Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Gethins Excerpts

Thursday 3rd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)]

7. What recent progress he has made on negotiating the UK’s exit from the EU.

[Stephen Gethins (North East Fife) (SNP)]

10. What recent progress he has made on negotiating the UK’s exit from the EU.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

11. What progress he has made on negotiations to agree the terms on which the UK will leave the EU.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Davis]

The hon. Lady clearly memorised her question before she heard my answer. A huge amount of incredibly important work is under way, most notably on Northern Ireland. I would not reduce that to a parody.

[Stephen Gethins]

The Secretary of State will be aware that universities in the UK punch well above their weight in terms of research funding, not least the universities of Dundee and St Andrews. Given that universities across Europe are planning for the next framework programme, what plans has he to ensure that those in the UK will have access to the same levels of funding on 1 January 2021?

[Mr Davis]

The Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker), has visited Dundee and is very much across that issue. We have given undertakings in relation to guaranteeing the funding of the universities, but if the hon. Gentleman is interested, he can certainly discuss this with me explicitly, so that we can deal directly with the issue of the universities in his constituency.