Mature Students (Hansard, 17 February 2000)

§ 5. Mr. Peter Brooke (Cities of London and Westminster)
What assessment he has made of the effect of Government policies on applications for higher education from mature students. [109132]

§ 6. Mr. John Heppell (Nottingham, East)
If he will make a statement on support for mature students in higher education. [109135]

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Malcolm Wicks)
The number of mature students entering higher education remains healthy, but we accept that mature students often have bigger financial commitments than others. We have therefore announced a package of measures, costing £68 million in a full year, which addresses their concerns. For the coming year, bursaries for mature students will be available, largely to support child care costs.
This week, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the development of new two-year foundation degrees, which will be particularly attractive to mature students. He also announced a new framework for vocational qualifications, both in institutions and in the workplace.

§ Mr. Brooke
Given the fall in the number of applications from mature students, who are one of the glories of our higher-education system, does the Government's concern about the trend extend to accelerating their promised review of tuition fees?

§ Mr. Wicks
The fall in the number of mature students is very slight—less than 1 per cent. More are now choosing to study part-time. The number of 20-year-olds is smaller than it was some years ago, and we also have a buoyant labour market, which is enabling many people to choose to work and to study—in other words, to enter the sector part-time. We are confident that the opportunities for mature students will be buoyant in the future, not least because of the additional support that we are giving them.

§ Mr. Heppell
The Minister says that many mature students now choose to study part time. In fact, many are forced to do that because of work or family commitments. Can the Minister assure us that part-time students who have had a bad deal in the past, especially under the last Government—people on low incomes, or those who have lost their jobs to study—will have their tuition fees waived? Will they also be given help with extra study costs, such as the cost of books?

§ Mr. Wicks
It is certainly true that more mature students are now choosing to study part time, for the reasons given by me and by my hon. Friend. The former system of student support gave little if any help to part-time students, but we have changed that. In the current academic year, part-time students on low incomes will have their fees waived, as will those who lose their jobs while studying. In the coming academic year, part-time students will have access to loans for the first time.
1093 In addition, part-time students are eligible for the disabled students allowance. Many people with disabilities have no choice but to study part time. That will be a major step forward for that group in getting access to that education sector.

§ Dr. Evan Harris (Oxford, West and Abingdon)
Is the Minister aware of his Department's research, which is now available in the Library, showing that mature students are deterred by tuition fees from accessing higher education and, indeed, that the Department knew that in advance? Does he not recognise that they and other disadvantaged students will be even more deterred by the threat of ever-increasing tuition fees, or, indeed, top-up fees?
The two universities in Oxford need to increase access to those groups, not just to restrict access to clever students who happen to be rich. At a time when Scotland is abolishing tuition fees as a discredited policy, should not the Minister explore that option, instead of considering new ways of imposing or increasing such fees?

§ Mr. Wicks
The proposals in Scotland do not involve the abolition of tuition fees—[Interruption.] I shall tell it to whoever wants to listen.
We are putting in place the £68 million package to help mature students, particularly those with children and child care costs. We are very sensitive to the family dimension—so much so that we have recognised, for example, an anomaly whereby school meals for children of mature students were not covered. We are putting that right. We are very sensitive to the issue. We want to enable more mature students to enter the system.

§ Mr. Bill Rammell (Harlow)
I welcome the new package of financial support for mature students. Last week, I sat with a mature student in my constituency and went through the new proposals. That exercise demonstrated that they will be a real and significant help, but does my hon. Friend agree that the introduction of university top-up fees is one of the measures that could affect access to university by mature students? Will he therefore reaffirm the Government's opposition to differential top-up fees?

§ Mr. Wicks
I welcome my hon. Friend's comments. I know of his interest in the matter. On top-up fees, the Government policy has not changed. The current system of student support is working well. Student numbers are up and more money is going into colleges and universities. The Government have announced an 11 per cent. real-terms boost for higher education funding in the current Parliament, but they recognise that a debate is under way in the wider world, which should be conducted with intellectual rigour. However, we are confident that the system is working well—[Interruption.] Opposition Members may not want to hear it, but more students are entering our system and more of those students are doing well. We are funding the higher education sector in a way that the last Conservative Government could not even begin to understand.

§ Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry)
On this morning's form, Ministers are clearly collectively preparing vigorously for 1094 opposition. In his answers, the Minister has already had to concede that mature student applications are falling and that, despite the dirty deal done in Scotland, tuition fees remain a reality in Scotland, even if deferred. As a result of his clear embarrassment, he has had to concede an access package as well.
In the light of that tremendous mega-mess for student support, which differs between Scotland and England, with new anomalies introduced every day, can the Minister answer a specific question: will his proposed access fund bursary in England for mature students be available to Scottish students at English universities who do not benefit from the Scottish student support arrangements? If so, on which departmental vote will it be carried?

§ Mr. Wicks
One of us has to learn opposition and, as the Minister for lifelong learning, I have a good guess who it will be. It is difficult to keep up with the Conservative U-turns. The Conservatives used to be against Scottish devolution; now I think that they are in favour of it. What their current position is on tax expenditure I do not know. I raise that because we would not think it sensible to spend hundreds of millions of pounds implementing Scottish proposals.
We would not be prepared to take that money from nursery education, the school system or the national health service budget. I am not sure whether the Conservative Opposition are now proposing doing that.