King’s Speech

Viscount Chandos Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Chandos (Lab)]

My Lords, I will begin by marking the sad and sudden loss of the noble Lord, Lord Skidelsky, as did the noble Lord, Lord Horam, last Thursday. Professor Lord Skidelsky’s distinction as an economist and historian was a shining advertisement for the excellence of UK higher education. He was also a stimulating colleague and friend to many of us in this House. I congratulate all the maiden speakers, singling out my noble friend Lord Hobby, if only because he is my very welcome roommate.

I wish to speak about education and culture. Both are central to the sort of society that I believe all noble Lords wish to promote and live in, but they are also vital drivers of economic growth, directly and indirectly, short-term and long-term. In the context of education, I declare an interest as a trustee of LAMDA for a few more months, and, in relation to the creative industries, as a director of Digbeth Loc. Studios and the Theseus Agency.

The gracious Speech did not contain a lot on education in general and higher education in particular, although I welcome the education for all Bill—even if the devil is likely to be in the detail. Nearly three years ago, the Industry and Regulators Committee of your Lordships’ House, in its report on the OfS and higher education, flagged the looming financial crisis for the sector. The OfS, backseat-driven by the last Government, insisted that all was well. Since then, the accuracy of these predictions has unfortunately become ever clearer.

Mergers such as those recently announced between the Universities of Greenwich and Kent, and King’s College London and Cranfield University, may bring some improved resilience to the sector, but these will not solve the chronic underfunding described by my noble friends Lord Isaac and Lord Smith. The OfS funding for smaller, specialist institutions is an essential support for world-leading conservatoires and other institutions. Can my noble friend the Minister say when the process for awarding the next round of these grants will begin? The OfS requires universities to provide rolling five-year financial forecasts, yet, too often, decisions on grants, essential to an institution’s viability, have been left until the last minute.

The funding crisis in the cultural and arts sector is if anything even greater than that in higher education. The Hodge review, which I hope we will get the opportunity to debate in this House before the Summer Recess, set out a number of modest recommendations for increasing funding. Although the Government accepted these and all the review’s recommendations, they will only scratch the surface of the funding gap. From where will the rest of this gap be plugged? It should have been, as I have previously argued, from the lottery, where the new operator, awarded the licence under the last Government without any enforceable sanctions for failing to deliver on its ambitious financial promises, is struggling to maintain even previous levels of support for good causes. What does my noble friend the Minister intend to do to ensure that the lottery operator delivers on its promises?