| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Tuition Fees
7. Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has to charge students in higher education for all or part of their tuition fees; and if he will make a statement. [8602]
Mr. Blunkett: I refer the hon. Member to the statement that I made in the House yesterday.
Mr. Willis: Does the Secretary of State agree that his announcement yesterday about students paying for tuition fees will not put money into our universities immediately? Does he agree with Sir Ron Dearing's analysis that, to try to combat the 6.5 per cent. deficit over the next two years, which is the legacy of the previous Administration, he will need to find £100 million for next year and £250 million for the following year, simply to stand still? If the right hon. Gentleman agrees with Sir Ron, will he guarantee to provide that funding?
Mr. Blunkett: I agree with the hon. Gentleman that there is a shortfall and that it arises from the previous Government's settlement for higher education in the next two years. As part of the fundamental spending review undertaken by the Government, we shall address how best to meet that deficit and how to ensure that, between now and the resumption of a revenue stream for higher and further education, we can sustain standards and quality.
Mr. Gunnell: I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the way in which he presented the issue of fees and maintenance yesterday. In particular, I thank him for the way in which he made plain his intention that no one would be prevented from undertaking higher education by these charges. He gave the limits for qualifying home income for places that would be provided free of cost. Will the household income of current part-time students who receive pay be looked at on the same basis? Has any thought been given to whether part-time students will be eligible for student loans?
Mr. Blunkett: I thank my hon. Friend for his remarks. As I said yesterday, we need to examine how equity between full and part-time students can be obtained. We will consider that as part of the development of the White Paper in the autumn. Those considerations will include the disregards against the gross income of a family or individual, which include at the moment the discounting of mortgage but not rent, and the discounting of some forms of domestic help. It will cause great disquiet to the House when it realises that those discounts are provided against gross income, and it will want us to deal with such anomalies, as well as with the general thrust of my statement yesterday.
Mr. Dorrell: Following yesterday's statement, will the Secretary of State confirm that, under his proposals, the loan available to an individual student will be equivalent to the total amount of loan and grant currently available to that individual student, plus an enhancement that would be sufficient to pay the means-tested tuition fee that he proposes to introduce? If that is the position, is it not true that any increase in resources for higher education during the next three years--the length of a course for students starting from next September--would have to come from extra public expenditure or publicly guaranteed expenditure in the form of loan disbursements? Given everything that he said yesterday about the importance of his proposals in releasing new resources for higher education, will he now be more specific about what he plans in terms of extra resources for British universities?
Mr. Blunkett: I am happy to answer the right hon. Gentleman's questions, especially as he has put them more gently than he did yesterday. With one addition--that, for those with hardship, there will be a supplementary loan available of £250 a year--I can confirm that his figures are correct. In the first year--if we are in a position to implement the proposals from next September--we would raise around £125 million. That would be displaced by the introduction of the loan scheme. It will therefore be necessary to consider additional resources in the light of my reply to the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Mr. Willis).
Young People (Assistance)
8. Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in what ways he will ensure that options offered to young unemployed people are suited to their individual needs. [8603]
The Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Disability Rights (Mr. Andrew Smith): The individual needs and circumstances of every eligible young person will be addressed in the up to four months gateway period before they start a new deal option. The Employment Service will work in partnership with professionals and agencies to ensure that young people receive independent careers advice and help in tackling particular social and other problems that are holding them back from training or work.
Fiona Mactaggart: I thank my right hon. Friend for his reply. I commend to him a partnership that already exists in Slough, led by Mars and other local companies and engineered by our local authority, which is beginning
to provide opportunities very like those to be provided by the welfare-to-work programme. What has been a concern among that group, however, is that the Employment Service was very reluctant to join the partnership. How will he ensure that the Employment Service does work with other partners to ensure the quality of experience for each individual, because the policy will require a major cultural change in the Employment Service, which has been not about providing services to individuals but about meeting phoney targets?
Mr. Smith: I was interested to learn of the initiative in my hon. Friend's constituency. We want to build on the best practice that is already out there in terms of partnership to help young and long-term unemployed people. My hon. Friend is right to say that successful delivery of the new deal in partnership does involve a change in the task that the Employment Service was given by the previous Administration. It means a culture shift. That is accepted by the people who work for the Employment Service, and a programme is being driven forward by the chief executive. The Under-Secretary, my hon. Friend the Member for Newport, East (Mr. Howarth), and I have addressed meetings of employment centre staff throughout the country to ensure that they are fully engaged in the shift that is needed to ensure that the Employment Service helps our young people to take the great opportunities that will be offered in the new deal.
Mr. Öpik: What consideration has been given to ensuring that young unemployed people in the countryside are successfully included in the scheme, thereby reducing the immense pressures on young people to move from the countryside into cities in search of work?
Mr. Smith: As well as the 27 regional consultation meetings which are being held by the end of the first week in August, there will be local consultation meetings in September and October in each locality so that we can ensure that the new deal design is sensitive to the needs of the client group in the areas in which the programmes are carried forward. The pathfinder districts where the new deal will start early, in January, will include rural areas to ensure that we learn from that experience.
Information Technology
9. Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to ensure that information technology is used effectively for adult learning. [8604]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Dr. Kim Howells): We are increasing information and advice to employers. In addition, the new university for industry will encourage and develop a wide range of learning opportunities, including many that are information technology based.
Mr. Thomas: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his reply. Does he agree that, if we are to use information technology effectively in adult education, we must also increase support and training to teachers and further education lecturers? If he does agree, can he explain to the House how he intends to increase teacher confidence in exploiting technology to meet student needs?
Dr. Howells: My hon. Friend will be glad to know that I met the Teacher Training Agency this morning to
discuss this subject, and I was encouraged by its enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge on the use of information technology in schools for education. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is discussing with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport how best to deploy lottery money in order to fund the Teacher Training Agency for the use of IT. We recognise that it is crucial if we are to make a success of this great boon to learning.
Mr. Keetch: Is the Minister aware of the concern among many employers at the lack of IT training on courses for national vocational qualifications? Given that IT is now part and parcel of almost every profession, what measures are the Government taking to increase the IT element in such courses?
Dr. Howells: The hon. Gentleman is quite right to say that IT is at the centre of so many disciplines. I was shocked to discover the appalling mess in which the previous Government left the IT sector after 18 years. It was a total shambles and was very patchy. I suspect that that is because most of the previous Ministers did not know how to turn on a computer.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |