The Lifelong Learning (Higher
Education Fee Limits) Bill has been referred to a Public Bill
Committee. As part of scrutiny, the group is now inviting those
with an interest to submit their views in writing to the House of
Commons Public Bill Committee which is going to consider this
Bill.
A Public Bill Committee is a committee set up by the House of
Commons to examine the details of a particular Bill. You can find
out more about them on the website here.
The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee is expected to be
on Tuesday 21 March. They will scrutinise the Bill line by line
before reporting back by Tuesday 28 March 2023.
When the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is
no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude
earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Tuesday 28 March.
Aims of the Bill
The Bill would introduce a new ‘credit-based method’ to set
tuition fee levels for higher education courses and modules. The
Bill would also create the new concept of ‘course years’, which
would be the period of twelve months from the first day of the
month in which the course begins, to replace that of ‘academic years’.
Credits are a measure of the amount of learning a student is
expected to do to complete a programme of study. One credit is
generally equal to ten hours of learning. Learning includes
formal classes, private study, and the completion of coursework
and exams.
In conjunction with the forthcoming Lifelong Loan Entitlement,
the Government hopes the new method will encourage the study of
modules and short courses, by ensuring the maximum level of
tuition fees students pay for such courses are proportionate and
consistent with traditional three-year degree courses.
The Bill comprises two substantive clauses that would primarily
amend Sections 10, 11, 31, and Schedule 2 of the Higher Education Research
Act 2017, as well as giving Ministers powers to make
regulations setting out the detail for how the Bill’s provisions
would work in practice.
Follow the progress of the Lifelong Learning
(Higher Education Fee Limits) Bill
The Lifelong Learning (Higher
Education Fee Limits) Bill was presented to the House of
Commons for its first reading on Wednesday 1 February 2023.
The second reading
debate was held on Monday 27 February.
Oral evidence sessions are expected to be held on Tuesday 21
March.
Guidance on submitting written evidence
What should written evidence cover?
The evidence should cover matters contained within the Bill and
concentrate on issues where the individual submitting evidence
has a special interest or expertise.
Evidence submissions could most usefully:
- suggest amendments to the Bill, with supporting explanation;
and
- (when amendments are published)
support or oppose amendments tabled to the Bill by Members of
Parliament, with supporting explanation
It is helpful if the submission includes a brief introduction
about the author or organisation. The submission should not have
been previously published or circulated elsewhere.
How should written evidence be
submitted?
Submissions should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk. They
should be in the form of a Word document. Please include in the
covering email the name, address, telephone number and email
address of the person responsible for the submission. The
submission should be dated.
Further guidance on submitting written evidence can be
found here.
