Scientific Research and Development
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
My Lords, in his initial response the Minister suggested that the Government were supporting the practice started by the previous Government of maintaining ring-fencing for a large science budget. Is it not a fact that when the Government came into power in 2010 they cut almost entirely the capital budget and restricted the revenue budgets to cash only, so we have lost about £500 million over that period?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Government have made clear their priority for spending in this area and that is why both in my original Answer and the supplementary I also mentioned that since 2010 a further £1.5 billion of capital has been provided to science and research, along with more than £600 million of additional resources. This underlines the Government’s commitment to this important area for the country.
Student Loans: Misleading Practices
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
First, I assure my noble friend and, indeed, the House that this practice has ceased. It was brought to our attention on 27 June. I believe that since then only two further letters have been issued manually, in error. I take on board the point that my noble friend makes. This afternoon, the chairman of the SLC will talk to my right honourable friends the Secretary of State for Business and the Minister for Universities and Science. They will look at what other remedial action is necessary. However I assure the House, once again, that this activity has now ceased.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
My Lords, when similar practices were undertaken by Wonga we learnt that it was going to make redress to those affected by letters of this type, in significant amounts of money. Can the Minister confirm that all students who have been similarly affected in this way will also receive redress?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
As the noble Lord may well know, this practice started in 2005, and since then a great number of letters have been issued. As to the differences between Wonga and Smith Lawson and Company: first, no charges were made for the letters that the latter issued; and secondly, the name Smith Lawson was set up as a trading name and, in accordance with procedures, was registered with the Intellectual Property Office. However, as I have already said, the Secretary of State and the Minister responsible for this area are looking at the situation, and I shall of course let the House know of any further action that needs to be taken.
Disabled Students’ Allowance
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
My noble friend may well be aware that the focus on DSA expenditure will be on the most complex and acute needs. DSA expenditure generally has increased—from £87.8 million in 2009-10 to £125.1 million—so a review of DSA expenditure, as technology advances have been made, is long overdue; it has been 25 years since we last looked at it. Of course, we will look at each case, including specialist requirements and complex cases, and where it is established that a case is complex, students will be supported.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that research at Edinburgh University has found that disabled students who claim DSA at present have lower drop-out rates than disabled students who do not claim the allowance and non-disabled students? Is it true that the changes that are proposed will in effect mean that the money that is currently paid to individual students through personal budgets is to be transferred, with no additional funding, to the universities themselves? Does that not run against current government policy in these matters?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
I have already stated the Government’s position on the need for sustainability of the DSA. The noble Lord is quite right to point out that the expenditure to higher education institutions is being rebalanced, and this is to ensure that within the realms of the Equality Act 2010 they, too, step up to the mark. Indeed, many institutions have. This is all about ensuring that in the existing conditions the money is spent in a focused way on the students who most need it, and that we balance what we spend on the DSA with what the universities and higher education institutions should spend themselves.
Universities: Part-time Students
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
As my noble friend will be aware, the Government do not offer loans for university tuition to international students. I acknowledge that we have seen a decline in the number of international students coming to the UK as compared with some of our other European partners. The Government are making it clear through the reforms we are making in higher education—such as the opening-up of caps on university admissions—that the UK is open for business to anyone who wishes to come here to study on an accredited basis at an accredited institution. The Government take this most seriously.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
I am sure that the noble Lord will have read the CBI report, Tomorrow’s Growth: New Routes to Higher Skills. Does he agree with the CBI’s conclusion that relying on traditional university courses alone will not meet the growing demand for degree-level technical skills in key sectors such as manufacturing, construction, IT and engineering? What will the Government do to deliver on the CBI’s obviously very sensible call?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The noble Lord makes an important point. As I said, higher education has to reflect the needs of the economy and, indeed, the needs of employers. I was therefore delighted that my right honourable friend the Chancellor very recently announced, on 7 May—as I am sure the noble Lord will recall—the new industry campaign “Your Life”, under which leading organisations including Google, Microsoft, BP, BSkyB, Airbus, IBM and Nestlé, to name but a few, have created 2,000 new entry-level positions which cover both apprenticeships and graduate-level posts. I am delighted to inform the House that 170 businesses have now signed up to this initiative.
Higher Education: Student Loans
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
As the noble Lord may well know, in terms of the student loan book, we previously had mortgage-style loans, and they were sold off for £160 million. It will, again, be ensured that any future sell-offs always provide value for money for the taxpayer.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Lab)
HEFCE informed institutions last week that it was reducing its grants by almost 6% next year. Will the Minister confirm that, as a result of new Treasury guidance, BIS will have to provide some £50 million a year as a hedge against the currently inflated RAB charge going forward?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
In terms of specific support for research, the noble Lord will recall from the latest Autumn Statement an additional ring-fencing until 2016. This is supported through an extra capital spend of £200 million. Taken together, over four years, we are looking at £1.6 billion in the science and research sector. Once again, I emphasise that the model that was questioned by several noble Lords on the Benches opposite would have been the same had we retained the £6,000 fee, and universities would have been in a far worse place than they are.
