Office for Fair Access

Vince Cable Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr James Clappison (Hertsmere) (Con)]

(Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make a statement on the appointment of director of the Office for Fair Access.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for giving me the opportunity to tell the House why the Government think that Professor Ebdon is the right candidate for the post of director of fair access. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Universities and Science would happily have been here to respond, but he is currently in Antarctica.

First, I would like to pay tribute to the work of the current director, Sir Martin Harris. Sir Martin has been the director of fair access since the post was created in 2004. Under his leadership, universities have committed themselves to a 50% increase in spend on access by 2015-16. In recruiting Sir Martin’s replacement, we were looking for someone who could build on that achievement. There is much that remains to be done. Progress over the last few years in securing fair access to the most selective universities remains limited. Only around 50 pupils out of the 80,000 on free school meals currently make it to Oxbridge. All parts of the education sector need to work together to ensure that all with the potential to succeed are identified and nurtured.

We conducted the search for a replacement for Martin Harris in a fair, competitive and transparent way. Professor Ebdon has considerable experience. He is a prize-winning analytical chemist with a PhD from Imperial, and he transformed the finances and the quality of his own university for the better. We undertook two long, thorough searches to ensure that we found the right candidate for the post. I have no doubt that Professor Ebdon has the qualities and determination to help students from low-income and under-represented groups to secure the places in higher education that their attainments and potential show they deserve.

Following receipt of the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills report, which raised questions about Professor Ebdon’s presentation skills, Ministers considered carefully whether the report presented any new, relevant facts about the candidate’s suitability for the post. As the Chair of the Select Committee—I think he is here now—has said today:

“It is clear that both Vince Cable and David Willetts feel Professor Ebdon is the right man for the job.”

He has also said today:

“The committee’s report was advisory only; the secretary of state was under no obligation to follow our recommendations.

I am pleased to note that both Mr Cable and Professor Ebdon have taken the committee’s concerns seriously and strongly agree that Professor Ebdon should appear before the committee at regular intervals,”

as he will. After due consideration, I have decided to proceed with the appointment.

[Mr Clappison]

Let me make it clear that, in the questions that I want to ask, I in no way want to express any disrespect for Professor Ebdon, who is an academic of great distinction. However, there are questions to be answered.

I think the Secretary of State has rather tiptoed around the question of the Select Committee’s approach, because my understanding is that the Committee did not express confidence in Professor Ebdon and suggested that the advertising process—indeed, the whole process—be reopened with a view to appointing a different candidate as the director of OFFA. Is the Secretary of State aware that this is only the second time that a Select Committee has been overruled in this way? The first such occasion did not set a particularly happy precedent. What effect does he think his decision will have on the authority and standing of Select Committees of this House, and on the confirmation processes that they carry out? Although he may technically have the power to overrule the Select Committee, is it not deeply unsatisfactory for him to have done so with this appointment?

What confidence can students, universities and parents have in this appointee if the Select Committee does not have confidence in him? What confidence can the public have in the appointment, when the Select Committee says in its conclusion that

“we were not convinced by Professor Ebdon’s descriptions of the root causes of the obstacles to accessing universities”—

something that is rather more fundamental than the presentational skills to which the Secretary of State referred?

Would not the implementation of the views expressed by Professor Ebdon, to the Select Committee and elsewhere, have serious consequences for the achievement of high standards in our universities? How can the Secretary of State say that he believes in the principles of university autonomy and admissions on merit when his appointee says that he is prepared to threaten universities with what he chose to describe as the “nuclear option” of fines and deprivation if they do not meet his centrally decreed targets?

Finally, may I gently remind the Secretary of State, and his Liberal Democrat colleagues who are here today, of what he and they promised in their 2010 manifesto, when they said that they would

“Strengthen the House of Commons to increase accountability,”

and

“increase Parliamentary scrutiny…of government appointments”?

How does he square what he has done in this case with that promise? Or is it the case that his hands were tied by the coalition and he has been forced to carry out this process?

