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Welsh Affairs

The Minister denies that she ever said that. Intervention by Labour Assembly Members and Members of Parliament in north Wales has clarified the position. Later, I will discuss the Conservative position, which will be interesting for my constituents to learn. I have also heard concerns about the role of Health Commission Wales, which is responsible for determining specialist services and access to specialist services. Those concerns have also been recognised by the Welsh Assembly Government, who are conducting an inquiry into that body. As the hon. Member for Clwyd, West (Mr. Jones) said yesterday at Welsh questions, the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign has expressed its concerns about difficulties in securing access to treatment for individuals for services based in England. We must recognise that our system of health care is not separate from that in England and that we have a devolved system. We must develop working protocols to facilitate access to health care on the basis of need, when such care is best delivered across the border. Sometimes such protocols will be complex, but it will not be impossible. We must also address the issue of a postcode lottery within the NHS. That involves more than Wales having different policies from England, because different primary care trusts in England have different policies. We need a policy across our national health service that the prescription of drugs for serious conditions and the treatment of serious conditions should be determined on a UK-wide basis, and such a policy should be agreed by the Labour party in all parts of the United Kingdom. Another policy area also requires a UK-wide approach. The issue was apparent in the previous Parliament, and it will be much discussed in the years to come. At present, however, this is the calm before the storm. In 2009, the UK Government are committed to reviewing the impact of the Higher Education Act 2004, which introduced variable tuition fees for England and devolved higher education funding to Wales. I opposed the measure at the time, because I am against variable tuition fees and because the higher education system in Wales is too small to operate without regard to the system in England. That is the matter on which I fundamentally disagreed with my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath. The system of student finance in the United Kingdom is hugely complex. In fact, it is more accurate to say that we have three separate systems for Wales, for England and for Scotland. For a student from Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government will pay the difference between the basic tuition fee and the increased fee permitted under the Higher Education Act 2004. It is therefore cheaper for a student from Wales to attend a university in Wales than one in England. I object to this policy in principle. It limits student choice, and it discourages students from choosing a course on the basis of which university and course is best for them. [Interruption.] Is the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) indicating from a sedentary position that he is in favour of limiting the access of students from Wales to universities in England and Scotland? If so, that is interesting. I believe, on the contrary, that education is about broadening the mind, not narrowing it. Devolution of higher education funding to Wales was based on a false premise. Interestingly, it was repeated by the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) in evidence he recently gave to the Justice Committee—he was discussing tuition fees, although he was referring to Scotland at the time. The false premise is that it is possible to have separate higher education systems in the different nations of the United Kingdom. The right hon. and learned Gentleman offered the following example. He said that Scottish Members voted in the tuition fees debate and the Bill was carried only because of their votes, and he maintained that they were not affected by the introduction of that legislation relating to England. That is simply not correct, as what happens to the university sector in England is of profound consequence to the university sector in Scotland—that is currently a matter of great debate in Scotland. Equally, there is great concern within the higher education sector in Wales that it will receive less finance in future because of the funding system in Wales and the fact that its funding might not be the same as that provided in England. In 2009, the review to be instituted under the assurances given when the Higher Education Act 2004 was debated will begin. At that time, consideration will be given as to whether to raise the current cap of £3,000. If it is raised—let us say, for argument's sake, to £5,000—there will be a further shortfall in the funding for Welsh higher education institutions, which the Welsh Assembly Government will need to fill if they are to maintain their policy. That is the train that is coming down the tracks but which everyone is ignoring at present. It is an issue of profound consequence not only to the higher education sector, but to Wales as a country and to the future of Wales. As we have heard, it is important that education and training is at the heart of what Wales will be about over the next few years, because if it is not we will be unable to compete with the developing economies in the rest of the world.