Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I chair an advisory group on how we can develop and deliver the lifelong learning entitlement, which is well attended by vice-chancellors. I talk about the opportunities for lifelong learning whenever I get the chance.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, we support the Government’s White Paper objective that higher education reforms will drive economic growth. But that will work only if degrees benefit both students and the taxpayer. Does the Minister agree that there are currently too many degrees which contribute to neither growth nor positive outcomes?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Although the noble Earl did not revert to the language that some of his colleagues have used about university degrees, I share the view that, if we are expecting both young people and the state to invest in higher education, it needs to be of high quality. That is why I support the Office for Students in its current work to have a better definition of “quality” for higher education courses and why we have made it clear that we will want to link future increases in tuition fees to that measure of quality.