[Vince Cable]

I recognise the hon. Gentleman’s positive and generous introductory comments about Professor Ebdon, which were absolutely right. I also congratulate him on a report that he and three of his colleagues produced this morning, entitled “Achieving Fair Access: Removing Barriers, Realising Potential”. I agree with much of it. We are all concerned with the same objectives; the issue is one of how this should be done and the balance between the responsibilities of universities and those of schools, but we have much in common in terms of what we are trying to achieve.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned the authority of the Select Committee, whose Chairman I have quoted. The hon. Member for Hertsmere (Mr Clappison) is right to say that we must treat Select Committees with respect, and we do so. The obligation on me, as Secretary of State, was to establish whether any new evidence had emerged from the hearings, and I found that none had. Had the report been unanimous and based on cross-party consensus, we might have responded differently to it, but it was not.

The hon. Gentleman has been very eloquent on this subject, and I know that he is anxious that we should not introduce prescriptive quotas for admission to universities. That is his primary concern. Let me be clear that that is not Government policy and it is not the policy of OFFA. The independence of universities in regard to admissions is enshrined in law, and Professor Ebdon has gone firmly on record as saying that he will respect the diversity of the sector and its institutional autonomy.

[Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)]

Let me start by congratulating the Business Secretary on securing his preferred appointment to this post. We have no objection to it. We have other concerns, however. Notwithstanding the support of the Minister in Antarctica, the distinct impression has been given that this appointment has been secured as part of some trade-off in the ongoing turf war in Government over higher education policy. Is that the case? It has been well briefed that the Education Secretary is thoroughly opposed to this appointment and, indeed, to the Business Secretary’s continued responsibility for our universities. The sector needs certainty in order to plan, and this turf war is deeply unhelpful. We are firmly of the view that higher education policy should remain the responsibility of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. What assurances can he give us that that will remain the case?

Mr Ebdon has served the universities sector very well for more than 40 years. He knows a thing or two about the higher education sector; some might say that he knows considerably more than many of his critics on the Conservative Benches. Does the Business Secretary agree that the opprobrium heaped on Mr Ebdon by Conservative Members will do nothing to encourage others to come forward and take up high-profile public positions of this sort?

Finally, does the Business Secretary agree that we should not lose sight of the purpose of this appointment? The Office for Fair Access was set up to promote and safeguard fair access to higher education for lower income and other under-represented groups. What are the right hon. Gentleman’s achievements to date in increasing access? He has trebled tuition fees, overseen a cut in student places of 15,000 and presided over a 7.4% drop in university applications this year compared with last year. The appointment of Mr Ebdon today does not alter those salient facts.

[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.

[Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State is correct to say that issues arising from Professor Ebdon’s interview were raised in the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills, and those issues will have been raised with him. However, the clear political dividing line in the subsequent voting demonstrates that a political perspective was involved in the final decision. I think that is regrettable; it is the first time my Committee has ever produced a report that was not founded on a unanimous, consensual basis. Will the Secretary of State assure me that, contrary to the press speculation, there was not some sort of back-room deal to offset an allowance for early repayment of tuition fees in return for ratifying this appointment?

[Vince Cable]

I thank the Chairman of the Select Committee for his role: he has made his own views clear while protecting the integrity of his Committee, which is his duty in Parliament. As far as this so-called deal is concerned, there is no such deal. We have made it clear for some time that we intended to listen to the results of the consultation on prepayment. This consultation was absolutely clear that this was not an attractive way forward, so we have pursued other ways of assuming a fair and progressive system of graduate contributions.

[Mr Charles Kennedy (Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (LD)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s decision, the reasoning behind it and the appointment. On the last point that he dealt with—the so-called back-room deal—there will be considerable reassurance politically, but also among the academic and would-be student community, from the statement he has made. Will he emphasise again that the spin and speculation we have seen in the media over the past few days to that effect are no more than just spin and speculation, and that there is no substance to them at all?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, I can give my right hon. Friend absolute assurance on that score. I would like to pay tribute to him for the work he has done on universities, particularly on promoting fair access, for many years.

