University Tuition Fee Cap raise to £6,000 — 14 Dec 2010 at 19:56

Lord Bichard voted against raising the tuition fee cap to £6,000 per year for courses for which there are no plans in place to promote access and student finance information.

The majority of Lords voted against raising the "basic" tuition fee cap to £6,000 per year. The "basic" cap applies to courses for which there are no plans in place to promote access and student finance information.

Technically the vote was on changing the motion before the house from:

to:

  • This House
  • regrets that the Government has failed to consult adequately with parents, students, higher education bodies, employers and local authorities on raising student tuition fees and to convince many people of the fairness and sustainability of its proposals for funding higher education;
  • urges the Government to undertake more public consultation on the issue, including consultation with future graduates and their families who did not contribute to the consultation over the Browne review;
  • further considers that there should be an independent impact assessment on (a) the financial consequences of the proposed fees on students from both lower and middle income families, and (b) the financial consequences of the proposed fees on women, including a full assessment of the impact of the fees on equalities and fairness, and further calls on Her Majesty's Government to commission new research to analyse the probable impact on demand for university courses of fees being increased to the range of £6,000 to £9,000 per annum from students from lower and middle income families and women; and
  • further considers that, prior to contemplating any increase to the basic amount specified in section 24 of the Education Act 2004, the Government should publish a White Paper on reform of higher education funding, allowing for consultation and for consideration of alternative proposals.

The draft regulations[1] set the "basic amount" under section 24 of the 2004 Higher Education Act[2] at £6,000. That is the maximum fee an institution can charge in the absence of a plan under section 33 of the 2004 Higher Education Act[3]. Such plans require institutions to set out how they are to promote awareness of financial and access arrangements for the course, and with such a plan institutions can charge up to £9,000 per year. (This division was preceded by another vote which raised the overall tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year.[4])

The "plans" referred to in the legislation are the documents known as "access agreements" by the "Office for Fair Access". Access agreements can be viewed on the OfFA website[5].

Ministerial guidance as to the content of the plans has been issued.[6]

The regulations passed included provisions to cap tuition fees at £3,000 per year for final years and sandwich course years where there is a shorter than usual amount of attendance required at the institution.

There was also a the vote vote in the House of Commons on the same Statutory Instrument required for setting the basic university fee to £6,000 per year.

Debate in Parliament | Source |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (Not-Content)Minority (Content)Turnout
Bishop0 28.0%
Con166 (+1 tell) 083.5%
Crossbench49 2740.4%
DUP0 250.0%
Independent Labour0 1100.0%
Lab0 167 (+2 tell)70.4%
LDem59 (+1 tell) 578.3%
Non-affiliated1 05.9%
UKIP2 0100.0%
UUP0 133.3%
Total:277 20563.7%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

Lords for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible lord who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Party | Vote

NamePartyVote
Lord Adebowale Crossbenchaye
Baroness Afshar Crossbenchaye
Lord Alton of LiverpoolCrossbenchaye
Lord Bilimoria Crossbenchaye
The Earl of ClancartyCrossbenchaye
Baroness Coussins Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Eames Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Elystan-Morgan Crossbenchaye
Lord Freyberg Crossbenchaye
Baroness Greenfield Crossbenchaye
Baroness Grey-Thompson Crossbenchaye
Lord Harries of PentregarthCrossbench (front bench)aye
Baroness Hollins Crossbenchaye
Lord Jay of EwelmeCrossbenchaye
Lord Kilclooney Crossbenchaye
Lord Krebs Crossbench (front bench)aye
The Earl of ListowelCrossbenchaye
Lord Low of DalstonCrossbench (front bench)aye
Lord May of OxfordCrossbench (front bench)aye
Baroness Meacher Crossbenchaye
Baroness O'Loan Crossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Ouseley Crossbenchaye
Lord Patel of BradfordCrossbench (front bench)aye
Baroness Prashar Crossbenchaye
Lord Rix Crossbenchaye
Baroness Stern Crossbench (front bench)aye
Baroness Warnock Crossbenchaye
Lord Wedderburn of CharltonCrossbenchaye
Baroness Young of HornseyCrossbench (front bench)aye
Lord Cotter LDemaye
Lord Dykes LDem (front bench)aye
Lord Fearn LDemaye
Lord Smith of CliftonLDem (front bench)aye
Baroness Tonge LDemaye
Lord Maginnis of DrumglassUUPno

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