university places

The BBC is reporting a call by Phill Willis, chairman of the Commons Education Select Committee, for extra funding to increase the number of university places on offer this year. The article also goes on to say

The government's target is for 40% of all adults in England to have a university education by 2020.

Hang on a second .. .. .. didn't the target used to be that, by 2010, 50% of students should continue on to university? When did that change? As recently as April 2008 John Denham, the Universities Secretary insisted that

meeting the target remains vital to Britain's future economic success

and in January 2009 the BBC ran a story that the Conservatives were suggesting that the 50% target could not be hit by 2010.

So why has that now been reduced in both size and timeframe, and why isn't the BBC commenting on the change of the target?