"My Lords, I start by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, for adeptly chairing the sessions that led to this report. More than that, since she retires from our committee this month, she deserves congratulations on being so effective and benign throughout the last four years.
"My Lords, we should welcome this debate on the excellent and thought-provoking report from UUK. It recommends that the long-term goal should be 70% of young people with qualifications at level 4 or above, to be achieved via flexible co-operation between higher and further education. I declare an interest as …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, I add my thanks to the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, for his fine introduction to this debate and add a welcome to our very well qualified new Minister who will reply to the debate. I am sure he would agree that the prospect of a scientific career should …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, the UK’s whole post-18 education system surely needs not only a greater funding stream but more institutional variety, and increased flexibility in its offerings.
There is currently a systemic weakness. The missions of individual institutions are not sufficiently varied. They nearly all aspire to rise in the same …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, we should be grateful to my noble friend Lord Trees for securing this wide-ranging debate. I will focus on the threat of global pandemics to humans.
Covid-19 was a wake-up call. The published national risk register had been inadequate. No pandemic other than flu was rated as a …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, ideally, crucial sectors such as education and science should be governed by a bipartisan consensus that offers long-term stability. In depressing contrast, turbulence in the Government has triggered unstable policies and a rapid churn of Ministers. The UK risks getting further from, not closer to, being a science …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, the seemingly superhuman achievements of AI are enabled by a greater processing speed and memory storage of computers compared to flesh and blood brains. AI can cope better than humans with data-rich, fast-changing networks—traffic flow, electric grids, image analysis, et cetera. China could have a planned economy of …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of Cambridge University. Along with other speakers, I welcome the introduction of the LLE and hope that what is now proposed is just the first step towards creating an expanded and more flexible support system, spanning further and higher education. My …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, Governments are torpid in their response to the climate threat. This is, of course, because its worst impacts will not be manifest until the second half of the century, beyond the time horizon of political and even investment decisions. We are like the proverbial boiling frog, contented in …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech
"My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Brown, and the committee staff. I will venture a few words on schools, universities and R&D. Ideally, these crucial sectors should be governed by a bipartisan consensus that offers long-term stability. In depressing contrast, turbulence in government has triggered unstable policies, …..." Lord Rees of Ludlow - View Speech