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6.24 pm
Mr. Gyles Brandreth (City of Chester): The hon. Member for Cardiff, Central (Mr. Jones) was long on criticism, but short on any prescription for what he and his colleagues would suggest to replace the student loans scheme, which they apparently find so unsatisfactory.
In my brief contribution I want to welcome this brief Bill, which seems straightforward, sensible and simply designed to enable students to take out private subsidised loans from banks and building societies as an alternative to public loans from the Student Loans Company.
Most, if not all, subsidised loans could and should eventually come from the private sector, but the choice should rest with the student. Personal lending is not one of the tasks that should fall naturally to the state. We are talking about a huge capital investment and I hope that it is one which, in due course, can be largely taken over by the private sector.
We have touched on the difficulties that faced the Student Loans Company in its early years. I was interested and reassured to hear of the improvement in its operation more recently. Long may that continue.
Thanks to the Bill, I trust that we shall be able to give students the opportunity to go for a private sector loan. I hope that they will be able to choose from a variety of different types that will be offered by different institutions.
Lending is not naturally an activity that belongs to Government. We must bear it in mind that the huge capital investment of which we are talking will be about
£5 billion by 2000. The Opposition must deal with that and come up with some positive suggestions.
Through private sector lenders, students will have more choice and can only benefit from that. I was particularly interested in the contribution to the debate made by my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr. Jackson) about the balance between the private and the state sectors in the management of universities. Much of what he said is worth taking very seriously indeed.
Despite the opposition, no evidence has been put forward to suggest that the introduction of student loans five years ago has deterred students from going on to higher education. On the contrary, the numbers are higher than ever before. I think that I am right in saying that the Minister referred to the fact that one in three young people are now entering higher education, compared with one in eight 15 years ago. There are 1 million students on full-time higher education courses. Many of the most fortunate, of course, are at Chester college in my constituency.
I should be grateful if my hon. Friend the Minister could confirm the figure that I quoted in an intervention on the Opposition spokesman, the hon. Member for Oldham, Central and Royton (Mr. Davies). I suggested that, contrary to the talk of cuts--the mantra of Opposition Members--public funding for English universities is at record levels. I quoted a figure of about
£4.7 billion for the coming year. I think that I am right in saying that another £1.5 billion is available for student support.
When my hon. Friend replies to the debate, will he also confirm that, when the maintenance grant was first introduced more than 30 years ago, it was envisaged that no more than about 170,000 students would receive it?
By the end of the 1980s, 400,000 students were receiving mandatory awards. The cost to the taxpayer in real terms has increased over that period by about 250 per cent. There has been a massive expansion in higher education and a massive extra commitment by the taxpayer.
The Government were wise in 1990 to introduce the new system of student support involving loans, which has several advantages. While easing the financial burden on taxpayers and parents, it allows the Government, on behalf of the taxpayer, to use the extra resources made available by the introduction of the loan scheme to fund more places. It makes more money available for students.
Loans also encourage students to spend their resources responsibly. That is a delicate area to wander into if, like me, one has three children of college or university age. They rather pull faces when I say that it is important to learn to use one's resources responsibly. I know that it is controversial, but I believe that learning about responsible financial management should be a key element in a student's life. I should like more to be done at school, and certainly at university, to encourage young people's understanding of financial management
I was struck by a recent lecture given by Jon Westling, the president elect of Boston university in Massachusetts. In his lecture, Mr. Westling talked about a range of forms of political correctness that are creeping into American academe. He highlighted a student who had sent him a letter saying that she was concerned because she was having difficulty
Of course, I am concerned when there is real hardship, but I do not believe that there is any solid evidence that less well-off students are being deterred from entering higher education by student loans. The hon. Member for Oldham, Central and Royton peddled that line again and when I questioned it, he did not have much to say, except to acknowledge that I was right that the evidence suggests that the proportion of students from social grades A and B has fallen since the introduction of student loans, while there has been a corresponding rise in the proportion of students from C1, C2, D and E backgrounds. It was extraordinary that he referred to that as differences at the margins. I suppose that the Opposition do not take seriously the notion of making education--and quality education at that--accessible to all.
I think I am right that 18 out of the 24 Labour Front-Bench spokesmen were offered their education at grant-maintained, grammar or public schools.
Mr. Gunnell:
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Brandreth:
I will when I have finished this flourish. Given that they are people who have climbed the ladder of opportunity and are ready to kick it away so that others cannot benefit from it, I am not surprised at their line on student loans.
Mr. Gunnell:
The hon. Gentleman talks about the marginal differences mentioned by Labour Members. In considering the figures for social classes, should he not look at the difference that remains between people in social classes A and B, who have access to higher education, and those in social classes D and E? When we talk about differences at the margins, we are talking about eroding the very large gap that currently exists.
Mr. Brandreth:
I want more students, from an ever-broader base, to take part in further and higher education. We can agree on that. I salute the fact that my hon. Friend the Minister and his colleagues are coming up with practical suggestions to deal with the real situation.
It is appalling that the Opposition have had an opportunity today to make some alternative suggestions, but have offered us nothing at all. It is not clear where the Opposition stand. I know that three years ago, at the time of the previous general election, the Labour party was quite clear that it would replace the student loans scheme with a new system for student grants and would offer targeted help for housing and for students during vacations. That was three years ago. I imagine that that commitment has fallen by the wayside.
"in the area of auditory processing".
This young lady, who is called Samantha, warned him that she might fall asleep in his classes and that he should be prepared to fill her in on any material that she missed
while she was dozing. He explained that she had suggested that seriously. He answered that students must learn to overcome some of the challenges that face them. He ended his speech with a rousing cry that I take quite seriously. He said:
"We need to return to students--and to all the members of our societies--the thrilling sense that they are responsible for their own lives."
That is part and parcel of making students and young people realise that there is a price to be paid for a quality education and that that price has to be paid by active citizens. That is one of the incidental reasons why I welcome the measure.
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