HC Deb 21 December 2000 vol 360 cc266-7W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what his policy is in respect of including the income from tuition fees paid by parents in his estimates of total spending on higher education. [143154]

Mr. Wicks

Publicly planned funding to higher education institutions has always included both block grant from the funding council and projected income from tuition fees. Having a proportion of tuition fees contributed by students and their families makes no difference, especially since we have continually said that it would be invested in higher education. Between 1998–99 and 2003–04, this has allowed the Government to provide a real terms increase of around 18 per cent.

Now, for the first time in over a decade, there will be a real-terms increase in publicly planned funding per full-time equivalent student in England in 2001–02, which will be sustained in the following years. Of the almost £1 billion extra funding by 2003–04, only some 10 per cent. comes from tuition fees paid by students and their families. Additionally, we have increased student loans to ensure that students and their families do not have to contribute more overall to the costs of higher education.

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