Undergraduate Income and Expenditure (Hansard, 17 July 1984)

§ 4. Sir William van Straubenzee
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received from the National Union of Students in relation to its survey of undergraduate income and expenditure.

§ Mr. Brooke
I received a copy of the full report of the NUS survey of undergraduate income and expenditure from the president of the NUS on 6 July. I have received no other representations on the contents of the full survey report.

§ Sir William van Straubenzee
I appreciate that my hon. Friend will need appropriate time to consider the report. In the meantime, does he accept that the report is a competent and important contribution to our knowledge? Should it reveal certain weaknesses in any particular aspect of student grant, will he give appropriate and careful attention to its message?

§ Mr. Brooke
The survey is a weighty document. It will require careful consideration and we shall, of course, examine it as a matter of urgency. I have written to the president of the NUS suggesting that we have an early meeting.

§ Mr. Wilson
Will the Under-Secretary of State look at a parliamentary reply that he recently gave to me showing that since 1979 there has been a progressive reduction in student grant, now amounting to 7 per cent. in real terms? Would not the simplest course, regardless of the documents sent to him by the NUS, be to increase the grant to a level comparable with the level when the Conservative Government came to power?

§ Mr. Brooke
Some reduction in central Government expenditure on education was necessary if total expenditure was to be kept within bounds. It was judged preferable to make the necessary savings by a modest drop in the value of the full award rather than, for example, by reductions in the provision available for science in the universities.

§ Mr. Marlow
Will my hon. Friend take up with the European Court of Human Rights — that institution which seems to make so many of the laws of England—the fact that many students who have reached the age of majority have their grants reduced according to the circumstances of their parents?

§ Mr. Brooke
That is probably more a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State than for me.

§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennett
When the Under-Secretary of State meets the president of the NUS, will he assure him that the Government are not trying to introduce back-door loans? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the survey shows the increasing hardship caused to students, even before the situation has deteriorated for many of them because of the new regulations on student travel? When will the hon. Gentleman lay the regulations before the House so that we can debate them? Last year the hon. Gentleman promised 159 that he would lay them down earlier. He has about six days left in which to lay the regulations so that that is done earlier than last year.

§ Mr. Brooke
As the hon. Gentleman knows, the survey shows that at the time of interview only 10 per cent. of students had overdrafts. I hope it can be said that students are generally able to live within their means. I take the hon. Gentleman's point about laying the regulations.