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The Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education (Dr. Kim Howells): I beg to move,
To leave out from 'policies,' to end and add 'a point which was repeatedly made clear during the passage of the Higher Education Act 2004 and is now enshrined in that legislation; notes that the
- Opposition opposed the passage of that Act; welcomes the annual publication of the higher education performance indicators which enable institutions to reflect on their own position; abhors the recent misinterpretation of those indicators as targets or quotas linked to funding; agrees that admissions to higher education should always be based on merit; further welcomes the recent report from Professor Schwartz on fair admissions to higher education; agrees that it is for institutions themselves to decide how to implement the Schwartz principles; supports the Government's policies to widen participation in higher education and open access for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with the potential to benefit; congratulates the Government and the higher education sector on the steps they are taking to achieve this goal; notes that the most powerful driver of increased participation is to raise standards in schools; commends the new student support arrangements which will make higher education free at the point of use and fair at the point of repayment; further commends the establishment of the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) which will result in more financial support for students and more outreach work to boost applications from under-represented groups; and further notes that universities' admissions policies will be outside OFFA's remit.'.
I am delighted that we have the opportunity to debate this issue and that I am able to respond to the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Mr. Collins), who I thought made a good fist of his argument until his final rant, which was full of silliness and an avalanche of cliché. I welcome the opportunity because so much has been said about Government interference in university admissions, much of which has been entirely wrong. Considering that we have recently had a number of debates on higher education, I am concerned that the hon. Gentleman still labours under so many misconceptions. Like others whose job it is to feign outrage, fill newspaper columns and feed the open maws of radio and television, the hon. Gentleman should know that it is a little inconvenient to let facts get in the way of a good story, but I prefer facts to misconceptions. I am therefore pleased to have the chance to set things straight today, and I know that he will welcome that.
The first misconception is that the Government want to tell universities how to manage their admissions process. Nothing could be further from the truth. Admissions should—[Interruption.] Hon. Members should listen for a moment. Admissions should and will remain the sole responsibility of institutions. It is for universities and colleges to decide whom they admit and how they do it. We made that clear when we published our consultation document on widening participation in April 2003, and we have said the same thing ever since.
The second misconception is that the Government set targets and quotas to dictate how many students from low-income families, state schools and deprived areas each university must accept. It has even been said that universities are penalised if they do not meet those quotas. Nothing could be further from the truth. That myth has wafted around ill-informed circles in the aftermath of the publication of the Higher Education Statistics Agency, or HESA—
Dr. Howells:
Perhaps that is a better pronunciation. As I was saying, that myth arose in the aftermath of the publication of the HESA performance indicators, despite the fact that HESA and the Higher Education Funding Council for England have stated that the numbers do not represent quotas, or even targets. They
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are simply a barometer measuring where universities are in terms of access, and where they could be, all things being equal.
Mr. Robert Jackson (Wantage) (Con): I welcome the Minister's comments, but does he think it sensible of HEFCE and HESA to have changed from using A-levels as the comparator to using the Universities and Colleges and Admissions Service tariff points, which include GNVQs and AS-levels alongside A-levels, as a measure for university entrants? Does he not think that they should reconsider that decision?
Dr. Howells: I wish that those bodies had told me about those figures before publishing them. They came as a surprise to the hon. Gentleman and they certainly came as a surprise to me. Many universities have done a great deal of good work to meet the previous benchmarks and targets, and the change took everyone by surprise. I will be interested in seeing the reasons for it.
The performance indicator figures were developed six years ago by the universities and the funding council as a tool to inform institutions of their relative position compared with their peers. They are published once a year and it is up to universities to decide how to use them. The Government do not force any university to meet them, nor do the Government have any other form of access quota or target.
Far from seeking to impose admissions targets and quotas, we are in absolute agreement with the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale that students must be admitted to university solely on the basis of merit and potential. The challenge facing universities and colleges is how to measure that. That is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills asked Professor Steven Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Brunel university, to lead an independent review of the options that English universities and colleges should consider when admitting students. Professor Schwartz's group included members from both higher education and schools. It consulted extensively and produced a set of principles and guidelines by the sector, for the sector. That is why its recommendations have been so widely welcomed and supported, including by Universities UK and the Standing Conference of Principals.
The Schwartz report is not a way for the Government or OFFA to interfere with university admissions by the back door. It is a set of guiding principles—developed by the sector itself—that will help institutions to admit students in a fair and transparent way.
Peter Bottomley (Worthing, West) (Con): I do not want to dispute what the Secretary of State is saying on that at the moment. Earlier, it was said that in effect there are no punishments. Why is it that Northbrook college in my constituency is being penalised financially for what is called under-performing because it would not admit people who it did not think could benefit from the courses on offer?
Dr. Howells:
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will give me some details on that. I do not know about that case but I will look at it for him.
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The third misconception is that OFFA will have a remit over admissions or will somehow try to interfere with universities' admissions policies. I want to reassure the House that this is not true. I am delighted that Sir Martin Harris has accepted the role as the new director of OFFA. In Martin Harris, I am confident that the Secretary of State has appointed someone who respects institutional autonomy and understands very clearly the great importance of raising the educational aspirations of those young people from lower income families and of encouraging them, and those who teach them, to consider applying for entry to university. I was encouraged to hear the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale say just that, as I was pleased to hear it said by others who intervened on him. It is precisely what we have to do. We must raise the level of aspiration. I know that the poverty that we suffer from in my constituency is not economic poverty. There are poor families in the constituency, but there is a general poverty of aspirations, such as aiming for the best universities and the best education for those young people.
Mr. Patrick McLoughlin (West Derbyshire) (Con): Bearing in mind the Minister's clarifications, will he remind the House of OFFA's budget?
Dr. Howells: As I recall, the budget for OFFA will be about £500,000 a year. I will get some details on that for the end of the debate for the hon. Gentleman.
We have heard some quotes from Sir Martin Harris, and I will give the House two more. He said very clearly:
"Access to university must be on merit (including aptitude) alone."
"Universities are autonomous. Parliament has frequently upheld this principle . . . and we surrender it at our peril."
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will take some strength from that.
Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East) (Con): I listened carefully to what the Minister just said. He said that entry would be on merit including aptitude. That suggests that merit will have to be calculated by other factors as well as aptitude and that those other factors might overrule aptitude. What consideration have the Government given to the famous Bakke case in America? It was a defining case where somebody was refused admission to an institute of higher education and then discovered that he had scored higher marks than someone who had been given a place. The courts in America, in a keynote ruling, decided that that was an invasion of the individual's rights and instructed that that must never happen again.
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