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Higher Education: Adult Students

Volume 696: debated on Tuesday 4 December 2007

asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether they will increase the amount of support and encouragement for adults to pursue part-time higher education.

My Lords, in 2006-07, we introduced in England the most generous package of financial support that has ever been offered to part-time students undertaking courses. It included increasing the maximum fee grant by 27 per cent and an above-inflation increase in the income threshold for receiving this support. The number of England-domiciled part-time students receiving grants for fees rose from 34,700 to 42,000 between 2005-06 and 2006-07, which is an increase of 21 per cent. Devolved Administrations are responsible for supporting their own students.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reassuring response, which omitted any question of “but”; namely, that the consultation period on the Secretary of State’s September letter ends this coming Friday. The Minister will recall that, in the vigorous debate last night, there was nigh unanimous support throughout the House for the Government to take a different stand from that proposed by the Secretary of State. How does he propose to respond to the representations made on behalf of Birkbeck, the OU and many other providers, which are protesting about the proposals in the Secretary of State’s 7 September letter?

My Lords, the support would have been unanimous last night had I not defended the Government’s position, but I was proud and privileged to do that. The consultation is taking place. As I said last night, I am determined that it should be serious. I am determined that the points made in the debate in your Lordships’ House last night should feed in even in these last few days of the consultation. Some substantive issues were raised and I said that they should be considered properly. I cannot give undertakings about the outcome of the consultation, but I hope that I indicated then, as I do again now, that serious points were made that are well worth considering, and I shall ensure that they are.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is a happy situation that innovative means of progress in education, both part-time adult education and other education, are possible in this country, whereas they are not possible with safety in other parts of the world? I am sure that we would all like to congratulate our colleagues on their success in bringing back the teacher from Sudan.

My Lords, I could hardly endorse that thought more. It is not so long since I was Minister for Africa and I have watched these events with the same levels of anxiety as all noble Lords will have experienced. I am delighted that she is back. I hope that this may provide some sort of platform for getting a better understanding. It would be a great disappointment if teachers from the United Kingdom did not teach in other parts of the world. People responsible for the countries in those parts of the world should welcome the teachers whom we send, as they contribute enormously.

My Lords, my noble friend will know that in relation to part-time higher education we on these Benches take a particular pride in the Open University, one of the great achievements of any Labour Government, comparable to the National Health Service. I think that my noble friend will acknowledge that the proposed policy on ELQs will cause problems for the Open University, so may I ask him in the most comradely way—contrary to last night—what proposals the Government have in mitigation?

My Lords, first, I hope that the House will look with caution at all figures produced about the likely consequences for the Open University. None the less, there is no doubt in my mind that there are consequences for a very great institution. In those circumstances, we need to work carefully with the Open University on a sustainable business model. It is an extremely innovative institution and I have no doubt that it can do a number of things to mitigate the circumstances to great effect. One thing that I am sure of is that we would not want to damage the stability or quality of the provision of the Open University, which I know has been enjoyed at first hand by a good many Members of this House.

My Lords, how on earth did it come about that the Government had this idea that was so clearly damaging to the Open University, which, as the Minister said, the Government and the whole nation value? How did it come about that anything so unwise could be promulgated?

My Lords, I do not wholly accept the notion that the policy has been unwise. To be clear, I should say that the aim is to increase the amount of money available to those who have never yet been to university or undertaken a first degree at all. Because there is a finite amount of money and it is not possible to extend it indefinitely, the choice was made to move priority from those who were going to study for a second first degree, or something equivalent, to those who had never studied for one at all. That is a decent policy objective, which in many universities will be thought to be appropriate.

My Lords, sadly, I could not be here last night, but I have read the very interesting debate. I declare an interest as an enthusiast for the Open University. I should very much like to have an answer to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Rix, who asked how many women would be disadvantaged by this, given that the vast majority of them are coming back into education and need to upskill. He also wanted to know how many part-timers are women. This policy seems to run totally counter to every other effort on the part of the Government, who have been superb in pursuing equal opportunities for women.

My Lords, 57 per cent of the ELQ students are women. As it happens, that is exactly the same proportion as women constitute in the non-ELQ student group. There is exact parity. About 10 million women in the workforce do not have a first higher-level qualification and they are among those whom we have sought to prioritise by this policy move. I hope that it will be accepted that the aim has been to ensure that women with no first qualification of that kind get a realistic prospect of obtaining one.