House of Commons – Sept. 11, 2012 – 63

Question put accordingly (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the original words stand part of the Question. Amendment: I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “House” to the end of the Question and add: “congratulates all those who have recently achieved their educational qualifications;

notes the number of full-time higher education students in 2012 is expected to be higher than in any year under the previous administration;

believes that the pupil premium, which is designed to raise the attainment of pupils from low-income households, represents a powerful mechanism for widening participation in higher education;

welcomes the increased spending on widening participation in higher education, including the higher maintenance grants, the National Scholarship Programme and the extension of tuition loans to part-time students;

further notes the Institute for Fiscal Studies’ recent finding that the new student finance system ‘is actually more progressive than its predecessor: the poorest 29 per cent of graduates will be better off under the new system’;

supports the extra information provided to prospective students through the student finance tour and the Key Information Set;

further supports the efforts being made to ensure the best possible match between students and institutions, with one-quarter of all undergraduate places removed from centralised number controls;

and congratulates the Government for working with employers to deliver an unprecedented increase in apprenticeships, with 800,000 new starts since September 2010.”