HC Deb 11 December 1997 vol 302 cc1171-3
6. Mr. Allan

If students whose maintenance grants are to be phased out in 1998–99 will be eligible for the increased student loans that students in 1999 and 2000 are eligible to receive. [18751]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Dr. Kim Howells)

New students entering higher education in the 1998–99 academic year will be eligible for increased loans in that year to offset the reduction in the level of maintenance grants. In 1999–2000, we propose to abolish maintenance grants. Those students will be eligible for an income-related loan for their maintenance on the same basis as 1999–2000 entrants.

Mr. Allan

Does the Minister share my fear that those people who are thinking of doing three or four-year undergraduate teacher training courses will be deterred by his proposals for student finance, as they know that the salaries that they will later earn as primary school teachers will be high enough for them to pay back the loan, but do not command the sort of graduate premiums that he uses to justify his proposals?

Dr. Howells

No, I do not agree. The reforms that we are putting in place see primary school teachers as an essential part of our community. They will be rewarded as such. The reward that they will receive will be to see the education system transformed and, as a result, a higher education system that will be transformed as well.

Ms Hodge

I do not know whether my hon. Friend the Minister has had a chance to look at the Select Committee on Education and Employment report that was published yesterday on the funding issues arising out of the Dearing report and the Government's proposals. If he has, does he agree with the Committee's findings that, while we generally accept the thrust of Government policy, there will be a funding gap in the year 1999–2000, before the money starts to flow in? Does he further agree that that gap should not be met by declining standards in higher education, greater student poverty or continuing the cap on student numbers in higher education? Therefore, will he give the House some idea of whether he is considering other measures, such as those suggested in the Select Committee report, as a means of meeting that funding gap?

Dr. Howells

As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State informed the Committee, as part of their comprehensive spending review, the Government will study that gap closely. They believe that the radical measures taken to secure sufficient funding and ensure a good and healthy future for higher education will also enable us to lift the cap on the number of students in higher education and will be sufficient to meet the long-term needs of that sector.

Mr. Boswell

Does the Minister agree that, contrary to the advice of the Dearing committee, the total abolition of maintenance grants is likely to lead to a real reduction in the numbers offering themselves for higher education. Do not the likely admission figures for next year already show that to be the case?

Dr. Howells

No, they do not. The figures are slightly down on this time last year—

Mr. Boswell

Really?

Dr. Howells

The hon. Gentleman can sneer, but it is true. What is more, there is evidence that 6 per cent. more students entered this year than the year before, because of the changes that are taking place in education. We think that the take-up by students this year accounts for that small drop in intake.

Miss Melanie Johnson

Is my hon. Friend aware that the decision to end the means-testing of grants for disabled students in full-time education has been widely welcomed?

Dr. Howells

It has been widely welcomed, and it shows that the Government, unlike the previous Government, recognise the huge potential among disabled people who have felt that they could not go into higher education because of the means test. That has properly been welcomed throughout the country, and will continue to be so.

Mr. Dorrell

Ministers are fond of asserting that it is the Government's policy to continue the expansion of higher education that has occurred over the past 18 years.

If that is indeed their policy, how can it be reconciled with the repeated reports from universities throughout the country of substantial reductions in applications for courses starting next autumn, compared with the equivalent figures for this time last year? Does the Minister agree that, when the figures from the Universities and Colleges Admission Service are published next week, we shall be able to compare the Government's warm words with hard reality? Does he accept that those figures are the litmus test of whether the Government are converting aspiration into reality?

Dr. Howells

The right hon. Gentleman knows full well that those figures are extremely volatile at the best of times and that, after Monday, more than 25 per cent. of applications will not yet have been received, so the figures will account for only 75 per cent. They will show important trends, but I put it to him that if there is a downward turn, it will be very temporary, because people understand, as the Government do, that getting a degree is the best advantage that people can get if they want a good job. We shall ensure that they get that degree.