Off-quota University Places
Debate between Paul Farrelly and Lord WillettsUrgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Mr Willetts
Not for the first time, my hon. Friend is a voice of sanity in this debate, and I completely agree with his point. Government Members are engaged in improving social mobility and people’s opportunities to go to university, while making absolutely clear the principle that nobody should be able to buy a place at university using their personal wealth. That is the principle we are applying, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his support.
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)
When I read this story in The Guardian, my first inclination was to check the date, but it clearly could not be 1 April, because we have had May’s elections, when Labour took Keele university from the Liberal Democrats because of broken promises on tuition fees. I then thought that the story must be a clever wheeze by plotting Conservative Ministers, who are thinking, “What can we do to make Vince Cable, the Secretary of State, finally jump ship?”
The Minister has clearly not told colleagues and the House in his responses how he would discriminate between different charities: which would qualify, and which would not?
Mr Willetts
I am afraid that I have made absolutely clear the principles that will guide our policy. It is not our intention that schools should be able to buy places at university.
Higher Education Funding
Debate between Paul Farrelly and Lord Willetts(14 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Willetts
I hope that these proposals will ensure that British students have a very fair deal at our universities; indeed, that is a key feature of our proposals.
Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)
The Minister will no doubt be pleased that in the past fortnight the six-point timetable for scrapping tuition fees has been deleted from the section of the Liberal Democrat website called “What we stand for”. Strangely enough, however, it does not mention any rise in fees. My question is another book plug. In his recent memoirs, the Secretary of State described himself as a “free radical”, but in reality has not he, and every single Lib Dem Minister, now become a £9k Conservative?
Mr Willetts
I think that “free radical” captures very well the enormous contribution that the Secretary of State makes—and what a pleasure it is to work alongside him.