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

Lord Watson of Invergowrie Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing and moving these regulations. He will not be surprised to hear me say that we accept they are necessary, because we want to ensure that higher education providers do not have the ability to charge fees in excess of the level of £9,250 set out in the regulations. I make those comments bearing in mind those just made by my noble friend Lord Liddle. We also welcome the fact that the regulations have the effect of freezing fees for a second year although, given the level at which they are set, we believe that is the bare minimum the Government could have done to alleviate the burden on students, until 2020 at least.

Of course, these regulations do not take account of the provisions of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, which will see different levels of fees across the sector following the introduction of the teaching excellence framework. I imagine those provisions would have been brought into force via these regulations had it not been for the fact that, in the wash-up prior to the snap election, Labour forced the then Government to concede that there would be a review of the TEF. It had been one of the most controversial parts of a Bill which, it is fair to say, was no stranger to controversy.

When these regulations were discussed in another place last week, my Front-Bench colleague Gordon Marsden MP asked the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation—a title which, I imagine, must be challenging to fit on a business card—for a progress report on the appointment of the independent person who will be in charge of the review. That elicited the response that,

“an announcement will be made in due course”—[Official Report, Commons, Second Delegated Legislation Committee, 16/7/18; col. 8]—

the catch-all phraseology used when the Government do not really know quite what is happening or when anything actually will. I say to the Minister that if someone, somewhere within the DfE does not inject some urgency to the process then the introduction of the TEF will not fall within the planned timeframe. I think he will share my view that it was always going to be a challenge to gain the agreement of all those involved.

The TEF was intended to address the failure of the 2012 reforms to create a market among universities. The recent report by the Economic Affairs Committee of your Lordships’ House noted that there was,

“little evidence to suggest that the higher education sector is suitable or amenable to market regulation”.

The committee went on to say that the TEF,

“will not impose sufficient discipline on the sector to ensure the quality of the ever-increasing provision of undergraduate degrees”,

because:

“Risk is borne almost entirely by students and taxpayers rather than the institutions”.


Further criticism has emanated from the Public Accounts Committee, which has characterised the student loan system as economically unsustainable and damaging to social mobility.

The Minister will know that I believe strongly that those hardest hit by the 2012 funding changes have been in the part-time and distance-learning sector. I have raised this issue on various occasions in debates, most recently last week when we considered the export value of higher education. The noble Baroness, Lady Garden, has just mentioned adult education. The numbers of part-time students in England have dropped by almost two-thirds in the last six years, while those who have been most deterred from study by the trebling of tuition fees are not 18 year-olds entering full-time higher education but older, especially disadvantaged, students. It is beyond doubt that the main factor in that decline is tuition fees because the scale of the decline in England, where fees are much higher, is 2.5 times greater than in the rest of the UK. The Sutton Trust has reported that the biggest decrease in part-time students has been in the 30 to 49 age group, which is of course prime working age. These regulations are silent on that issue.

In a debate on lifelong learning in April, the Minister said that the post-18 funding review, to which various noble Lords have referred, would look at how we can encourage flexible and part-time learning. We await the details with interest. Hopefully, they will emerge when the interim report to which he referred is published in the autumn.

The introduction of full-time equivalent maintenance loans in the coming academic year will provide some financial support to part-time students, although their family circumstances often starkly differ from those of the typical full-time student. Any changes resulting from the post-18 review will not come into effect for at least three years. Can the Minister point to any further government initiative in the interim that could encourage the reversal of the decline in part-time and distance learning?

I could have introduced the thorny topic of student debt but I think I shall leave that for another day. It is important, though, that the Minister does not gain the impression that, while we are content with these regulations, we are also content with the overall structure and distribution of funding in the post-school education sector. The report of the Economic Affairs Committee, to which I referred earlier, characterised it as “unfair and inefficient”. That is a conclusion with which we on these Benches wholeheartedly agree.

[Viscount Younger of Leckie]

I thank noble Lords for their broad support of the regulations, but I shall pick up on the words mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Watson. There are some issues circling around; he will be aware of that. Most of the questions focused on the future of fees and I shall spend most of my remarks focusing on the 18-plus review, which was raised initially by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis. I shall give as much information as I can on this important review.

The questions raised by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, focused on whether there will be an interim report, consultation and polling, which was an interesting question. I think he was asking whether it would be a good thing to poll young people to ascertain their views. That is noted, but I reassure him that part of the extensive programme of engagement with stakeholders and experts includes students and recent graduates, and that is ongoing as part of the review. I shall give a little more information on this.

Noble Lords will know that this review was announced by the Prime Minister on 19 February. It is a major review across post-18 education looking at funding. We want to ensure that there is a joined-up system that works for everyone and is accessible for all. The review will ensure, as an overarching principle, that the system gives everyone a genuine choice between high-quality technical, vocational and academic routes. Students and taxpayers must get value for money and employers must be able to access the skilled workforce they need. Above all, we are also looking at the student experience. We must have a system whereby students go to university and come out feeling that they have had a good experience and have a good degree.

The review is being informed by independent advice. I must stress the independence of this review, so I may not be able to answer some of the questions directly because the review is independent. It is chaired by Philip Augar and one of our colleagues, the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, is on the panel. There are five leading figures from across the post-18 education and business worlds. There is extensive engagement going on. I reassure the noble Lord and the House that there will be an interim review. I do not have a particular date in mind, but my understanding is—and I will write to noble Lords if I am wrong—that the interim review will come out some time this year. The actual review will come some time early in 2019 and after that there will be a response from the Government.