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Higher Education

What has happened is that the Government have redefined apprenticeships, so that level 2 qualifications —GCSE-equivalent qualifications—are now also called apprenticeships. If we look simply at level 3-equivalent apprenticeships, which is what apprenticeships used to be—in other words, if we look at apprenticeships that are the equivalent of A-levels—we see that the history of the past 10 years is nothing like what the right hon. Gentleman claims. In reality, there has been a decline in level 3 apprenticeships, which has been offset by the redefinition of level 2 qualifications as apprenticeships. That, I am afraid, is a classic example of this Government failing in the real world but then redefining how their performance is measured so that they appear to be doing better than they really are. However, what I want to focus on, alongside our proposals for new apprenticeship places and more training places at colleges, is the problems that universities will face this summer with the surge in applications and, if anything, a decline in the number of university places. Indeed, it would be interesting if, when the Minister speaks in this debate, he can confirm the figures attributed to the Higher Education Funding Council for England showing that there will be an absolute fall in the number of university places this summer. We have come up with a proposal to bring extra cash into the system to enable this summer's places crisis to be eased, and we have proposed a discount for the earlier repayment of student loans. With £30 billion of student debt outstanding by this summer, we would need only 1 per cent. to be paid back early, bringing in £300 million, to enable us to pay for 10,000 fully funded university places over three years. That would be an attempt to tackle a crisis facing young people this summer before having an opportunity to receive Lord Browne's report, which we hope will put forward proposals for the long-term reform of higher education funding.