Price attacks student fees plans

The assembly government wants to bring in means-tested grants

A Plaid Cymru MP has claimed a Welsh Assembly Government plan to scrap a grant which covers the cost of student 'top-up' fees could be illegal.

Adam Price said the proposal also "breaches the spirit" of the coalition deal between Plaid Cymru and Labour.

A recent Plaid national council motion reaffirmed the party's opposition to students having to pay the top-up fees.

But ministers said the policy was in line with the coalition deal and they would respond to Mr Price later.

For the 2009/10 academic year, Welsh students studying in Wales will pay �1,285 a year towards the costs of their tuition, rather than the full fee of up to �3,225 they would otherwise pay.

Plaid fought the 2007 assembly election promising it would not make students pay the extra, often referred to as top-up fees.

In a letter to Welsh Education Minister Jane Hutt, Mr Price said the cabinet's decision to abolish this student subsidy, or Tuition Fee Grant, was based on "highly misleading evidence".

A consultation on the proposals, which would also see more money go directly to universities and an increase in means-tested grants, ended last month.

'Judicial review'

At the national council meeting, on 21 February, Plaid leader and Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones warned members he would not be able to convince the assembly government cabinet, which has a Labour majority, to back Plaid's policy.

But Mr Price has called for cabinet discussion on the matter to be "reopened" and questioned whether its initial decision was anything more than a "rubber-stamping exercise".

"Asking us to breach our manifesto commitment based on misleading information and a rushed and incomplete policy review and consultation process is, to my mind, unacceptable," he said.

In the letter Mr Price said the consultation process was "deeply flawed", with respondents given "insufficient information" on the proposals to respond properly.

Mr Price questioned the cabinet's claim that the Tuition Free Grant "had not had the effect of encouraging Welsh students to study in Welsh higher education institutions".

He said the evidence pointed to an increase in the number of students opting to stay in Wales since the grant was introduced.

"Cabinet would appear to have made its decision based on highly misleading evidence," he said.

"This is in my view enough in itself to render the decision to abolish the Tuition Free Grant vulnerable to judicial review."

'Funding gap'

Mr Price was one of the authors of the One Wales Agreement, the basis of the Labour-Plaid Cymru deal to form a coalition assembly government after the 2007 assembly elections.

He is the most senior member of either party to claim the agreement has been breached.

Speaking on behalf of the Plaid Cymru assembly group, Dai Lloyd AM said the group backed Plaid ministers on the issue.

"Nobody could have foreseen before this assembly term that the One Wales Government (assembly government) would be faced with the challenge it is presented with today," he said.

"Our ministers have, and will continue to have to make, tough decisions like this one in the wake of the current economic climate and the very tight settlement that Wales has received from the Labour government in Westminster."

Dr Lloyd said the consultation had considered giving more help to students in most need, writing off student debts and making "resources available to address the higher education funding gap between Welsh and English universities".

"Two members of the Plaid Cymru group feel that they cannot support the (assembly) government's position and the group respects their decision," he added.

'Sustainability'

An assembly government spokesperson said: "The reform of the student finance system is in line with the One Wales Agreement to 'maintain existing fee levels in Wales up to and including 2009/10' and maintaining 'the current level of resource throughout the four year assembly term'.

"A review group was established and reported on the present system in October 2008 under the leadership of Professor Merfyn Jones, vice-chancellor of Bangor University.

"Its conclusions were supported by all members of the group which included representatives of higher education as well as the NUS (National Union of Students).

"The (assembly) government has, in light of this, considered the on-going sustainability of the current policy particularly in the context of the current economic and financial circumstances.

"The minister has consulted on proposals to bring the tuition fee grant to an end with the intention of reallocating more support to students in greatest need, to provide more resource for Welsh higher education institutions and to reduce the debt burden on Welsh students.

The statement added that the consultation period had been extended to allow as much time as possible for people to respond and that Jane Hutt hoped to make a statement on the outcome of the consultation before Easter.