Spring Budget: Wales
Debate between James Davies and Beth Winter(1 year, 1 month ago)
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Dr Davies
My understanding is that the Welsh Government have been feeding into the general approach on shared prosperity fund allocation. In my local area, there is a Welsh Government representative on the body that advises on the funding. There are a range of contributors, as there should be. Proper devolution is the key point, in that local authorities are taking a leading role.
Hon. Members are right to raise the issue of universities, because of course universities in Wales have been dependent on European structural funds. My understanding is that Universities Wales has consistently expressed concerns that the Welsh Government do not invest an equal amount in Welsh universities compared with England. It has also highlighted that the lower level of core funding places Welsh universities at a disadvantage compared with their counterparts in England when competing for UK-wide research and development funding opportunities. To be constructive, I emphasise that the Secretary of State for Wales has asked universities to provide details of the economic value of programmes that were previously funded by the EU structural funds. He and I are very interested in trying to assist on that.
Beth Winter
Can the Minister categorically assure us that the £71 million bridging fund that is urgently needed to plug the gap will be provided in time to save the more than 1,000 jobs at imminent risk in the higher education sector in Wales?
Dr Davies
The hon. Member will know that devolution is in place and that the Welsh Government have a role to play here. I assure her that this is an issue that I and the Secretary of State take very seriously, and we are working with universities to assist them.
Time is marching on, and I must make some progress. To support employment in Wales and across the UK, the UK Government are helping parents on universal credit who are moving into work or looking to increase their working hours by making sure they have support for childcare up front. We are also increasing support for those parents on UC by increasing the childcare maximum entitlement to more than £950 for one child and more than £1,630 for two children.
I had hoped to go on and talk further about the comprehensive cost of living support in place for large numbers of people—everyone, in fact—as well as the assistance with the cost of energy. I do not have time to do that, but I am always happy to liaise directly with right hon. and hon. Members on their specific questions.
I thank the hon. Member for Newport West once again for bringing forward this important debate. It is useful to have a discussion of all the matters raised. I look forward to doing my bit to help support the people of Wales as we continue through this difficult period.