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

Before he went off to the south pole, did the Universities Minister say, “I’m just going out. I may be some time”? Will the Secretary of State give us an absolute assurance that no Minister communicated with any Conservative member of the Select Committee in an attempt to influence the ratification of this appointment?

[Vince Cable]

It would have been quite improper to have done so. To the best of my knowledge, that has certainly not happened. The decision is a Government decision, and we all stand behind it.

[Mr Brian Binley (Northampton South) (Con)]

I am sure that you would want me to reassure you, Mr Speaker, that no plot whatsoever—preordained or otherwise—was organised within the Select Committee, causing it to reach the decision that it reached, by Conservative Members. However, given that the Committee was unable to endorse Professor Ebdon’s appointment and instead called for a new recruitment exercise, is it not deeply regrettable that Ministers have been so unwilling to engage with its concerns? Does this exercise not prompt serious questions about Ministers’ approach to higher education, especially as training appears to have been given more priority than the views of Parliament?

[Vince Cable]

I would never accuse the hon. Gentleman of plotting. I know that he is a totally straightforward and much respected colleague. I will say, however, that what we have engaged with is a very thorough process. We went through two rounds of applications in order to attract a high-quality applicant for this important post, and Professor Ebdon and the other two gentlemen who made the final shortlist were regarded as eminently appointable by independents on a completely non-political basis.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

As the Secretary of State will know, I concurred with his decision about the appointment. Does he share my concern about the apparently organised campaign of vilification against Professor Ebdon in the Tory media, many of whose members are friends of the Secretary of State for Education? Will he also tell me how the Secretary of State for Education will help the professor in his new role?

[Vince Cable]

The one aspect of the so-called campaign of vilification that does concern me is that slights have been cast on the reputation of Professor Ebdon’s university, which is in fact excellent. Here are some of the key facts: 90% of the university’s graduates are engaged in work or further study within six months; last year it was given one of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise; it was given top quality assurance in the most recent audit; and, in the most recent research assessment exercise, it was complimented on its world-class research. Those are the things that we should remember about Professor Ebdon’s achievements in his existing university.

[Richard Fuller (Bedford) (Con)]

Six months ago, it was my pleasure to present Professor Ebdon with a lifetime achievement award. I think that some of my hon. Friends may have wished that that had been the end of his career.

Is it not true that Professor Ebdon has brought analytical rigour to all the tasks that he has undertaken, that he has over 40 years of experience in the sector, and that if we continue to heap public opprobrium on people who step forward to serve their country—as was the case with Stephen Hester, and as has been the case with Professor Ebdon in the press—fewer people will step forward to give our country that help?

[Vince Cable]

I consider that to be a very fair and generous assessment of Professor Ebdon by, I believe, the local Member of Parliament.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on his statement, on behalf of, I believe, the majority of members of the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. Will he, however, answer the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan)? Can he give a categorical assurance that no pressure was brought to bear on Conservative members of the Committee in the ambush of Professor Ebdon at the pre-confirmation hearing?

[Vince Cable]

I have already answered that question. I have explained very clearly that the decision was made jointly by me and my coalition colleague, the Universities Minister. No pressure was brought to bear on us; we made a decision on the merits of the case.

[Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)]

It comes as no surprise that the Secretary of State wants to appoint someone who is moving the agenda of social engineering forward and the agenda of merit backward, but just so that we can sort out the wheat from the chaff on the Back Benches, will he be specific about which Ministers in his Department were in favour of the appointment and which were against it, and about how many Ministers in the Government contacted him privately to express their concerns about it?

[Vince Cable]

I have just answered that question. The Universities Minister and I were involved in the decision, and it was made by us and by no one else. As for the general political drift of the hon. Gentleman’s question, I think it fair to point out—as some of the national newspapers did not—that among the institutions that Professor Ebdon has advised on higher education policy is the Conservative party.

[Mr Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

rose—[Interruption.]

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Barron]

When a Select Committee reaches a conclusion on an overtly party political basis, it is easy for the Executive to ignore it, and the Committee should not be used in this way. Is the Secretary of State concerned that people seeking such appointments in the future will not want to put themselves through the machine that has been set against Les Ebdon in the past few months, in the media and elsewhere, and that we will end up with a second XI batting for Britain, not a first XI?

