Universities: Impact of Industrial Action on Students

Lord Blunkett Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

What I am saying is that we established the Office for Students to ensure that students’ interests are respected and upheld. The Government have no direct role in relation to the Universities Superannuation Scheme beyond the legislation that applies to all workplace pension schemes as regulated by the Pensions Regulator.

[Lord Blunkett (Lab)]

My Lords, there is a real complication between the pension scheme operated by universities and the pension scheme operated by the health service. Could the Minister talk to the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the contradiction between giving away £1 billion of public funding for consultants operating under the health service pension scheme and the situation faced by consultants in teaching hospitals, who have opted, or been encouraged, to take on a previous university pension scheme, which is now being completely changed? We might get some sense out of the issue of getting tutors back to work, if we could put a little of that £1 billion into resolving the pension problem for universities.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am more than happy to pass on the noble Lord’s comments to colleagues in the Treasury.