§ 28. Ms. QuinTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what new initiatives his Department is proposing concerning access to higher and further education.
§ Mr. FormanThe Government's public spending plans, announced in my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer's autumn statement to the House on 12 November, provide for a continuing increase in both higher and further education student numbers. In his initial letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England, my right hon. Friend asked the Council to consider a range of access issues and we drew the Further Education Funding Council's attention to similar concerns in his launch letter to that council.
§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if students who entered universities recently converted from polytechnics will be classed as students entering universities or as students entering polytechnics, in official Department for Education figures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FormanThe Department will continue to publish statistics on higher education students which adequately reflect the titles of the institutions those students attend. Discussions are currently in progress to establish statistical arrangements consistent with the new framework for higher education.