My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 3, standing in my name and the names of my noble friends Lady Wilcox, Lady Thornton and Lord Blunkett. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Evans, for giving his time yesterday to meet to discuss the Bill, and I thank the Minister for her own engagement in correspondence on the Bill.
As my noble friend Lady Wilcox stated in the debate on the previous group of amendments, Labour supports the aspiration in this Bill, and we want the change to work. However, we think that the Bill could be strengthened, and all the amendments we have tabled have the aim of making sure that it succeeds.
Labour wants students to have access to funds and to have a lifelong loan entitlement and the opportunity to learn throughout their careers. I have found the cross-party consensus and debate on aspects of this Bill of great interest, and one of the most compelling points in the debate in Committee was from the noble Lord, Lord Willetts. To paraphrase—and I apologise to him if this is an incorrect interpretation—he stated that one of the main issues for the success of the Bill’s measures will be whether or not those who are thinking about deferring their entitlement believe and trust that the funding will still be there in the future. I think it was a really well-made point. We need enough trust in future Governments keeping the entitlement to ensure that people do not instead decide to use it all at an early stage of their career to ensure they do not lose it, thereby negating part of the point of the Bill.
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Labour believes that reviewing the impact of the Bill on various aspects of higher education and adult learning annually, starting within one year of the rollout of the LLE, would make it more likely that any issues would be identified and more likely to succeed and to be there for the future learning needs and aspirations of students. It might arguably, therefore, improve confidence on the part of students and potential
students in future entitlements. I would welcome the Minister’s view on how the Government intend to carry out reviewing the impact of the Bill in the absence of formal review, as the amendment would provide. How will the Government ensure confidence in the future-proofing of this entitlement?
The amendment would ensure ongoing analysis of the impact of the Bill on higher education uptake, the financial stability of the higher and further education sectors and our current skills gap. The Government’s related announcement on higher education just prior to the Summer Recess was concerning in many ways. It completely reduced the value of the course to graduate salaries, ignoring the wider reasons why we value higher education, and risks higher education provision, often for local people in areas of the country the Government claim they want to level up. The courses and institutions targeted by these changes could seriously impact particular groups, especially disabled students, students from ethnic minorities and those from lower-income backgrounds.
The Minister has pointed to the lifelong loan entitlement as something that can help those seeking flexible and part-time studies or looking to retrain or build further skills, but we absolutely need to ensure that students seeking flexible study are not limited in choice by using this entitlement or how it works in practice. Can she outline how flexible learning will be supported?
It is also essential that the Government ensure that this entitlement does not become simply a fund for employers looking to push training costs back on to their staff; it must be in addition, not instead of. I hope to hear from the Minister on how the Government are working with both prospective students and employers to prevent that, as well as on the other points raised in this debate. I hope the Government will be able to give a very positive response to the amendment, and I beg to move.