Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Duncan Hames Excerpts
Thursday 8th November 2012

(11 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Willetts Portrait Mr Willetts
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Lord Heseltine’s report was excellent. The message that we need to see growth across the entire country is absolutely correct. It is also correct that universities across the country are crucial drivers of local economic growth, and that is one of the many reasons we are supporting them.

Duncan Hames Portrait Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
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In past years, Higher Education Funding Council for England letters have never done much for Wiltshire. Will the Minister be flexible in his approach to student number controls on universities seeking to co-locate with high-tech businesses, and so bring university education to our fine county?

Lord Willetts Portrait Mr Willetts
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That is an ingenious piece of local lobbying on which I congratulate my hon. Friend. I will certainly bear that in mind. We are continuing to reduce the number controls that we inherited from the previous Government; we have been able to achieve that successfully through our reforms. Now, one in three students is choosing a university without number controls, and we want that to go further.