Lords Grand Committee
15 July 2026
Speaker dots
- Speakers in the chapter
- Colour: political group
- Grey: no group
Tap or click a chapter's dots to see names and groups.
Contents updated on 15 Jul 2026
Legend
Transcript markers
- text Sentence being played
- text Search result
- text Intervention cited by the link you opened
Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.
More options
Official source
Offset
Transcript offset
0s
Text size
Export
Replay
Versions of this video
Transcripts may differ slightly from one version to another.
Lords Grand Committee House of Lords
00:02 - 00:16
Speaker 1
The House is now in Grand Committee. This committee will adjourn as soon as the division bells are rung and resume after ten minutes. Lifelong Learning (Fee Limits) Regulations 2026. Baroness Smith of Malvern.
00:16 - 02:16
Speaker 2
My Lords, I beg to move that the committee consider the Lifelong Learning (Fee Limits) Regulations 2026. And to begin with, I'd like to thank the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee for the scrutiny they've provided to this instrument, and I believe that they were satisfied with it. The draft regulations were laid in Parliament on the 18th of May 2026. These regulations are the first of three pieces of secondary legislation needed to implement the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, the LLE. They establish a new system of tuition fee limits for higher education courses and modules that begin on or after the 1st of January 2027.
The LLE is one of the most significant reforms to student finance in a generation. For the first time, it creates a single, flexible funding system for study at levels 4 to 6, spanning both further and higher education. One that supports people to learn, upskill, and retrain across their working lives. The LLE was a central element within the government's post-16 education and skills white paper, supporting the growth and skills missions as well as the industrial strategy. The case for the LLE is clear.
Over a third of job vacancies are unfilled because of skills shortages, and at least 80% of the workforce of 2030 are already in work today. Yet our current system was designed largely with younger, full-time learners in mind. It doesn't offer the flexibility it could for someone who is older, who wants to study part-time, take a short course or module, or retrain mid-career. The principle of a single lifelong learning entitlement was a central recommendation of Sir Philip Augar's 2019 review. Parliament then established the framework for this through the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 and the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Act 2023.
The rest of the transcript is for Pro customers
Unlock the full transcript, chat, and every analysis feature with Polyfact Pro.
The video itself stays free to watch, in full, no account needed.