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Higher Education

No. I want to make some progress. I want to hear from the Minister—indeed, from both Ministers—a bit more information about what is happening now to our college and apprenticeship provision. First, will the Minister confirm that, according to the most recent estimates that have been reported and according to the Government's own plans, there will be 6,000 fewer university places this summer than last year? Secondly, will the Minister explain why, when I visited Derby college last week, I was told that it was unable to offer as many engineering courses leading to higher national diplomas—an important form of practical training—as it had in the past, because all the money was being spent on foundation degrees? That is a classic example of the way in which the Government work. They transfer the funding for vocational qualifications such as HNDs and higher school certificates to new initiatives such as foundation degrees. That may be worthwhile in a sense, but it will be done at the cost of fewer opportunities for people to work towards qualifications that already well recognised and well understood. Will the Minister explain the following? Students from a sixth-form college approached me recently to say that they had embarked on a two-year A-level course and that at the end of their first year, while doing their AS-level, they had been told that, because of funding pressures, it would not be possible for them to complete their course with a second year and so get the full A-level. The college said that the AS-level was a qualification in its own right and that, sadly, it was no longer able to provide the second year of that A-level course. Does the Minister believe that that is happening in sixth-form colleges or elsewhere in the country and does he have any proposals to tackle the problem? Will the Minister also confirm that there are significant pressures on the unit of resource of universities? Although he has been strangely reluctant to confirm this figure, does he agree that the Higher Education Funding Council for England grant letter of 22 December 2009 made it perfectly clear that the planned unit of funding, which was set at £4,140 at the beginning of the public expenditure period, had, in constant prices, fallen by 2007-08 to £3,950, a reduction of £190? We fully understand that times are tight and that very tough decisions need to be taken, and we cannot pretend that all these reductions in provision can be avoided, but we believe Ministers should come to this House and give a coherent overall explanation of what their public expenditure cuts mean for colleges and universities. Instead, we have a drip, drip, drip of information—yet another announcement and yet another bit of a budget cut somewhere. The reductions in funding and provision are undertaken without any proper public explanation of what is being done or why. That makes it much harder for colleges and universities to adjust for the tougher public spending regime, because Ministers never stand up at the Dispatch Box and level with them in a coherent manner about what they should bank on in the medium term because times are so tight. We call Ministers to this House time and again because, above all, what we want from them is a coherent and clear statement of what they are planning and why. It is good to see that the Liberal Democrat spokesman, the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Stephen Williams), is present, because I must say that his party really does not do much better. In a previous debate on this subject, I spoke about the extraordinary history of Liberal Democrat policy on tuition fees. I am sure that he will understand why I want to return to that fascinating subject. I have been looking at "Liberal Democrat Voice", the website on which we can follow the details of Liberal Democrat policy. When I printed out the relevant policy document from it, I was amazed to see that it began by saying that this was the first page of 842 pages, although I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that 837 of those 842 pages are blank. Only five pages contain any statements on Liberal Democrat policy, although, to be accurate, there are two pages describing the policy, followed by a fascinating set of comments. One of them is from someone who gives their name as "Norman Lamb 4 Leader", and it states that the latest Liberal Democrat proposal, which is somehow to abolish tuition fees within six years, is a""Good idea but then how will the LDs fund universities in the future?"" That is a rather good question. We would all like to know how the Liberal Democrat spokesman believes universities should be funded in the future if that income were ever to be sacrificed—although we also know that he no longer believes he can do that in the lifetime of a Parliament. There was another comment from a man called Tim Leunig, whom I know. He is an academic—at the London School of Economics, I think—and he follows the subject closely. His comment on this public forum is:""So how will univs be funded? Or is the LD policy to slash the quantity of tuition—Mickey Mouse degrees for all? As it stands"—" we must remember that Tim Leunig is a Liberal Democrat policy adviser—""this policy is as sensible as the old Soviet trick of cutting the price of bread—how will you pay for it?"" Even on the Liberal Democrats' own website, people are raising serious questions about how their policy is to be paid for and what it means for universities and students. We Conservatives did not like fees, of course, but now that they are generating revenues for universities, what the Liberal Democrats have to explain is what happens to the funding of universities and what happens to the quality of the student experience if that source of funding is removed. They cannot have it both ways. They have given up on any credible claim that they can abolish fees in the lifetime of a Parliament. They now say that, for some miraculous reason we have never fully understood, it can be achieved within six years, but they have never explained where the money is coming from. I very much hope that when the hon. Gentleman comes to speak, he will give us the latest stage in that fascinating saga of the development of Liberal Democrat policy.