Bus Services: Local Government Funding

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Baroness Perry of Southwark

Wednesday 13th January 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I am sure the noble Baroness is aware that the grant she talks about is being protected. Indeed, in the last spending round that is exactly the commitment given by my right honourable friend. The announcements are imminent and will be made quite shortly. I also draw the noble Baroness’s attention to the total transport pilot fund we are currently allocating to 37 local authorities which are looking at an integrated form and retention of transport funding, which includes the bus services operators grant, local bus services support through DCLG, home-to-school transport provided through DfE and DCLG, and non-emergency patient transport. We need an integrated approach to long-term solutions and sustainability at a local level.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that it is unfortunate that some local authorities are making cuts in services when they are sitting on substantial reserves?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I agree with my noble friend but, as I have said already, it is very much a decision-making matter for local authorities. We are, through various legislative measures that we have taken in the previous Government and in this Government—only yesterday through the devolution Bill—underlining the importance this Government attaches to local decision-making, including on transport.

Higher Education: Student Loans

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Baroness Perry of Southwark

Wednesday 26th March 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

The noble Lord always adds colour to Question Time. The principle behind our reforms, as I have said already, was to put higher education on a sustainable footing for the long term, coupled with a rebalancing. This was of course, as the noble Lord will know, in response to and following the recommendations made by the noble Lord, Lord Browne. I believe it was the noble Lord, Lord Mandelson, who set up that particular review. As for his question on decoupling and coalition, in coalition, sometimes you agree, sometimes you disagree and sometimes you agree to disagree. That is called healthy coalition government.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree with me that, in the days when universities were funded through grant and not student loans, the Government could recoup none of the money that was given in grant? Even if we do not now recoup the whole 100%, we and the universities are still much better off all the time.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

As ever, my noble friend speaks with great experience in this area, and she is of course correct. If we look at the previous quarter, in which the overall university funding pot for this year has now risen to more than £29 billion, and compare it to just a few years ago, when the funding was £12 billion, that shows once again, as I have said already, that our universities can now benefit from sustainable long-term funding.

Education: Foreign Languages

Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Baroness Perry of Southwark

Tuesday 15th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I can certainly say to the noble Baroness that I will take back her suggestion to the department. It is important for all of us across the House to underline the importance of languages. The new national curriculum, which has now been published, includes a statutory foreign language at key stage 2. We believe that this will encourage students to take up modern languages, and indeed encourage schools to offer them. As I said earlier, the English baccalaureate is already encouraging more young people to take a language at GCSE level. Let us not forget that it was in 2004 that a statutory undertaking to provide languages at schools was removed. We are trying to restore that, and ensure that this medium to long-term process is long lasting.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Does my noble friend not agree with me that one very welcome development is that many universities now offer joint degrees? They teach modern languages alongside engineering or business studies, for example. This is exactly what employers tell us they want.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My noble friend makes a very important point. We need to understand the issue of languages at universities. Many universities offer languages as an addition to other disciplines, and people benefit from that. I come from the business community, and when I was on the board of a company we recognised that such degree courses provide a particular technical training alongside a language. Language training has changed—languages such as Chinese are much in demand by employers, and are being encouraged across the board.