metrics, several of which have nothing to do with teaching.

Have the Government considered replacing fees with a graduate tax? This statutory instrument makes no attempt to find a solution to the position set out in the recent Economic Affairs Committee report, which estimates that in 30 years’ time the Government will have to find:

“an extra £8.4 billion to cover expected losses on the 2017/18 student loans”.

Does the Minister have any comment on the immense debt with which the current scheme is burdening future generations?

We are pleased to see in these regulations that the Erasmus year continues to be mentioned. Can the Minister give us any further assurance on government plans to ensure that we continue to be part of Erasmus, whether or not we leave the EU? It is a programme that brings great benefits to participants and to the economy, as students return with a more significant skill set to offer to employers. Does the Minister have any certainty to offer us on Erasmus?

We continue to be concerned about the changes to nursing funding, and would strongly support reinstating student bursaries. It is good to read here about the exemptions on equivalent and lower qualifications for health professionals. Might that lead to a wider exemption for ELQs in other areas? As we know, loss of ELQ funding is one of the key factors in the disastrous decline in adult education, and we would welcome some good news on that front.

Will the Government carefully monitor the effect on nurse recruitment and retention of the recent changes to funding? We note that the number of applicants to undergraduate nursing courses in the year after the abolition of bursaries was announced fell by 11,750—a reduction of 18%. This compounds the existing shortage of nurses in the UK. Almost every hospital is dangerously short of nurses, and the Royal College of Nursing estimates that there are 40,000 nursing vacancies across the health and social care sectors. That shortage will only worsen if nurses cannot be easily recruited from the EU. I hope the Minister can offer some reassurances on those various aspects.

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, may I add something from a university perspective? I declare an interest as chair of the council of Lancaster University. I welcome the fact that the £9,250 maximum fee is being extended for another year—although of course that has denied to universities for the past two years the inflation increase that they were promised.

The review is necessary given the political climate surrounding fees, and the Government have to take into account the risky financial situation now facing the university sector. Any significant cut in fees would have a big impact on the excellence of our universities, unless it were wholly made up for by an increase in teaching grant. I ask the noble Viscount whether he is in any position to offer the sector any assurance that any cut in fees would be made up for by an increase in teaching grant. If it is not, there will be consequences, particularly for universities like mine, which has ambitious plans for expansion, and also, for a leading academic institution, has one of the best rates of state school pupils and people from deprived backgrounds in the country. We are good on equity as well as excellence, and the possibility is a real cloud over our financial prospects for the future.

One of the issues the Government have to address is that if there is a significant cut in fees following the review and there is no increase in teaching grant, one of the areas that universities are bound to look at is the money set aside for widening participation. At the moment we give a lot of bursaries to poor students. I have met many students at Lancaster who say that the reason why they came there was that we could offer them a £1,000 bursary. With the withdrawal of the means-tested maintenance grant, this has become very significant. I hope that the Government are considering bringing back a means-tested maintenance grant, but the real point I want to make is that these regulations give universities financial certainty for only an additional year. The future prospect is very clouded. Universities need more certainty if they are to be one of the starring sectors of the British economy, as they have been for the last 20 years.

Higher Education and Research Bill

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Liddle

Committee: 3rd sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Monday 16th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, I have Amendment 238 in this group. It was proposed by Universities UK and follows on from what the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, has just been saying about equality of treatment. The Higher Education and Research Bill creates three types of registered providers—basic, approved and approved with a fee cap. Universities, as public authorities, are currently subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, to ensure a level playing field for access to information it is important for all registered providers designated for the purpose of student support under Section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 to be subject to the same level of public scrutiny. Schedule 11 to the Bill as currently drafted leaves open what categories of provider should be caught by freedom of information by leaving it to the Secretary of State to specify categories and regulations. If there is the appetite to be more prescriptive, the schedule could adopt the revised new Clause 4A wording as proposed.

Universities are currently subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We propose further consideration be given to whether adherence to the FoI Act should be a condition for initial registration for higher education providers designated for the purpose of student support under Section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998. This new clause would amend the Freedom of Information Act to apply its provisions to all higher education providers designated for the purpose of student support registered with the OfS. This means registered providers eligible for public grant funding and/or access to student loans. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, I have not thought about this topic before, so I welcome the amendment. On the face of it, I very much agree with what the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, and the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, have said. It seems to me that there is a case for a level playing field in principle. It would be very interesting to know what the Minister regards as the argument against a level playing field on this question. I am relaxed about new entrants to the higher education market. I want to see more diversity and innovation in higher education but, if that is to happen, there will clearly be risks of the Trump University type, as we know from the United States. I do not believe that universities are public sector institutions—they are public institutions—but requiring everybody to be open in their dealings and comply with freedom of information obligations seems highly desirable.

Higher Education and Research Bill

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Liddle

Committee: 2nd sitting (Hansard - continued): House of Lords
Wednesday 11th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Liddle (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as pro-chancellor of Lancaster University. I fear that noble Lords may feel that I have worked out my line with the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, because it is very similar to hers in its thrust.

