My Lords, I would like to express to your Lordships how delighted I am that the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill is finalising its passage through this House. This Bill is a significant moment in transforming access to post-18 education and skills as the next step toward the introduction of the lifelong loan entitlement.
I thank noble Lords for their valuable scrutiny and input throughout the Bill’s passage in this place. I express my particular thanks to Members on the Front Benches, including the noble Baronesses, Lady Twycross, Lady Wilcox of Newport, Lady Thornton and Lady Garden of Frognal, and the noble Lords, Lord Storey and Lord Addington, for their positive engagement and overall support for the principles behind the Bill, as well as for their thoughtful scrutiny and constructive contributions. The debates have been engaging and we have benefited significantly from the deep expertise in this House.
I pay particular thanks to those former Education Ministers and Secretaries of State who provided us with their insight. They include the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, and my noble friends Lord Willetts and Lord Johnson of Marylebone.
I thank the many other noble Lords who took part in the debates and who have a wealth of knowledge across higher and further education, including honorary fellows, visiting professors and members of many of this country’s brilliant universities and colleges. I am also grateful to those leaders in universities and colleges who shared their insights with me about the potential
for the Bill, the learning from the pilots and what is needed to make the Bill have a material impact once it becomes law.
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Our debates in this House have brought to light a number of areas in which we are all united. It is clear that we are aligned in our desire to create an efficient and flexible system, bring higher education and further education closer together, and make it easier for people to get the skills they need which could transform their lives—whether that might be studying flexibly, training part-time when working, or undertaking a short course more suited to their circumstances.
I reiterate the significance of the Bill and the LLE in driving a transformative impact on post-18 education. The LLE will become the route for people who require student finance for levels 4 to 6 study across higher and further education. In introducing the LLE, we want to do as much as possible to make it accessible and affordable for the most disadvantaged. The Government are committed to the delivery of this programme from 2025 and are working closely with partners and the wider sector to make this happen.
In relation to the specific points raised on Report, I again reassure noble Lords that this Government are committed to monitoring the impact of these measures on the transformation of student finance under the LLE. I also reiterate that the Government do not intend to change the number of learning hours in a credit unless standards in the sector change. Learning hours are, and should continue to be, based on sector-led standards. Finally, I assure your Lordships that the Government remain committed to delivering an alternative student finance product compatible with Islamic finance principles as soon as operationally possible after 2025, and we will provide a further update later this year.
I extend my thanks to the team of officials at the Department for Education, in the Bill team so ably led by Charlotte Rushworth, in the LLE policy team, our legal advisers, analysts and all officials involved in preparing this Bill for introduction for their support, not least from my private office, in engaging fully with your Lordships’ scrutiny. I would also like to recognise the clerks and officials in Parliament for their diligent work in supporting the Bill’s passage through this place. In particular, my thanks go to the noble Baroness, Lady Wolf, for her vision in the development of this policy.
While the Bill is the culmination of a large amount of work over a number of years, it is also the foundation of much work that is still to come. I look forward to continuing to discuss these important issues with your Lordships in future. There is no one in this House, or in the other place, who would disagree with the principles behind this programme, and, regardless of Governments to come, that is something we should continue to work with and build upon.