§ Earl Russell asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Further to paragraph 22(f) of the memorandum submitted by the Department for Education and Employment to the Delegated Powers Scrutiny Committee on the Teaching and Higher Education Bill, under what existing legislation they propose to introduce contributions to tuition fees from students; and in what words it was made clear to Parliament during the passage of that legislation that such action would be within the mires conferred by that legislation.
§ [HL 1151
§ Baroness BlackstoneThe Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations to be made for the 1998–99 academic year will provide for a student's resources to be set first against any tuition fees payable by him. The regulations are made under Section 1(5) of the Education Act 1962 and apply to students in England and Wales. Students' resources were set against fees from the academic year 1962–63, when that Act came into force, until 1976–77.
Similar arrangements will apply in Northern Ireland, where the arrangements for student support have maintained a broad parity with the position applying to England and Wales. The Student Awards Regulations (Northern Ireland) made under Article 50(1) of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 are based on the Mandatory Awards Regulations.
Similar arrangements will also apply in Scotland in academic year 1998–99 under the terms of the Students' Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 1996, as amended. The original legislation in Scotland was the Education (Scotland) Act 1962 and the relevant provisions are now consolidated in Sections 73 and 74 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Students' resources were set against fees from the inception of the scheme in the 1960s until academic year 1977–78.