[Vince Cable]

This is a first-class appointment, which was arrived at in a proper, open and fair manner. As I said, I welcome the role that the Select Committee plays; I used to serve on the Treasury Committee, and the critical reviews it gave the members of the Monetary Policy Committee were very valuable. Critical comments have been made in this case, they have been addressed by Professor Ebdon and by me, and he will therefore come before the Select Committee on a regular basis to report. I think that the Select Committee scrutiny process has been very valuable.

[Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)]

I have the privilege of representing three excellent universities. Clearly, the head of OFFA has a lot of work to do to balance improved access and high standards. Will my right hon. Friend assure me that Professor Ebdon will get full governmental support in his role, particularly from the Department for Education, because far too many pupils, particularly those from black and ethnic minority backgrounds and those who receive free school meals, are still not given the chance to reach their full potential while they are at school?

[Vince Cable]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to stress that the origins of the access problem and the lack of fair access are frequently found in the schools—I think that that was the point of the original question—not just in university admissions. It is important to pay tribute to the reforms that my colleague the Secretary of State for Education is making, in terms of improving standards and the introduction of the pupil premium, for which my hon. Friend and I have campaigned. It will undoubtedly raise standards in schools.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State on sticking to his guns, but what message does he think this political football chaos and this confusion about this appointment sends to prospective students and their families?

[Vince Cable]

I think it sends a very positive message that public appointments are open to scrutiny and that the best person gets the job.

[Mr Douglas Carswell (Clacton) (Con)]

On 19 October 2009, the then Conservative Opposition obtained an urgent question following the decision by a Labour Minister to appoint the Children’s Commissioner in defiance of the relevant Select Committee. In April 2010, the Liberal Democrats published a manifesto which stated, on page 88, that they would give Parliament power to approve Government appointments. Why has the Minister failed to respect the views of the legislature on this occasion when he had promised to do so?

[Vince Cable]

Both the Chairman of the Select Committee and I have already answered the hon. Gentleman’s question. We treat the Select Committee’s report and the legislature with respect. Criticisms have been made and they will be addressed through the Select Committee. This is a good process and we will continue to uphold it.

[Ian Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)]

Between 2006 and 2010, five students only from Wrexham were admitted to Oxford university—regrettably, there was no right of appeal to the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills. Does the Secretary of State agree that admission by interview prevents transparent consideration of admissions criteria and of the effect of those criteria?

[Vince Cable]

I do not want to get into criticising universities. I have already made it very clear that they are independent bodies responsible for their own admissions policies. The access agreements that they sign will improve access—that is why those agreements are in place and that is what Professor Ebdon is there to do. I do not, as a Minister, want to lecture universities on how they admit particular students.

[Mr Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

After 50 years of comprehensive education, why do we have this tragedy that only 50 pupils receiving free school meals are getting into the top universities? How are we going to solve this? The Secretary of State says that he is not going to dumb down standards. Is it not a fact that the era of the greatest social mobility—the most opportunities for poor people—was when there was a grammar school in every town?

[Mr Speaker]

In answering, the Secretary of State will want to focus on the appointment of the director of the Office for Fair Access.

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to say that I have no intention of dumbing down standards. The access agreements that are being reached through OFFA and which will be implemented by Professor Ebdon will not dumb down standards either.

[Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)]

As a member of the Select Committee who attended the hearings and was aware that all the Conservative members attended for the full meeting and made the strongest possible representations opposing the appointment, may I ask the Secretary of State whether he was aware before the Committee met that it was likely that Conservative MPs were going to try to block the appointment?

[Vince Cable]

No, I was not, and it is not appropriate for me to investigate how the Select Committee came to its conclusions. I have already responded to it, and its Chairman, in a very proper way, has set out how it operates.

[Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con)]

It is notable that, in defiance of the Select Committee, there have been no comments about why a minority report was not produced in the event that some people did not concur with the findings of the Select Committee. I therefore suggest that, by ignoring the Select Committee, we are doing a disservice to those Members who spent time considering the representations to the Committee. May I urge the Secretary of State to give the House an assurance that we will not allow the nuclear option to discriminate against pupils from high-achieving schools such as mine in St Albans?

