Education: Conservatoires

Lord Maclennan of Rogart Excerpts

Wednesday 10th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Maclennan of Rogart]

My Lords, I, too, wish to congratulate and felicitate the noble Lord, Lord Lipsey, on obtaining this important debate, which I believe is very timely. It appears that the conservatoires have almost inadvertently been overlooked in the structure of higher education; there has been a real-terms reduction in expenditure on them since 2008-09. The importance of these bodies is beyond challenge, and the number of people applying to speak in this debate is an indication of the width of support that the conservatoires enjoy. I speak as a Scot and recognise that the cultural life of Scotland is of massive importance; there is nothing outside the Olympic Games that attracts more people to this country than the Edinburgh International Festival, and our efforts in promoting the work, talent and creativity of the individuals who are now artists known worldwide are of significant importance.

In the very short time that is available, I ask the Government to recognise that what is required is a new structure for the funding of the conservatoires that recognises their legitimately very high costs and the length of training that they require. These are not spendthrift institutions but they have expensive requirements, and that needs to be taken into account in determining our policy.

Universal Credit

Lord Maclennan of Rogart Excerpts

Wednesday 21st December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Freud]

My Lords, I am pleased to confirm that the project is on time and on budget. The second paragraph of the MPRG letter states:

“Let me congratulate you on the significant progress that has been made”.

I think that the noble Lord is referring to a particular aspect of the RTI HMRC project where we have gone with what we call an interim solution to providing information on people's earnings per month in a way that will allow companies to have a stepping stone into what we call the strategic solution, which we plan to introduce in 2016. The gains to companies of that process are estimated at £300 million a year.

[Lord Maclennan of Rogart]

Can my noble friend indicate what up-to-date information the Government have received on the feasibility of full implementation by their target date of October 2013, when all employers are expected by the Government to be on the real-time information system, coinciding with the start of universal credit?

[Lord Freud]

Yes, my Lords, simplifying the process, the RTI pilots will start in April next year with a group of 300 volunteer software developers, employers and pension providers. In the autumn of next year, we will have integration testing, with a view to having the full migration of everyone from April 2013 to October 2013.