Nicholas Dakin
Main Page: Nicholas Dakin (Labour - Scunthorpe)(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Willetts
The hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. These are proposals for the future, which come in for 2012. They are not retrospective changes, and for current graduates the existing regime will not be changed. This is only for the future from 2012 onwards. I am grateful for this opportunity to make that clear.
Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)
My question rather follows on from that point. Young people who are in their final year of a level 3 course—say, doing A-levels—might choose to take a gap year next year and therefore apply to UCAS through deferred entry for a 2012 start. Will they be affected by these changes, or will they go to university under the current rules?
Mr Willetts
All students going to university in 2012 will do so under the regime that I have proposed to the House. Some young people—this is a very important practical point—may already have applied for deferred entry as part of not going to university in 2011-12. Admissions procedures are the responsibility of individual universities, but we hope that universities and UCAS, working together, will open a window to enable those young people, if they wish, to have the opportunity of going to university in 2011.