HC Deb 04 February 1986 vol 91 cc129-30
3. Mr. Alan Howarth

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will give further consideration to the introduction of a system of student loans.

Mr. Walden

No, Sir. The possibility of replacing maintenance grants wholly or partly with loans has been ruled out at the present time by the Government.

Mr. Howarth

Will my hon Friend consider the fact that since the Government announcement of a 2 per cent. increase in grant and the withdrawal of certain welfare arrangements, we are in altered circumstances? Does he agree that it is becoming a matter of growing urgency to find some additional means for significant numbers of students, and that growing numbers of practically minded people see nothing unreasonable about doing as many other countries do and introducing a loans element into our system of student support? Will he undertake to revise the review of student finance, which the Government put into abeyance last summer?

Mr. Walden

I note the consistency of my hon. Friend's devotion to the cause of loans. However, the Government have weighed the pros and cons of loans, and, at present, the cons are seen as outweighing the pros.

Mr. Fatchett

Is not the strongest argument against loans—particularly at a time when access to university places is becoming even more restricted—that they will reduce opportunities even further for young people from working-class homes? If the Government went down the road of loans, would it not be a further indictment of their policy in higher education, and further evidence that they do not want working-class children to go to universities?

Mr. Walden

I cannot except the hon. Gentleman's premise, but I note his view that there might be a danger, if loans were introduced at any stage, to the children from more modest backgrounds.

Mr. Pawsey

Does my hon. Friend accept that his reply is somewhat disappointing to many of my hon. Friends? Will he review the matter, as there are serious anomalies in the present system, particularly where parents—I am one—do not top up their children's expenses at university?

Mr. Walden

I would be the last to deny that anomalies exist within the present system.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

Is it not ironic that the Minister has been criticised by his Back Benchers for not introducing loans, when he is quickly moving in that direction through the unofficial loans that are increasingly becoming part of student life? Is it not contempt of the House that the Government promised last year a full review of students' grants, but when they discovered that that review would reveal the real poverty facing students they abandoned it? Should they not now reintroduce that review and abandon the proposals in the social security review to take rights away from students until we have had a proper review of the state grant system?

Mr. Walden

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman finds room for irony in this situation. De facto loans, to which the hon. Gentleman referred, are private transactions between banks and customers, and it is up to students and their families to make sure before they enter into such commitments that they can be fulfilled.

Mrs. McCurley

Is it not most important that students should spend all their time in higher education studying, to the benefit of Britain, and not having to sell beets, as they do on campus in the United States, to earn their way through college?

Mr. Walden

My hon. Friend raises a good point. Obviously one of the advantages of the present British system is that it enables students to spend a good deal of their time studying. However, we live in the harsh real world and the search for outside employment does not have to overtake wholly the student's prime function, which is to study.