Stephen Lloyd
Main Page: Stephen Lloyd (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)(12 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Vince Cable
What is different is that the Executive are not ignoring Parliament. We are aware of the criticisms that were made of Professor Ebdon’s interview and we have asked him to appear on a regular basis before the Select Committee to demonstrate that he has its full confidence. That is what is different.
Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD)
Over the past few days there has been an enormous amount of media hype of the issue and some hyperbolic language, “social engineering” being one of the terms used. To get down to some facts, more than 20 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black students for undergraduate courses in 2009, with one college not having admitted a single black student for five years. Meanwhile, four elite independent schools have sent more pupils to Oxbridge than 2,000 state schools. Would the Secretary of State—
Mr Speaker
Order. May I very gently say to the hon. Gentleman that there is a lot to get through, so I feel sure he will reach a question mark before very long?
Stephen Lloyd
Will the Secretary of State confirm that the new director of fair access will have sufficient resources to make a real difference to this deplorable record?
Vince Cable
Yes, he will. He has been given additional resources in order to do his job properly. The issue on which my hon. Friend focuses, under-representation of at least some ethnic groups, is a particular focus of the letter that I, together with the Universities Minister, sent to the previous director as something that he should work on.