The recent resignation of Robert Halfon from the position of Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education has sent ripples across the government at a time when they are desperate for support. Having achieved notable success in gaining more funding for his long-standing apprenticeship aims, he stated,
“To get any penny out of the Treasury is very hard nowadays”.
Indeed, it appears the overall picture for universities is becoming bleak with the latest announcement of less university support in real terms. He declined to give his reasons in a resignation letter, but somehow this might have been the last straw. His Herculean mission has come to a premature end with failure to capture the three headed Cerberus of educational inequality, disadvantage, and opportunity.
The resignation of Robert Halfon seemed to come as a surprise to some. But it emerged just before the funding letter from Education Secretary Michelle Keegan to the Office for Students (OfS) independent chair, James Wharton (aka Conservative Lord Wharton of Yarm) regarding ‘Guidance to the Office for Students from the Secretary of State for Education on the allocation of Strategic Priorities Grant funding for the 2024-25 Financial Year and associated terms and conditions’. While apprenticeships get some support, the consensus is that there is an overall cut in real terms.
‘Uni Disconnect’: deterring disadvantaged students from university.
It is likely that Halfon would not have been fully in tune with the government’s direction in deterring students from university. Whilst offering the overall impression of encouraging more technical routes, the whole funding regime appears to have a particular deterrent effect on those with fewer advantages. Of particular concern is the savage cut to Uni Connect. This service is a key element in encouraging students from less advantaged families to take up university places. Although the last review of its operations earlier this year called for improvements, it also noted,
“Every £1 spent by Uni Connect led to between £5 to £9 of economic benefit”.
A further cut to its budget to £20 million in 2024 is now only a third of the £60 million funding received in 2021. This is a staggering decision made by Keegan and flies in the face of the evidence.
Universities contracting.
The pressure on Halfon as universities minister was also mounting as more universities announce course closures and redundancies. At the last count there appear to be over fifty universities affected by budget shortfalls. Also, it is post-92 institutions that are most affected by the resulting redundancies.
The Labours of Halfon.
At the age of fifty-five, it appears premature that Halfon will also not stand at the next election. The reasons are still obscure and were not included in his resignation letter. Previously critical of many government policies from his position as chair of the Education Committee, his elevation to minister in 2022 would have appeared as something like the ‘Ten Labours of Halfon’ in its challenge. He may have only tamed the Namean lion of apprenticeships but has not gone as far as capturing the three headed Cerberus of educational inequality, disadvantage, and opportunity. Perhaps he realised he was not really supposed to succeed and bowed out to avoid the eventual fate of Herecles. That fate is passed to his replacement for the remainder of the administration, Luke Hall. Unlike Halfon, as a former supermarket manager Hall is unencumbered by any experience of universities.
Some hints at the reasons.
To most observers it was a loss of key experience needed in an increasingly unstable government. Yet the exit of some of the most competent ministers of the current administration seems to be happening with regularity. Perhaps they see the hopelessness of the situation and are bailing out to seek another job ahead of their colleagues. Yet this reason does not chime with the actions of Robert Halfon. He has a sound majority of 14,063 in his constituency of Harlow and is very popular. He might expect to defend this and return in opposition. He was highly effective for fourteen years in the House of Commons, particularly his five years as chair of the education committee.
However, some insight emerged in an interview with FE Week when he indicated that he was a “campaigner at heart”. He had been critical of government policy that he then found himself responsible for. He emerged in the more elevated position of Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education in October 2022 and appeared to conform to the government plan. After a period of turmoil and instability, he emerged armed with considerable experience. He was popular with FE colleges in pushing for more support for them. Certainly, this was a good thing. However, the decline in trust from the universities, and in particular the OfS in its review last year, will have had its impact. The overall direction must have been sapping his confidence.
In a classic understatement to FE Week he said,
“One thing I did learn is it’s a lot easier to ask the questions than answer them.”
Certainly, that must have been the case, and he may well have felt less like Gandalf and more like Bilbo Baggins in his quest to combat a greater malign power. But he appears to have avoided the final fate of Hercules.
The author, Mike Larkin, retired from Queen’s University Belfast after 37 years teaching Microbiology, Biochemistry and Genetics.