Higher Education: Funding

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara Excerpts

Thursday 8th January 2015 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Stevenson of Balmacara]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the long-term sustainability of higher education funding in the United Kingdom.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

My Lords, participation in higher education has huge benefits for both student and state, and that is why the English higher education funding system shares the cost of study. The system of grants and government-subsidised student loans, which are based on income-contingent repayment, has enabled us to maintain student numbers, and universities now have a sustainable income stream. In 2014, we have had record participation rates both for 18 year-olds and for disadvantaged students.

[Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that full reply. I thought that she would simply refer me to the Answer that she gave on 15 December to a very similar Question from her noble friend the noble Lord, Lord Sharkey. I have read the OECD report that she quoted on that occasion—in fact, she quoted it three times—to support her assertion that the coalition Government have a sustainable system of higher education funding. On page 261 of that report, the OECD notes:

“Since 2009, further changes have been made to tuition fees and public support systems”,

in the United Kingdom.

“However, the data presented here … do not reflect these more recent changes”.

In other words, since the tripling of university fees, the elimination of HEFCE’s teaching grant and the introduction of punitive interest rates for student loans, the OECD has actually made no statement about the sustainability or otherwise of the coalition Government’s present HE funding system, and it is surely disingenuous of Ministers to assert otherwise. In the light of this, would the Minister confirm that her quote was taken out of context from the OECD report, apologise for misleading this House and withdraw the comments that she made on behalf of the Government on 15 December?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, to say that a Minister is misleading the House is quite a strong thing to say and should definitely be backed up by facts. I refer the noble Lord to a comment by Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills, two days ago in an article, where he said that,

“the UK offers still the most scalable and sustainable approach to university finance”.

I wonder whether the noble Lord might in fact withdraw his comments.