Topical Questions

Question: The student fee assumption, which is the amount that the LSC assumes FE colleges will collect from adult students in training, is rising steadily. Will the Secretary of State undertake to keep that level under review, given falling family and company budgets?

Answer: I understand my hon. Friend's point, which has been raised by colleges. We always keep such matters under review, but I have two points to add. The performance of colleges in recovering fees varies widely and some are much more effective than others. I would be worried about pursuing a course of action that effectively penalised those colleges that take fee recovery seriously in order to reward those that have not previously focused on it in the way they might have done. We can continue to discuss that issue, but we need to be careful about doing anything that may have untoward consequences.

Secondary information