HL Deb 16 July 1998 vol 592 cc45-6WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether, in their view, the provisions of Clause 19 of the Teaching and Higher Education Bill are compatible with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights read with Article 2 of the First Protocol. [HL2664]

Baroness Blackstone

We take the view that Clause 19 of the Teaching and Higher Education Bill [Bill 145 as first printed for the Commons] as amended, is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Clause 19—which applies only to England and Wales because of the separate legal systems for Scotland and Northern Ireland—provides for the Secretary of State to make regulations giving him a power or a duty to make grants or loans for prescribed purposes to eligible students, but does not require the provision of such financial support to be subject to discrimination between students on grounds of national or social origin or on any of the other grounds mentioned in Article 14. The clause does not breach the general duty of non-discrimination in Article 14 in the context of the right to further or higher education.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the speech by the Lord Sewel on 7 July (H.L. Deb., col. 1112), whether they have received advice as to the compatibility of charging higher fees for students of non-Scottish origins at Scottish universities with the prohibition of a discriminatory difference of treatment in relation to the right to education contained in Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights read with Article 2 of the First Protocol. [HL2665]

Baroness Blackstone

It is for higher education institutions to charge fees. The Government's policy concerns the making of non-means-tested grants to students resident in Scotland in respect of fees for the final honours year of first-degree courses at Scottish institutions, whereas students resident in England, Wales or Northern Ireland will be eligible only for means-tested grants for such fees.

In the light of advice, the Government consider that their policy is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Any differences in treatment between students resident in Scotland and in other parts of the UK reflect the existence of more than one legal system and more than one education system in the UK.

Following the recent amendment to the Teaching and Higher Education Bill and in line with our stated intention to monitor the effect of introducing the means-testing of grants for fees, the arrangements for making grants for fees for the final honours year of first-degree courses at Scottish institutions will be subject to an independent review before 1 April 2000.