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Mr. Touhig: I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we are very fortunate with the current state of the arts and media in Wales. S4C has done a great deal of work in the research and development of animation techniques. We have the international film school at the university of Wales college at Newport. We are outward looking. I have no doubt that my colleagues in Scotland and Northern Ireland take the same view.
Chris Grayling: I am grateful for the Under-Secretary's comments. As with all these things, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I hope that there are the right outcomes, but, as the Under-Secretary well knows, I part company with him over his broader comments. The structure of the Bill relates specifically to the UK—meaning Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Needless to say, the expectation is that the Secretary of State will do England. Some incongruities are created in the devolution settlement when powers are spread out as they are. Having said that, that debate is not for this Bill.
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Given the Minister's reassurances that this is a commissioning power, not a regulatory power, and notwithstanding my anxieties about the ability of the devolved Assemblies to establish bureaucracies alongside the Bill, I hope that it is purely about commissioning research for strategic purposes, therefore I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 10 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 11
Qualifying institutions
Mr. Collins: I beg to move amendment No. 122, in
clause 11, page 5, line 10, leave out paragraph (d).
This is a probing amendment to enable us to discuss the Government's intentions on the scope of the qualifying institutions. We have moved from part 1 to part 2 and it is important to have an early discussion about the Government's provisions relating to a new system for reviewing student complaints. The starting point, as with so much else in the Bill, is the White Paper published a little more than a year ago, which, at paragraph 4.11, states:
''Reforms to give students a greater voice must include providing them with a fair, open, and transparent means of redress when things go wrong''.
We would all agree with that unexceptional statement. It continues:
that was autumn 2002—
''the sector was consulted on the establishment of an independent review of student complaints. The consultation revealed that there was substantial support from HEIs for an independent adjudicator to hear student complaints, and recognition that ultimately legislation would be needed to underpin whatever arrangements were put in place.''
That was the origin of this part of the Bill. The purpose of my amendment, which would delete paragraph (d), is to obtain some clarification from the Under-Secretary on the Government's intentions relating to scope. In a moment we will debate a Liberal Democrat amendment that would cover further education. However, paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) cover universities and constituent colleges, schools or halls in universities, and
''an institution conducted by a higher education corporation''.
We seek clarification from the Under-Secretary about whether the Government wish that provision to relate to higher education and all higher education students, including those who are pursuing HE courses in FE colleges, or whether they are sympathetic, in a way that will become clearer on debating the later amendment, to those who argue for a spread to cover FE more generally. It is important that we are clear about our terms. Early in the White Paper—on the second page—it says:
''The word 'University' is frequently used, for reading ease, as a substitute for 'Higher Education Institution'.''
I am sure that the Under-Secretary does not need to be reminded that many higher education institutions are not universities. It is important that students should be
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clear about whether they have access to this new complaints procedure. I am sure that he will want to address that as and when the measures reach the statute book. However, it would be helpful if, in dealing with our amendment, he could say a word or two about the measures that the Government propose to take—assuming that this part of the Bill reaches the statute book—to publicise the new complaints arrangements and to do so in a way that will enable clarity among students and practitioners of higher education about who is and is not to be covered by the new arrangement.
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The Under-Secretary will recognise that it is important, given that complaints can arise in distressing and urgent circumstances, that there is a great deal of clarity about who under the new arrangement will be the person or institution to whom a student in difficulties should turn. It would be helpful if he commented on whether the Government believe that they will have the full-hearted co-operation of all parts of the higher education sector in setting up the new structure.
The Under-Secretary will know that the phraseology used in the White Paper was carefully chosen, because there is a reference to ''substantial support'' from higher education institutions for an independent adjudicator. I read ''substantial'' as rather less than ''universal.'' Since the clause addresses the coverage of these new institutions, and if there are several institutions, as I suspect there are, that have suggested they are not initially persuaded of the merits of the new proposal, now is an opportunity for the Under-Secretary to explain whether he believes that those institutions will none the less seek to implement with enthusiasm and alacrity both the spirit and the letter of any legislation that Parliament chooses to pass.
In tabling the amendment, we seek clarification from the Under-Secretary on exactly which institutions and students he expects to be covered by the measures. What steps does he intend to take to ensure that all those concerned know where the borderlines are and who is are covered by the new institution as and when it is established?
Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry) (Con): First, may I say that this is the first time I have served under your chairmanship, Mr. Hood, and how pleasant it is? From those sittings that I have been able to attend, the debate has been thoroughly constructive, and I do not intend to spoil that now. I will be speaking very much within the terms of the inquiries of my hon. Friend the Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale.
On this rather narrow amendment, it would probably be inappropriate to stray too far into the overall scope and remit of the adjudicator. I have already indicated my respect for Dame Ruth Deech, whom I know personally as well as professionally. She is an immensely able person. My worries about the clause are not conceptual but relate to the fact that
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there should be adequate resources to meet the work load, especially bearing in mind the fact that everyone must bed down with the system to start with. The office should not bite off more than it can chew. I have some reservations about scope if we are moving into further education colleges.
There are interesting definitional issues, which the Under-Secretary will need to clarify, about which students are covered. For example, not only is approximately 11 per cent. of the higher education student body resident in further education or franchised institutions, but there are people in higher education institutions at universities who are not doing higher education work: they are doing further education, mixed or short-term courses. It is important to clarify that.
The clause also relates to the institutions themselves, because not every institution has a unitary structure. Oxford and Cambridge notoriously have collegiate structures, and issues of liability may need to be considered. Something occurred to me only this afternoon, which I have not had time to check, about some legislation on student unions that I was involved in—it works, incidentally, much better than anyone had anticipated. We perhaps need to know whether the range of the adjudicator's coverage extends to complaints about student unions, which are part of the university but are not run by it.
There may be other issues, for example, with regard to a contractor who works for the university, but is not part of its establishment, whose conduct has damaged, or allegedly damaged, an individual. Those are beginning to sound like lawyerly points, which I am not qualified to expatiate on, but Ministers must give thought to how this measure will work in practice. That is my major concern.
The subsidiary concern is that we should explore the areas that are covered by this provision. As I understand it, it is not a matter of first instance. It is a question of advising students to use the domestic complaints procedure of the institution itself, and to take it on to a higher level only if they are dissatisfied. I mention that, because I had recent parliamentary question and answer exchanges with the Under-Secretary about the old student charter. He quite reasonably—I was not offended by this—said that it had in effect fallen into desuetude. That is the technical phrase that I think we should use. The charter had been discontinued, and it was up to institutions to do their own thing. In one sense, that may well be right. Nevertheless, this measure is imposing an element of central control, or at least accountability on the system. The Under-Secretary needs to explain the relationship between those.
The other area that chimes in with that concerns the various jurisdictions—with regard not only to level and institution but to type of complaint. I do not imagine that Dame Ruth and her staff will be terribly keen to examine issues such as the temperature of the pizza, or whether there were two added toppings in the university refectory. That would be facetious and inappropriate.
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However, rather more seriously, the Under-Secretary needs to walk the Committee through the type of complaints that are appropriate to be referred to the adjudicator, those that are entirely proper to the academic world and how they are to be dispatched—because they are precluded from the Bill—and those that might relate to the courts. They might relate to the law of contract—and I seek, perhaps, the advice and support of my hon. Friend the Member for Hertsmere (Mr. Clappison) in this—and whether there is a proper case for a student to sue a university. I realise that even—
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