Augar decisions to come at end of the year, maybe

Responding to the independent review of post-18 education and funding, education secretary Damian Hinds said the government will come to a conclusion at the spending review later this year. But there is now doubt over the timescale.

Speaking in a Commons debate on 4 June, Hinds said it had “always been the plan” for the Department for Education to consider the recommendations of the panel chaired by Philip Augar and complete its own review of tertiary education, “at the end of the year, at the spending review”.

Earlier in the debate, Hinds said “the panel’s recommendations on student finance are detailed and interrelated, and cannot be considered each in isolation”. Augar’s report recommends a cut in the level of university tuition fees in England from £9,250 to £7,500 with the difference made up by the government in the form of an enhanced teaching grant targeted at high-cost subjects and disadvantaged students.