John Bercow
Main Page: John Bercow (Speaker - Buckingham)
Mr Willetts
The hon. Gentleman does higher education a great disservice. In my experience, vice-chancellors are looking forward to the challenge of attracting students and know that one in four students will be bringing their money to the university that they choose, as we push back the quotas. They also see that in our White Paper we envisage universities having 10% more cash coming to them in four years’ time than they have now.
Mr Speaker
May I just remind the House that the question is specifically about the Open university? I know that that is what the hon. Gentleman on the Opposition Front Bench will be asking his question about.
Mr Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)
I am always grateful for your helpful advice, Mr Speaker.
As the Minister reflects on his important meeting with the vice-chancellor of the Open university this week and as he worries, too, about the number of would-be students set to be turned away from university this summer on his watch, can he tell the House which of the following he is most proud of? Is it the decisions that have already been taken by the Government to axe 24,000 student places? Is it his plan to axe another 20,000 places at quality universities in order to fund an auction to the lowest bidder? Or is it his claim that universities charging the full £9,000 would be the exception?
Mr Prisk
We are concerned for those workers in Derby and that is why we have already taken prompt action. I welcome the support of local Members, but I say to the right hon. Gentleman that the contract’s tendering rules were set in 2008 and you were responsible as a party for the first two years of the contract. I also remind the right hon. Gentleman that 1.7 million jobs were lost in manufacturing under the previous Labour Government.
Mr Speaker
Order. I remind the Minister that I was not responsible for any such contract at all. I am entirely innocent in the matter.
Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)
In South Staffordshire in the past year we have had considerable success in attracting engineering manufacturing jobs, but I am constantly being told that we do not have enough engineering graduates coming out of colleges and universities after 13 years of Labour government. What are we doing to rectify that?
Mr Speaker
Order. I know that the Secretary of State will provide a single and pithy reply to those four questions.
Vince Cable
The shadow Secretary of State knows perfectly well that the decision to reopen the contract in relation to Hitachi was not about the tender but about the whole project. We cannot do that in the case of Thameslink—a project that was already 10 years late.
Mr Davey
I strongly support the sentiments behind my hon. Friend’s question. He will know that the report of Lord Mervyn Davies encourages chairmen and chief executives to publish their aspirations and to have a strategy for their aspirations to have more women on boards. When we consult on the future of narrative reporting, we want to consult on the proposal to make the top FTSE 350 companies disclose their performance, including on women on boards.
Mr Speaker
Earlier in this question session, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills lamented the absence of his colleague, the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, and referred to the increased burden on him by virtue of that absence. I thought I would share with the House the very courteous letter received from the Minister of State, the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), who wrote earlier this week as follows:
“Dear Mr Speaker, My apologies for not being present for either DfE or BIS questions as I am abroad on Government business. I hope that your disappointment is as great as mine at the missed opportunities for a heady mix of scrutiny and theatre beloved by we connoisseurs of such things.”