[Vince Cable]

I have already made it clear that there is no question of discriminating against people with ability. My constituency has two of the most successful independent schools in the country. I fully support their activities, and frequently visit them and work with them, so there is no question whatever of discrimination. Access is a much broader concept: it is helping people to realise their potential, and what can possibly be wrong with that?

[Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)]

As someone who spent several years as an admissions tutor in one of our leading universities, may I tell the Secretary of State that it is difficult to make judgments on the merits of individual applicants? Contextual data are absolutely critical in trying to achieve a fair admissions process, so will he endorse their use?

[Vince Cable]

Contextual data are already used by universities, including both Oxbridge universities, as a useful aid to establishing someone’s potential, but it is not the Government’s job to prescribe particular systems of admission, and we have no intention of going down that road.

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

May I join my right hon. Friend in paying tribute to our colleagues who, in the fair access report, have drawn attention to the need for aspiration, attainment and eligibility while preserving autonomy and excellence? Will he work with the Department for Education so that what Michael Rutter discovered in the 15,000 hours study—and with the 70,000 hours that people spent outside school in preparation for university or college—will make it less necessary to have any kind of OFFA in future? In time, the Secretary of State should seek the abolition of the office, so that people can, on merit, grow up and, on merit, be considered by universities and colleges.

[Vince Cable]

I am among the people who paid tribute to that report, and I acknowledge that there is a lot of good material in it. One of the things that it emphasised was the importance of helping with aspirations in schools, changing the expectation that many people have that they have no prospect of going to university, and working at the level of individual schools. I think we will continue to see OFFA concentrating on that, and not on penalties of various kinds, about which some hon. Members appear to be concerned.

[Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD)]

Given that both coalition parties are committed to improving social mobility and that the Office for Fair Access is increasingly important as an agent for doing that, is it not right that the director should be qualified, determined and tough? Professor Ebdon, like Sir Martin Harris, amply fulfils that requirement, and will be an excellent leader to change what universities so far have sometimes failed sufficiently to do.

[Vince Cable]

Yes, that is a very good summary of the conclusions that the Minister for Universities and Science and I reached after interviewing Professor Ebdon and the other candidates.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

What message does the open political split in the Government send to universities, given their responsibility to provide the reality of fair access to all our youngsters?

[Vince Cable]

I think that universities will be greatly reassured that they have an excellent man to lead OFFA in future, as Sir Martin Harris has done in the past. It has been a good process, we have a good outcome, and universities have absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

[Nicola Blackwood (Oxford West and Abingdon) (Con)]

As someone who once conducted interviews of undergraduates at Oxford, my experience is that Oxford was a university that admits on merit, rather than considering the background of candidates, and was always looking for ways to widen access. Oxford spends double the sector average on financial support for lowest income students, but given concerns expressed today about Professor Ebdon’s appointment, does the Secretary of State agree that decisions about admissions to universities must remain the ultimate decision of those universities, as they are best placed to make that judgment?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, of course I agree, and I repeat what I have said several times in the past. Indeed, the ultimate assurance that the hon. Lady has are the terms of the legislation under which OFFA operates, the Higher Education Act 2004, which said that the director of OFFA

“has a duty to protect academic freedom”,

including determining

“the criteria for the admission of students”.

That is absolute.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

May I press the Secretary of State on whether he agrees that the quota policy espoused by Professor Ebdon puts the cart before the horse, and whether we should be pushing schools to produce better students, rather than tempering our universities’ freedom to choose students on merit? Otherwise both students and universities will ultimately suffer.

[Vince Cable]

As far as I am aware, Professor Ebdon has never advocated the use of quotas. He is certainly not on record to that effect.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

This is a case of Parliament v. the Executive. On only two occasions have Select Committees not endorsed a senior appointment, one of which was under Labour. When we were in opposition, we created merry hell about it and said that the Executive were ignoring Parliament. What is different this time?

