Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jane Ellison and Lord Willetts

Thursday 6th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Willetts]

The encouraging evidence from the UCAS application data is that people from poorer backgrounds are not being put off going to university. There is no evidence that changes in patterns of university applications are affecting poorer students in particular. I have been considering the issue of sharia-compliant student loans, and we continue to do so.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

8. What steps he is taking to increase levels of employee ownership.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jane Ellison and Lord Willetts

Thursday 27th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

12. How much capital expenditure for scientific research his Department has allocated in 2011-12 to date.

[The Minister for Universities and Science (Mr David Willetts)]

I have recently announced that the Department will be investing an additional £145 million in high-performance computing. That brings the Department’s total capital spend in science and research to £793 million for 2011-12.

[Jane Ellison]

I thank the Minister for that reply. Britain has always been great at discovering and inventing things, but we need to address how to commercialise some of that cutting-edge research. Will he therefore comment on what the Government are doing to ensure that we bring that research, and those discoveries and inventions, to market in the future?

[Mr Willetts]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is why we are setting up the network of six technology and innovation centres. It is why we are particularly backing the campuses in Norwich, Babraham, Harwell and Daresbury, which bring together scientific research and business applications. It was also the reason for the investment of £50 million in the application of graphene to business purposes, which was announced only a few weeks ago.