Rob Wilson
Main Page: Rob Wilson (Conservative - Reading East)(12 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Vince Cable
On the hon. Gentleman’s first, rather desperate, point about turf wars, let me make it absolutely clear that this is a Government appointment that is supported by all my colleagues, and that responsibilities for higher education will remain exactly as they are. On his more general point about access, I am sure that he will have been following the recent evidence on UCAS admissions. Contrary to the Opposition’s predictions of doom and gloom, applications from low-income students have been almost wholly unaffected by the changes in the financing arrangements. This owes a great deal not just to the outreach work—particularly that led by my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes)—but to the very generous provisions that have been put in place for scholarships and other support for low-income families. Access to universities has been considerably enhanced as a result of these changes and not in any way diminished.
Mr Rob Wilson (Reading East) (Con)
I welcome the fact that the Secretary of State has dropped the plan to charge students interest on early repayment of their loans. Does he accept, however, the overwhelming evidence set out in the report today showing that skewed access to our top universities is the result not of a failure of admissions policy but of a lack of adequate preparation in our secondary schools?
Vince Cable
I should congratulate the hon. Gentleman as a co-author of this very good report on fair access—on removing barriers and realising potential. I repeat that I agree with much of what it says. The problem that the authors of the report have produced is, I think, the creation of an artificial binary distinction by claiming that access to universities is entirely an issue of schools’ policies as opposed to the admissions policies of universities. Clearly, there is an element of both, and a great deal needs to be done to raise performance levels in schools, as the hon. Gentleman and his co-authors have argued, but equally there is an obligation on universities, as this excellent report says, to help raise aspirations by improving the quality of choices of A-level subjects and making other such advances.