Simon Hughes takes up education post

The BBC reports:

A senior Lib Dem who abstained from the vote on tuition fees has been appointed by the government to help encourage poorer teenagers to go to university.

Simon Hughes was among Lib Dems to raise concerns about a hike in the cap on university tuition fees in England.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg said it would be a tragedy if youths were put off applying due to “misinformation”.

Labour said the appointment was “window dressing” and showed they were worried students would be put off by the rise.

The Lib Dem deputy leader has been appointed to the unpaid, six-month role as the government’s “advocate for access to education”, in which he will go into schools to address the concerns of poorer teenagers and work with them on campaigns to persuade as many as possible to consider higher education.

He will also contribute to work on finding a suitable replacement for the educational maintenance allowance – which gives low-income 16-19 year olds up to £30 a week to help them continue in full time education…

He told the World at One: “I’m very clear that the decision in Parliament has been made and the job of all of us across parties is to make sure we maximise the opportunities for young people of all backgrounds… to go to further education colleges and university.”