Government Archives and Official Histories
Debate between Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon and Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Rodgers of Quarry Bank for initiating this debate. I am sure the House is fully aware of his longstanding interest in these matters and the great experience he brings to bear in debates such as these, as demonstrated by his contribution today. I also thank all noble Lords for the valuable contributions they made which raised several important questions. I hope that I am able to address most, if not all, of the issues. I will write on any questions left outstanding.
I also pay tribute to my noble friend for his work within the privy counsellors’ group, the “three wise men” as they are often referred to in this particular area. If debates such as this are about prompting interest, as a Minister in the Government, this was a new area for me. It has certainly prompted my interest, and I am looking forward to my visit to the National Archives in the next couple of weeks or so.
Turning first to official histories, my noble friend Lord Rodgers and the noble Lord, Lord Bew, referred to the reviews commissioned by the then Cabinet Secretary, the noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell, and conducted by Sir Joe Pilling and Mr Bill Hamilton. They recommended that the official history programme should be continued under the auspices of the Cabinet Office under the name “the public history programme”. They proposed substantial changes to raise the profile and relevance of the programme, including an increase in the involvement of sponsor departments and outside bodies, a revamping of the publishing arrangements and an enhancement to its governance procedures.
Several noble Lords referred to the fact that, given the current economic constraints, the Government do not plan to implement the proposed changes at the current time, and I will return to this. However, we are moving forward with the completion of the existing programme, which will conclude with the publication of The Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee: Volume 2 in 2016. Work on this volume will, we hope, be completed by the end of 2015, after which point the recommendations will be revisited.
My noble friend Lord Rodgers referred to expense. Without incurring disproportionate expense, it is not possible to determine the overall cost of the current series of official histories. However, for the last year for which published costs are available, 2006-07, the net cost was £176,000. This cost includes fees and expenses of historians and research assistants and costs associated with publication, but excludes staff costs of Cabinet Office administrative support and accommodation-related overheads. Noble Lords will understand that until the future shape of any programme has been determined it will not be possible to estimate the likely future costs. I reiterate the words of my noble friend Lord McNally when he previously answered a debate on this subject:
“As for the official history programme, a good deal of work is already in progress, and I hope that we can review future work in happier economic circumstances. I emphasise again my enthusiasm for the programme of official histories. It would be a tragedy if we were to allow them to wither on the vine”.—[Official Report, 17/1/12; col. 547.]
I share his sentiments.
The noble Lord, Lord Hennessy, in his excellent contribution to today’s debate, referred with his usual aplomb to the histories of MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service written, respectively, by Professor Christopher Andrew and Professor Keith Jeffery. I should clarify for the House that these were authorised histories, more akin to departmental histories, and were not commissioned under the official history programme. The noble Lord also suggested that an authorised or official history of GCHQ would be a valuable addition to those recent intelligence histories. In fact, nearly all of GCHQ’s records of the period roughly corresponding to that covered by Professor Jeffery’s history of SIS have already been released at the National Archives. I agree with the noble Lord that it is therefore open to any historian—indeed, we have historians in the Chamber—to write their own history of GCHQ. I look forward to such books being written.
Turning to the arrangements for preserving government archives, we have grounds to be optimistic given the progress made in a number of areas since 2008. First, on the responsibility for public record keeping, in line with the Public Records Act 1958, government departments are responsible for their records up to the point that they are transferred to the care of the National Archives. The National Archives provides departments with guidance and supervision, but decisions on which records to select for permanent preservation remain the departments’ own.
On guidance, in June 2009 the Cabinet Office and the National Archives revised the guidance on the management of private office papers. November 2010 saw the revision of the Civil Service Code, which now emphasises the importance of keeping accurate official records and handling information as openly as possible within the legal framework. In December 2010, the Cabinet Manual was issued, and this includes a section on official information and maintaining official records for departments. A question was raised by my noble friend Lord Rodgers about reminding Permanent Secretaries about their accountability for record keeping in their departments. It is from the Cabinet Manual that Permanent Secretaries should draw their guidance.
The noble Lord, Lord Prescott, raised several issues in his contribution, which I am sure we all found entertaining. To save on the high cost of file storage in central London, certain records have been outsourced to secure locations outside London. Regrettably, I am informed that mislabelling of the box containing the diaries of the noble Lord, Lord Prescott, led a more extensive search being required. I am sorry for any delay that that caused. However, I am sure that all noble Lords are delighted to learn that he has now perceived a positive response, and I am sure we are all looking forward to the publication of the noble Lord’s diaries; I am sure that they will make an entertaining read for us all.
Lord Stevenson of Balmacara
I am sure that my noble friend Lord Prescott can speak for himself, but I think his point was that there are points, particularly in today’s world, where it is vital for people to be able to respond quickly and precisely to allegations made, for whatever reason, in the press. I accept the Minister’s general point, but I do not think he responded to my noble friend’s point. Can he give us some assurance about how quickly these things can be dealt with in future?
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
First, I have apologised for the delay. It has been recognised that that should not have happened. Of course measures have been taken to ensure that the archive records should be labelled properly. I give an assurance that that has been done.