University Tuition Fee Cap — Set Basic Limit at £6,000 Per Year — 9 Dec 2010 at 17:12

The majority of MPs voted to approve 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 the motion^[1]

• That the draft The Higher Education (Basic Amount) (England) Regulations 2010^[2], which were laid before this House on 29 November, be approved.

The regulations set the "basic amount" under section 24 of the 2004 Higher Education Act^[3] 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^[4]. 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.^[5])

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^[6].

Ministerial guidance as to the content of the plans has been issued.^[7]

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.

• [1] Deputy Speaker, House of Commons, 9 December 2010
• [2] The Higher Education (Basic Amount) (England) Regulations 2010
• [3] Section 24 of the 2004 Higher Education Act - describes "plans" required to enable charging more than £6,000.
• [4] Section 33 of the 2004 Higher Education Act - The legislation which defines the plans required to charge the higher rate of fees.
• [5] Tuition Fee Cap - Raise Overall Cap to £9,000 - House of Commons Division, 9th December 2010.
• [6] The Office for Fair Access Website
• [7] Ministerial Guidance to the Director of Fair Access, The head of the Office of Fair Access - Issued December 7th 2010

Debate in Parliament | Source |