Student Bursaries (Hansard, 4 December 2003)

§ 7. Ross Cranston (Dudley, North) (Lab)
What plans he has for university student bursaries; and if he will make a statement. [141763]

§ 11. Dr. Brian Iddon (Bolton, South-East) (Lab)
What plans he has to provide university student bursaries; and if he will make a statement. [141767]

§ The Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education(Alan Johnson)
We have made it clear that universities will need to offer bursaries and other forms of financial support in their access agreement if they want to charge a fee above the standard level. We are considering and discussing the precise contents of access agreements and the duties of the office for fair access and will make a statement in due course.

§ Ross Cranston
I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. While I fully support the policy on fees, one aspect of its fairness is the availability of bursaries. Not all universities have the same kitty as the university of Cambridge. What about universities such as my local university, the university of Wolverhampton? What expectations does he have of such universities, and what has been their response so far to the idea of providing bursaries?

§ Alan Johnson
I have written to the university of Wolverhampton, and copied my letter to local MPs, because the university made a mistake in its calculations, which it has accepted, in relation to the money that may be available. I know that many local MPs were influenced by that miscalculation. Like many modern universities, it is determined to ensure that it gives bursaries. Its understandable and genuine concern is that because it has a higher level of non-traditional students—to use the jargon—it may be forced to put more of its extra income into widening participation, 638 and in a sense be penalised for succeeding in widening participation in the past. We are seeking to deal with that important concern in discussions with the university sector.

§ Dr. Iddon
The transparency review process showed that all universities are short of money to support their teaching infrastructure, including staff salaries. Is it reasonable to expect all those universities to recycle some of the fees money into bursaries? Would it not be better if the Government supported poorer students by increased maintenance grants? Will my right hon. Friend explain the expression "above the standard fee"?

§ Alan Johnson
Universities need money to invest in their infrastructure and the pay of people who work for them—I am talking about all staff, not just academics, whose pay has fallen behind—and they tell us that they will also earmark a proportion of the extra money for bursaries. Whether universities should be forced to put a certain amount of money to one side is a controversial point that we are in discussions about.
The definition of the standard fee is the current £1,125. When it comes to universities being able to charge more than that, under our proposals there is, for the first time, a financial imperative for them to reach sensible access agreements to ensure that they are paying more than just lip service to widening participation—as I am assured that almost all of them are, so that should not create an insuperable problem.

§ Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry) (Con)
Do Ministers appreciate that while they temporise in taking decisions and submitting them for the judgment of the House, universities have to get on with the job of issuing prospectuses, including those for students who will commence their studies in 2006, at a time when the details of the tuition fee structure, the bursaries available—state or private—and the access agreements are completely unclear to them?

§ Alan Johnson
Let me try to make matters clear. The new arrangements will not be introduced until after the next general election—after 2006. The hon. Gentleman is quite right. We need to ensure that we have the Bill in place and that it receives Royal Assent in time for the cohort of students who are looking to take up their places in 2006–07 to be aware of the fees and the access agreements, and we are working to that time scale.

§ Chris Grayling (Epsom and Ewell) (Con)
Bursaries help poorer students, but Ministers seem to be totally unaware of the impact that their proposals will have on lower-paid graduates, particularly those in key jobs. Is the Minister aware that, under his plans, 10 years after starting work an NHS radiographer will be paying £1,500 a year in debt repayments—almost 7 per cent. of take-home pay—and still have debts of more than £10,000 outstanding? How will that help to tackle the acute shortage of young people who are willing to go into key roles such as that?

§ Alan Johnson
Let me make it quite clear that currently the average debt, as recorded by the student income and expenditure survey, which was published last week, is £8,666. We estimate that the figure is likely 639 to increase to around £15,000, but for poorer students there is fee remission and the introduction of a maintenance grant, and there is a much more beneficial system of repayment. The main issue is how to get more money into our universities. The hon. Gentleman, whom I welcome to his post, has to explain how a serious, mainstream political party can suggest that the answer to this problem is to take away the £900 million that universities currently have and do away at a stroke with 100,000 places. I rather like the hon. Gentleman—we are going to get on famously. He said that the problem for students—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I listened to what the hon. Gentleman had to say—the Minister does not need to tell the House.

§ Mr. Eric Joyce (Falkirk, West) (Lab)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we are to create much wider access to the leadership of our national institutions and leading companies, we must first open up access to our elite universities? Bursaries will do exactly that.

§ Alan Johnson
That is absolutely right. We need to get youngsters from all backgrounds to acquire two decent A-levels, because where that happens, nine out of 10 go on to higher education, but there is an 8 per cent. gap between those who apply to Russell group universities, for instance, and to other types of university. That is why the Russell group published yesterday a very welcome document on its intention to provide bursaries post-2006 to help tackle this problem. My hon. Friend is right: for the first time, we have an opportunity to close the obscene social class gap that has dogged our higher education sector for the past 50 years.

§ Mr. Jim Cousins (Newcastle upon Tyne, Central) (Lab)
On bursaries created out of fee income, will universities be free to have their own tests of income, in order to decide who gets them and who does not, or do the Government intend to impose a standard test of income across all bursary schemes?

§ Alan Johnson
No, we do not intend to apply a standard test of income. We intend to look at how universities are helping to widen participation, and to help students from poorer backgrounds. That could take the form of outreach activity in primary schools, which has had a marked effect, and raising the aspiration of 14-year-olds to go to university. It could also take the form of providing extra pastoral care, student support through extra grants, and so on. The access regulator's directions will be published when the House considers the legislation. We need to be clear that a proper arrangement is in place to help such students, and it forms a major element of our proposals.