I was really pleased with the announcements today on student support.  We need more local young people to go to university and these changes will certainly help. 

In the last ten years there have been big increases in the numbers of students and a 20% real terms increase in funding for universities. But we need to do even better to compete with India and China, to have the skills we need and to get more from poorer backgrounds into uni.

So it was great to hear that 50,000 more students will get full grants, that the proportion getting grants will rise from just over half to two thirds from 2008, and that the process of applying will be streamlined for students receiving educational maintenance allowance.  The other great measure is repayment holidays of up to five years giving more flexibility for graduates, for example, when starting families or businesses.  As schools minister I am delighted we are also doubling the numbers on the student associate scheme spending time teaching.