Over recent years the number of young people entering higher education has increased significantly and now stands at 43% of all 18-30 year-olds in England. The Government plans to increase this participation rate to 50% over the next few years offering greater opportunity for more young people than ever before.

But this increase has not been without a cost and the reality is that funding has not been able to keep pace. In the period between 1989 and 1997 funding per student fell by 36 per cent. If we are to offer high quality undergraduate education then this situation must be addressed.

Equally importantly we must also tackle the inequality that currently exists in the system. The sad fact is that a young person from a less well-off family is less than half as likely to go to university. I believe that access should be determined by an individual's potential rather than their family finances.

At one time many students received grants to go to university but with increasing numbers this is not something that taxpayers or the country could afford. We need a system that is affordable, provides support where it is needed and does not discourage students from poorer families.

The current system provides no grants and many students have to pay a tuition fee up front at the start of every year. While loans are available for all students the up front fee is a real deterrent to many students.

Under the proposals unveiled in early January by the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, the system will change.

The up front fee will disappear completely but instead students will have to repay their fees on graduation. These fees will be capped at a maximum of £3,000 per annum (until the end of the next Parliament and then can only be raised by Parliament not the Universities themselves) and the poorest students will receive a fee grant of £1200 a year to help reduce the level of the fees with an additional fee grant of not less than £300 each year from their university.

In addition maintenance grants will be reintroduced up to a total of £1500 per annum which in many cases will reduce the need for excessive student loans.

And it will not just be a few students who qualify for this support; the government propose that the poorest 30% of all students will get this maximum amount of £3000 per annum.

At the moment graduates - who over the course of their working lives usually earn a higher amount than non-graduates - start to repay their loans when their earnings exceed £10,000 a year. Under the new scheme repayments will only start when earning reach £15,000 and if any money is still owed after 25 years the debt will be written off.

I believe that the package of proposals that has now been produced will give the support that students and their families need and I hope that people will give these important reforms their full support.