Amendment Paper as at
Wednesday 31st March 2004
CONSIDERATION OF BILL
New Amendments handed in are marked thus *
HIGHER EDUCATION BILL, AS AMENDED
NOTE
The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Higher Education Bill (Programme) (No. 4) Motion in the name of Mr Secretary Clarke.
NEW CLAUSES RELATING TO THE GENERAL DUTIES OF THE RELEVANT AUTHORITY FOR THE PURPOSES OF PART 3
General duties of the Director
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Tim Collins
Chris Grayling
Mr Mark Francois
NC1
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) The Director must perform his functions under this Part in such a way as to ensure full access to higher education based upon academic ability and potential.
(2) In performing his functions under this Part the Director shall also have regard to—
| (a) | the desirability of promoting equality of opportunity in connection with access to higher education, |
| (b) | the requirement to maintain the independence of the procedures for the admission of students of individual institutions, and |
| (c) | the desirability of securing that his powers are exercised in such a way as to impose the minimum necessary burdens of cost and compliance with regulation on institutions.'. |
General duties of the relevant authority in relation to Wales
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Tim Collins
Chris Grayling
Mr Mark Francois
NC2
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) The relevant authority in relation to Wales must perform his functions under this Part in such a way as to ensure full access to higher education based upon academic ability and potential.
(2) In performing his functions under this Part the relevant authority in relation to Wales shall also have regard to—
| (a) | the desirability of promoting equality of opportunity in connection with access to higher education , |
| (b) | the requirement to maintain the independence of the procedures for the admission of students of individual institutions, |
| (c) | any guidance given to it by the Assembly, and |
| (d) | the desirability of securing that his powers are exercised in such a way as to impose the minimum necessary burdens of cost and compliance with regulation on institutions.'. |
NEW CLAUSES RELATING TO EXERCISE BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLEY FOR WALES OF FUNCTIONS RELATING TO STUDENT FEES AND STUDENT SUPPORT
Equity in exercise by Assembly of transferred functions in relation to student fees and financial support for students
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Tim Collins
Chris Grayling
Mr Mark Francois
NC3
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) This section applies to any function in relation to student fees or financial support for students that has been transferred to the Assembly by—
| (a) | an Order in Council under section 22 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38), |
(2) In exercising the functions to which this section applies the Assembly must secure that—
| (a) | no relevant institution charges different qualifying fees in respect of a qualifying course on the basis of the relevant area in which a student is normally resident; and |
| (b) | eligibility for any grant, loan or bursary is not determined on the basis of the relevant area in which the student is normally resident. |
(3) In this section—
"normally resident", in relation to a student, means resident at times when not resident at the relevant institution where he is undertaking a course;"qualifying course" has the same meaning as in section 26;"qualifying fees" has the same meaning as in section 26;"relevant area" means—
"relevant institution" has the same meaning as in section 25.'.
Equity in exercise by Assembly of transferred functions in relation to student fees and financial support for students (No. 2)
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Tim Collins
Chris Grayling
Mr Mark Francois
NC4
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) This section applies to any function in relation to student fees or financial support for students that has been transferred to the Assembly by—
| (a) | an Order in Council under section 22 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 (c. 38), |
(2) In exercising the functions to which this section applies the Assembly must secure that—
| (a) | no relevant institution charges different qualifying fees in respect of a qualifying course on the basis of the relevant area in which a student is normally resident; and |
| (b) | eligibility for any grant, loan or bursary is not determined on the basis of the relevant area in which the student is normally resident. |
(3) In this section—
"normally resident", in relation to a student, means resident at times when not resident at the relevant institution where he is undertaking a course;"qualifying course" has the same meaning as in section 26;"qualifying fees" has the same meaning as in section 26;"relevant area" means—
"relevant institution" has the same meaning as in section 25.'.
REMAINING NEW CLAUSES
Abolition of tuition fees chargeable to qualifying student
Mr Tim Yeo
Mr Tim Collins
Chris Grayling
Mr Mark Francois
NC5
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) This section applies to fees charged by a relevant institution in respect of a qualifying course in connection with the undertaking of that course by a qualifying student.
(2) No fees to which this section applies may be charged in respect of any academic year unless regulations under section 22 of the 1998 Act (new arrangements for giving financial support to students) make provision in the case of all qualifying students for authorising a grant in respect of that academic year to be paid directly to the relevant institution the amount of which is equal to the amount of the fees.
(3) In this section—
"academic year", in relation to a course, means an academic year applicable to the course;"qualifying course" means a course which is—
| (a) | a designated course within the meaning of the student support regulations, and |
| (b) | provided by an institution in England within the meaning of section 62 (7) of the 1992 Act; |
"qualifying student" means a person who is of the class specified in Schedule 1 to the student support regulations other than—
| (a) | persons who are not eligible for support under the student support regulations by reason of regulations 4(2) of those regulations, and |
| (b) | persons who are not eligible for a grant for fees under the student support regulations by reason of regulations 10(2) of those regulations; |
"relevant institution" means an institution specified by the Secretary of State in a condition under section 68(1) of the 1992 Act or section 7(1) of the 1998 Act;"the student support regulations" means the Education (Student Support) (No. 2) Regulations 2002 (S.I., 2002/3200).'.
