My Lords, I can be quite brief. This is a bit of a fishing expedition—I am sorry, I should recall that: it is a probing amendment. The point of it is that we have to anticipate how new providers will enter the market and what sort of form and format they will take. This is not an acknowledgement going back to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Neill, about what these bodies are and how they are constituted, but it raises the same issues.
We already have at least one relatively new provider, whose ownership is quite clearly based outside the UK, and the question arises whether the change of ownership could raise any questions about previous decisions taken by the regulator or other body in respect of the degree-awarding powers or the register to which this institution might be attached. We do not know the answer to that yet, because the situation has not yet emerged, but it raises issues about probity and the ability of an institution to survive, if the ownership places new restrictions on it.
9.45 pm
While we are still stuck with—in the words of the noble Lord, Lord Willetts—the old trustee model, no doubt these things could probably be arranged, because the whole point of these trustee or charitable-type approaches is that they have longevity and create a stable environment. However, if we are moving to a situation where perhaps a private equity company is in ownership and it may well have different motives for operating and owning an operation, then questions arise. I look forward to the Minister’s response, to see whether there is anything there that we might wish to return to. I beg to move.