[Vince Cable]

What is different is that the Executive are not ignoring Parliament. We are aware of the criticisms that were made of Professor Ebdon’s interview and we have asked him to appear on a regular basis before the Select Committee to demonstrate that he has its full confidence. That is what is different.

[Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD)]

Over the past few days there has been an enormous amount of media hype of the issue and some hyperbolic language, “social engineering” being one of the terms used. To get down to some facts, more than 20 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black students for undergraduate courses in 2009, with one college not having admitted a single black student for five years. Meanwhile, four elite independent schools have sent more pupils to Oxbridge than 2,000 state schools. Would the Secretary of State—

[Stephen Lloyd]

Will the Secretary of State confirm that the new director of fair access will have sufficient resources to make a real difference to this deplorable record?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, he will. He has been given additional resources in order to do his job properly. The issue on which my hon. Friend focuses, under-representation of at least some ethnic groups, is a particular focus of the letter that I, together with the Universities Minister, sent to the previous director as something that he should work on.

[Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)]

Given that the Secretary of State feels that it is his role to intervene in these matters, will he tell us how many pupils who qualify for free school meals should be going to Oxbridge by the end of Professor Ebdon’s tenure? If that number is not reached, will he intervene yet again on Professor Ebdon?

[Vince Cable]

I have not intervened beyond making the appointment, and Professor Ebdon has clear terms of reference. But since the hon. Gentleman has set out a standard, let me remind him and other colleagues of the current position. Pupils from independent schools are 55 times more likely to go to Oxbridge than children with free school meals. That is the imbalance that we are trying to address.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that the brightest pupils from the poorest backgrounds would be far better off if, regardless of who its director is, the Office for Fair Access, which as far as I can see is no more than an expensive and unnecessary quango that is engaged in social engineering, was scrapped and the money used to support directly the outreach programmes of our top universities?

[Vince Cable]

Actually, one of the main purposes of OFFA will be to promote those outreach programmes and to draw from the lessons and experience of different outreach programmes, which as far as I am aware have not been systematically evaluated. That will be one of Professor Ebdon’s tasks.

[Stephen Williams (Bristol West) (LD)]

Fair access, particularly to research-intensive universities, is of paramount importance, because it is from that body that the media, the professions, and membership of this House are drawn. In the four and a half years that I shadowed higher education for the Liberal Democrats in the last Parliament, I met more than 100 vice-chancellors, and Les Ebdon sticks in my mind as someone who is passionately committed to the agenda of widening participation and fair access in particular. I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the appointment, and I hope that he will give Professor Ebdon all the support that he will need for the very important job that lies ahead.

[Vince Cable]

Yes, indeed. Despite the considerable cuts that the Government have had to make as part of fiscal consolidation, we have made commitments to increase the resources available to OFFA and substantially to increase the scholarship programme, of which my hon. Friend is aware and, I think, was one of the architects.

[Elizabeth Truss (South West Norfolk) (Con)]

Only 50% of comprehensive school sixth forms offer further maths, which is a requirement to study maths and physics at most of the top universities. I am very concerned that we are getting a mismatch between what students are able to do and what universities are able to offer. What specific steps will the Secretary of State and OFFA take to ensure that there is more availability of this important subject in schools so that our students can go on to study maths and science?

[Vince Cable]

The hon. Lady is quite right that that is one of the major problems. As I recall, under the last Government, a report was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills from Professor Smith, which looked specifically at mathematics teaching in schools, as a result of which I think that there has been a significant increase in the recruitment of maths teachers and the level at which maths is now taught.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State consider establishing an advisory body for OFFA so that a range of opinions can be considered?

[Vince Cable]

Yes, we will do that. As I understand it, this does not require legislation, and we are looking at the feasibility of doing that and how to get the best advantage from it.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Given that explaining the Government’s new access arrangements and the new tuition fee regime is a complicated task at best, why is the Secretary of State prepared to appoint somebody who has doubtful presentation skills?

[Vince Cable]

He may well have had doubtful presentation skills on this particular occasion, but he is the spokesman for a substantial group of universities, million+, and I do not think that that undermines his ability to present his case.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—