Condition by English funding bodies in relation to fees of prescribed amount
Mrs Anne Campbell
Mr John Grogan
Valerie Davey
Mr Harry Barnes
NC6
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) A condition under this section requires the governing body of the relevant institution—
| (a) | to secure that, in respect of any qualifying course, the qualifying fees in respect of any academic year which begins during the grant period at a time when an English approved plan is in force in relation to the institution are equal to the prescribed amount, |
| (b) | to secure that, in respect of any qualifying course, no qualifying fees are charged in respect of any academic year which begins during the grant period at a time when no English approved plan is in force in relation to the institution, and |
| (c) | to comply with the general provisions of any English approved plan that is in force in relation to the institution during any part of the grant period during which it is in force. |
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—
| (a) | an academic year which begins at the same time as the grant period is to be taken to begin during the grant period, and |
| (b) | an academic year which begins with the day on which an English approved plan comes into force is to be taken to begin at a time when the plan is in force. |
(3) A condition under this section must provide—
| (a) | in the event of a failure by the governing body to comply with the requirement specified in subsection (1)(a)— |
| (i) | where the qualifying fees are equal to the prescribed amount, for the imposition by the funding body on the governing body of any financial requirements required by a direction under section 35(1)(a), and |
| (ii) | where the qualifying fees exceed that amount, for the imposition by the funding body on the governing body of any financial requirements required by a direction under section 35(1)(a) and of other financial requirements determined by the funding body in accordance with principles specified by the Secretary of State in the condition under section 22, |
| (b) | in the event of a failure by the governing body to comply with the requirement specified in subsection (1)(b), for the imposition by the funding body on the governing body of financial requirements determined by the funding body in accordance with principles specified by the Secretary of State in the condition under section 22, and |
| (c) | in the event of a failure by the governing body to comply with the requirement specified in subsection (1)(c), for the imposition by the funding body on the governing body of any financial requirements required by a direction under section 35(1)(a). |
(4) Any financial requirements imposed by virtue of subsection (3) must relate to one or more of the following—
| (a) | the repayment, with or without interest, of the whole or any part of any sums received by the governing body in respect of the grant, loan or other payment in question, |
| (b) | the withdrawal or reduction of any amount that has been awarded but not yet paid in respect of the grant, loan or other payment in question, or |
| (c) | the refusal to award (or to award to the extent expected) any other grant, loan or other payment under section 65 of the 1992 Act or (as the case may be) section 5 of the 1994 Act in respect of the grant period or any subsequent period. |
(5) Where—
| (a) | a condition is imposed under this section in connection with any grants, loans or other payments made to the governing body of a relevant institution, and |
| (b) | those payments are to any extent made in respect of persons undertaking a course which is provided in whole or part by any other institution, |
then, for the purposes of this section, fees payable by such persons to the other institution are to be regarded as fees payable by them to the relevant institution.
(6) The first regulations to be made under subsection (11) prescribing the prescribed amount shall prescribe a single amount, except where subsection (8) applies, in which case a lower amount may be prescribed.
(7) The Secretary of State may not make the first regulations under subsection (11) prescribing the prescribed amount unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.
(8) This subsection applies where the qualifying fees are for—
| (a) | the final academic year of a course where that academic year is normally required to be completed after less than 15 weeks' attendance; |
| (b) | a sandwich course where during an academic year any periods of full-time study are in aggregate less than 10 weeks; |
| (c) | a course of initial training of teachers, including such a course leading to a first degree, where during an academic year any periods of full-time study are in aggregate less than 10 weeks; |
| (d) | a course provided in conjunction with an overseas institution where during an academic year the periods of full-time study are in aggregate less than 10 weeks; |
| (e) | a sandwich course or a course provided in conjunction with an overseas institution where the periods of full-time study at the institution in the United Kingdom are 10 weeks or more, but in respect of the academic year and any previous such academic years the aggregate of any one or more periods of attendance which are not periods of full-time study at the institution (disregarding intervening vacations) exceeds 30 weeks. |
(9) Where regulations under subsection (11) have been made prescribing the prescribed amount no regulations under that subsection may be made increasing that amount unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the increase is no greater than is required to maintain the value of the amount in real terms.
(10) For the purposes of subsection (9) the Secretary of State is to have regard to such index of prices as may be specified in, or determined in accordance with, regulations made by him under this subsection.
(11) In this section—
"academic year", in relation to a course, means an academic year applicable to the course;"funding body" has the same meaning as in section 22;"the grant period" means the period in respect of which the grants, loans, or other payments to which the relevant condition under section 22 relates are made;"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;"the prescribed amount" means the amount prescribed by regulations in accordance with this section;"qualifying course" means a course of any description prescribed for the purposes of this section;"qualifying fees", in relation to a relevant institution, means the fees payable to the institution by a qualifying person in connection with his undertaking a qualifying course;"qualifying person" means a person falling within any class of persons prescribed for the purposes of this section;"relevant institution" has the same meaning as in section 22.'.
