Mark Sewards

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. Fundamentally, I think it is right that graduates contribute to their education. I did so via a plan 1 loan and a subsequent postgraduate loan, too. For all its faults, that system ensured that universities could accommodate record numbers of people like me, who were the first in their family to go to university. But we are now at a point where people who pay an additional 9% of their income above a certain threshold question why the amount seems to only ever increase. The introduction of plan 2 loans and the trebling of tuition fees to £9,000 created a system where those who had to rely on it were essentially paying a graduate tax in all but name, while those who could afford to pay the tuition fees up front were able to avoid that burden altogether. At the time that the loans were introduced, I argued that a graduate tax would be a much more progressive way of funding university: it would resolve that inherent unfairness of a graduate tax for some but not for all. However, the transition to such a system now would be costly and difficult, and would do nothing for those graduates who now have record amounts of debt. That is why the time is right to have the conversation about debt, interest, repayment thresholds and loan terms. Although tinkering with those things is definitely easier than wholesale replacement, they all come with costs, which have to be part of any conversation. I ask the Minister to seriously consider that now is the time for a genuine, thorough discussion in Government about the need to support graduates in such a position.