Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Christine Jardine(6 days, 21 hours ago)
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Bridget Phillipson
I agree that phones have no place in the classroom. It is entirely right that schools take firm action to stop their use, and I know that is what the vast majority of schools already do. As the right hon. Lady said, last July the Conservatives said that they did not need to legislate in this area. Nothing has changed in this time. I back the approach that they took in July in this area. This is yet another headline-grabbing gimmick, with no plans to drive up standards in our schools.
Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
The Secretary of State for Education (Bridget Phillipson)
The Labour Government are at the forefront of change and, as I said to the Bett conference last week, we are determined to ensure that
“AI will be a positive, radical, modernising force for good in the lives of working people.”
The Department for Education is a member of the AI working group collaborating across Government to share thinking and expertise as we develop future policy.
Christine Jardine
Many of my constituents and local academics have expressed concern about the cancellation last year, by this Government, of what would have been the UK’s only exascale computer, at Edinburgh University. That was not mentioned at all in the AI opportunities action plan. It would have been a major beneficial development in this sector. What discussions is the Secretary of State having with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that this takes place, and can she reassure the public that the benefits of AI will be spread to universities across the UK?
Bridget Phillipson
I appreciate the hon. Lady’s interest in this area. She will know that the proposed exascale supercomputer is one programme that the Government are considering. We are currently assessing the best way to take this forward. The previous programme was announced under the last Government, for which full funding was not allocated. We are committed to developing a strategy setting out a 10-year plan for our country’s needs. That plan will be published in the coming months alongside the spending review, but I will ensure that officials in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology pick up her concern and that she receives a full response.
Higher Education Reform
Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Christine Jardine(2 months, 4 weeks ago)
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Bridget Phillipson
I agree with my hon. Friend, who recognises, both in his professional life before coming to this House and as a constituency MP, the crucial role that our universities play in towns and cities, as well as by providing opportunities for lots of young people. Alongside that, one area where we need to make more progress—and in which I know that my hon. Friend has a real interest—is care-experienced young people and their opportunities at university. There is a lot more that the sector must do to support young people coming through the care system who want the chance to go on to university, to ensure that the additional barriers they face are overcome, and I would expect it to be doing more.
Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
Does the Secretary of State accept that it might have been better to hold a wider review of the whole system—it is broken; we know that—instead of jumping immediately to putting up tuition fees? She says that we all respect and want to protect our world-beating universities, but how does she square that with her Government removing the funding for the exascale computer at Edinburgh University, which would have maintained not only its position, but our whole university sector’s position?
Bridget Phillipson
What I am announcing today is very much in line with the approach that we took at this Budget—a one-year settlement that allows us to fix the foundations, given the need to bring financial sustainability to the sector, because we recognise the acute financial pressures that many universities are facing after years of falling income from fees. That was not an easy decision, but it cannot be the entirety of what we do. I am determined to reform the sector. I will happily work with the hon. Member’s party to look at ideas for how we do that, but she will know as well as I do that the record on progression to university for young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds in Scotland is not a strong one.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Bridget Phillipson and Christine Jardine(3 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)
Further to the question that my hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington (Bobby Dean) asked, DWP statistics show that 45% of people over the state pension age have a disability. As we have already heard, they can face hugely inflated energy costs because of the need for equipment such as stair lifts, extra fridges or oxygen tanks, all of which demand electricity. In the discussions that the Minister has outlined, have the Government given any consideration to the introduction of a social tariff to help mitigate the extra costs that disabled people face in this country?
Bridget Phillipson
The hon. Lady will recognise the difficult state of the public finances that we inherited and the tough choices that were necessary to stabilise our economy. Those decisions were not easy. My hon. Friend the Minister for Energy Consumers is leading on much of this work to ensure we secure a fairer deal for all consumers, because we want to ensure that all support is targeted at the most vulnerable groups who need support this winter.