A cross-party committee has criticised government plans to introduce top-up fees in the higher education sector.

The education and skills committee warns the move would be a "grave error of judgement" requiring top-up fees of £5000 to work.

Forum Response: Universities UK

Professor Ivor Crewe, president elect of Universities UK, said: "The select committee has provided a robustly argued report with many positive recommendations which we hope the government will take on board.

"The select committee's views add further weight to the chorus of voices whose vision of higher education is of a diverse, flexible sector, properly funded by a variety of sources; responsive to the needs of students and the economy; where teaching and research co-exist, and which preserves the research culture across all universities."

Forum Response: Council of Heads of Medical Schools

A spokeswoman for CHMS said: "The Council of Heads of Medical Schools welcomes the select committee's report and is pleased to see that many of the committee's recommendations recognise the concerns noted in the CHMS response to the white paper.

"We are pleased to see that the committee recognises that the high quality of higher education in the UK and the unique interdependence of good teaching and high quality research that has made UK universities distinctive."We were pleased to see the particular problems faced by medical schools as a result of recent funding decisions was recognised by the committee, in particular the call for reinstatement of the £21 million taken from the budget for 4-rated departments this year.

"A huge amount of valuable research, which makes a huge contribution to the NHS is undertaken in four star-rated departments which are now threatened by the current funding decisions. The future of academic medicine and its ability to educate doctors for the NHS is dependent on high quality clinical academic staff and we welcome the committee's recommendation that 'urgent action must be taken to improve pay and conditions, especially for those in the early years of the profession.'"Medical schools are committed to widening access and concur with the committee's recommendation that additional funds for widening participation should have been new money, as the redirection from other budgets threatened core teaching monies. We hope that the government responds positively to the committee's call that new money to fund these initiatives should be found as soon as possible."Medical students already graduate with high levels of debt and CHMS would be concerned that any increase in fees would counter widening access strategies. Equally, CHMS does not believe the freedom to set higher tuition fees will solve the funding shortfall. It is essential that the level of recurrent public funding be maintained, because the additional student fee income is needed to enhance, not replace, public funding."CHMS hopes that the government will respond positively on the committee's recommendations and ensure the strong future of higher education."