Anger after DFES spurns warnings

Politicians and academics have reacted angrily to the government's dismissal of their warnings about student funding, staff pay and research concentration. The government's dismissal came in the form of the Department for Education and Skill's responses to the consultation on the government's higher education white paper and to the report produced by the House of Commons education select committee on the white paper. Barry Sheerman, chairman of the select committee which produced a report savaging most of the proposals in the white paper, noted that some members of the committee may wonder whether all the work that they put into producing a report regarded by many as innovative and thoughtful has made any difference at all to government thinking.