Annex: Letter from the Chairman of the
Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee to the
Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills
WITHDRAWAL OF FUNDING FOR ELQS
The Committee has considered the Government's Response
to its Report on the withdrawal of funding for ELQs. We shall
publish the Response as a Special Report next week. The Committee
was, however, uneasy about the tone of the Government's Response.
In particular, we were concerned that the Government in justifying
its stance on our key recommendations ascribes views to the Committee
which are not in our Report.
We concluded that where resources were switched in
line with the Government's priorities, it had a responsibility
to demonstrate that there was unmet demand and that the reallocation
produced outcomes in line with the policy (paragraph 12 of the
Report). In the Response the Government expresses itself surprised
"by the apparent implication that there is no-one of working
age who would benefit from a university education who is not currently
getting one". At no point in the Report did we make such
an assertion. As we made clear in the Report, the Government
has to show convincing evidence that the re-allocation of the
resources will meet its policy objective to encourage more suitably
qualified individuals to start higher education for the first-time.
In the absence of research on, or any analysis of, the groups
to whom the redirected resources are targeted, we could not see
how the Government is certain that the funds taken from ELQ fees
will meet their intended purpose efficiently or effectively (paragraph
23). We are disappointed that the Government should not have accepted
what appears to us to be an axiomatic principle of good government—that
the re-allocation of resources to meet a policy should be underpinned
with evidence that it will change the behaviour of individuals
or groups as the Government intends—and sought to bolster
its position with an erroneous construction of the Committee's
position.
The Committee is pleased that the Government acknowledges
that it made a mistake in not supplying us with a memorandum at
the start of our inquiry into ELQs. Some of the material supplied
in the Government's Response would have been of assistance to
us had it been supplied during our inquiry. We are grateful for
the assurance that the department will provide written submissions
for our future inquiries.
We shall publish this letter as an annex to the Special
Report.
June 2008
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