I am not against competition per se. I am in favour of it. There is a lot of competition in the university sector as it is. My own institution is deeply competitive in trying to recruit students within a group of universities which it sees as its prime competitors. For instance, we have to invest an awful lot in our high-quality management school if we are going to continue to attract the international students who are so important to our income. Let us not pretend that we do not have competition. We have a lot of it. On the whole, at present it is healthy.

If we are to have more competition, it must not be bargain basement competition at the bottom end of the market, trying to erode margins in the cheap-to-teach subjects—let us put it like that—because ultimately that would undermine the viability of the university sector as a whole. Therefore, when we are talking about competition, the duties ought to have a heavy emphasis on innovation. I would like to see more competition in the area of new courses and institutions that reach out to people who have had apprenticeships and give them a ladder of opportunity into degrees. I would like to see more innovation in trying to attract to university people who are bright but have not succeeded in our conventional education system. There is a strong role for innovation but it has to be guided and managed. I would be horrified by the possibility that the OfS should think that competition should override all other considerations.

I do not have a word formula to meet these requirements, but this requires thought. I would like to hear from the Minister whether the Government share the concerns that the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, and I and others have expressed in this debate, and to hear that they emphatically do not think that the promotion of competition should override other objectives. My noble friend Lord Stevenson spoke to his amendments on having regard to the public interest. I would like to see a provision on having regard to the financial sustainability of the sector as a whole. Such amendments are very important, as we have to have balance on this question.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, I have added my name to amendments in this group as set out by the noble Lords, Lord Stevenson and Lord Lucas, and the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf. I also support Amendment 57, as introduced by my noble friend Lord Addington. They relate to the general duties of the Office for Students and reflect some of the concerns over the unprecedented powers of this new body. We have already addressed the issues in Amendment 41 to do with part-time study and lifelong learning.

Amendment 42 comes from MillionPlus, which is the Association for Modern Universities and has as much interest as anybody in maintaining confidence in the sector, which they have all joined relatively recently, and promoting the reputation which has been hard earned and needs to be protected.

Of the other amendments in the group, Amendment 43 is on the provision of higher education which meets the vocational and professional needs of the students. In the 20 years that I worked for City & Guilds, my work involved linking in with universities, professional bodies and the higher reaches on trying to gain transferability and acceptance for different types of awards. Anything that can be done to try to promote that transferability between types of qualification has to be commended—particularly, I suppose, in view of the degree apprenticeships coming up. Again, recognition of vocational achievement within an academic context there would surely be for the good.

The noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, has introduced amendments on supporting and working with student representatives. As we have addressed previously, if the Office for Students is to live up to its name it would be quite useful if students had something to do with it. Amendment 67 suggests that they could even have current experience of being a student.

The amendments on the financial health and viability of the sector are all self-explanatory and seem good. My last comment is on the right reverend Prelate’s amendment. I entirely agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, about the importance of diversity and how having providers with a denominational characteristic has to be a good part of the mix that we are trying to promote in higher education.

Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Liddle

Wednesday 27th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Liddle]

In my experience, they very rarely get it wrong. My point was simply that if the Secretary of State felt that the overall balance of the way a national park was operating was not right, there is a remedy available to him or her, which is not the case for a local authority. Anyway, I would urge a special provision for national parks because, on the whole, they are a very precious element of our polity, introduced by the post-war Labour Government, and I do not think we want to tamper with them and their independence.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, I remind noble Lords that we are on Report and, under the convention in the Companion, no Member may speak more than once to any amendment.

Draft Cumbria (Electoral Changes) Order 2012

Debate between Baroness Garden of Frognal and Lord Liddle

Monday 3rd December 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Harris, for his contribution, and clarify and confirm that these are matters for the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. It is normal procedure in such cases that the Government do not take a position.

[Lord Liddle]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Harris of Haringey for his robust reply to our Motion of Regret. He has done the Local Government Boundary Commission for England proud; I am only sorry that there does not appear to be anybody from the commission here to have listened to it. Before I sit down, there are a couple of points that I wish to correct.

There is nothing political about this. There was unanimity between the Conservative and Labour members on Cumbria County Council that they did not want this boundary review to proceed. They were not trying to stop it for reasons of party advantage but because they thought it was a completely unnecessary exercise at a time of great austerity when vital services are being cut. They did not want to have to waste their time on it. Frankly, the boundary commission could have dealt with the problem of the overexpansion of the electorate in one ward by simply making some marginal adjustments, such as putting the 1,500 voters into adjacent wards, without having to go through the whole process of a full-scale boundary review, which no one in the county really wants and which, on the eve of an election, has had disruptive effects in terms of local representation and community identity.

I thank my noble friend Lord Harris very much for making the case for the boundary commission; I only hope that the boundary commission listens to this debate and will in future take note of what has been said about how it should proceed. I hope it will accept that responsibility. On that basis I am prepared to withdraw my Motion of Regret.