HC Deb 24 October 2002 vol 391 cc398-9
11. Jane Griffiths (Reading, East)

What plans he has to widen participation in higher education. [75276]

The Minister for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education (Margaret Hodge)

We are firmly committed to widening participation in higher education, so that all our brightest students, whatever their background, enjoy the full opportunity to develop their potential. Through our secondary school reform agenda, we want to raise attainment levels. Through the introduction of the education maintenance allowance, we want to encourage young people from low-income backgrounds to stay in full-time education; and through our "Excellence Challenge" programme, we want young people to aim higher.

Jane Griffiths

Does my hon. Friend agree with me and the staff and students of Reading university that action is needed not only to widen participation, but to enable universities in constituencies such as mine with a high cost of living to have a student body with the widest possible background?

Margaret Hodge

Every university is enhanced by having a broad-based student population, from which every student can learn.

Mr. George Osborne (Tatton)

My constituent Katy Smith was one of the students who took part in yesterday's lobby of Parliament on student debt. She made the powerful case that student debt deters people from poorer backgrounds from applying to university. Before the last election, the then Education Secretary—the current Home Secretary—promised not to introduce top-up fees for students. Would the current education team like to inherit that promise as well?

Margaret Hodge

I, too, saw the people from the National Union of Students who came to the House yesterday. The point that I made to them was that they should see their contribution to the cost of their education as an investment. Over their lifetime, people who are graduates will earn £400,000 more than those who are not. In that context, if they incur costs of up to £10,000, that is a good investment, not a cost.

Jonathan Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford)

Does my hon. Friend agree that debt is cyclical, and is it not time that we looked at the way that we pay students? They have the least experience and a small amount of money, so rather than giving them everything up front at the beginning of term, would it not be better to give them the choice of monthly payments? That would help them to manage their finances much better.

Margaret Hodge

My hon. Friend has made that suggestion to me on several occasions, and I am delighted to inform him that I have asked the Student Loans Company whether that is a feasible option for the future payment of loans.