Commenting on the publication of correspondence between the Welsh Government and Hefcw appearing to show the Education Minister asking Hefcw to “play up …the positive advantages of restructuring” in its proposals for Higher Education, Angela Burns AM, Shadow Minister for Education, said:
“The Education Minister presented Hefcw proposals as the conclusion of an impartial analysis of the needs of students, the HE sector and the Welsh economy.
“It now appears that the Minister has been interfering with supposedly impartial recommendations, using Hefcw as a shield to force through controversial policies.
“Labour AMs and MPs have been lining up to condemn what they claim are Hefcw’s proposals, and definitely not those of the Welsh Labour Government. It is now apparent that the Minister himself ordered these documents to be sexed up to make the case for mergers more persuasive.
“The Education Minister needs to come clean on why he appears to be using Hefcw to pursue his own agenda, which threatens the independence of a number of Wales’ prestigious universities.
“Following these revelations, we urgently need reassurances from the Welsh Labour Government that the practice of doctoring supposedly impartial advice for political reasons is not endemic.”
