Industrial Strategy

Debate between Lord Johnson of Marylebone and Peter Kyle

Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Joseph Johnson)]

Universities Minister.

[Peter Kyle]

I beg the Minister’s pardon. I apologise. I am grateful that the Minister is here. He is split between Departments and can perhaps answer on this cross-cutting part of his brief. Skills are the issue that one comes across from every business. Unfortunately, responsibility has moved from the Business Department to Education. Is it conceivable that that could mean that business will have a louder voice in the House as the skills agenda unfolds over time? I think it is inconceivable.

What can Government do that businesses cannot do? There are—and I hope this answers the point made by the hon. Member for Wycombe—some things Government can do that others cannot. How can the Government inspire, encourage or enable businesses of the future? First, through infrastructure. Secondly, let us look back to 2000, when Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, via video link, together announced the mapping of the human genome. That was achieved by two Governments working together on a scale that no individual business could match, and certainly never without a patent. All the innovation that has spread from that single gesture by two Governments has spawned many industries since in academia and the private sector—for instance, in pharmaceuticals—and medical advances.

Those are the types of things that businesses need to be looking to. Government can do those things as part of a strategy, and I look forward to the Minister responding accordingly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Johnson of Marylebone and Peter Kyle

Tuesday 28th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[Joseph Johnson]

The University of Winchester is leading the way in degree apprenticeships, as in so many other areas. I was delighted, on Friday, to meet its excellent vice-chancellor, Professor Joy Carter, and I will meet her again shortly. Winchester is a good example of a university whose students have excellent satisfaction ratings and excellent employment outcomes, with 95% going on to employment, graduate employment or further study in a very short time.

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

The University of Sussex down in Brighton gets £9 million of funding from the European Union. The leave campaign was very clear that that funding would be replaced by British Government funding after Brexit. Will the Minister get to his feet and guarantee that that funding will continue? If not, will he bring his brother down to Brighton to explain directly to students why the door of education is going to be slammed in their faces?

[Joseph Johnson]

This Government, more than any other, understand the importance of science funding. That is why we have protected science spending until the end of the Parliament—a decade of real-terms protection. Our universities and institutes can continue today to apply for EU competitive funding streams under Horizon 2020, and I am sure they will continue to be successful in the future.[Official Report, 5 July 2016, Vol. 612, c. 4MC.]

Education, Skills and Training

Debate between Lord Johnson of Marylebone and Peter Kyle

Wednesday 25th May 2016 Commons Chamber

[Joseph Johnson]

I am going to make some progress.

In her White Paper, “Educational excellence everywhere”, my right hon. Friend the Education Secretary sets out this Government’s plan to drive up educational standards in England. The Government’s goal is to achieve a school system where every school is an academy by 2022, so that excellent teachers have the freedom to give their pupils the best start in life.

My right hon. Friend has made it clear that we have listened and will not take blanket powers to force good schools in strong local authorities to become academies, but we will include provisions to convert schools in the lowest-performing areas and where local authorities are unable to guarantee their continued success. We will consult carefully on how those local authorities will be identified, and Parliament will have further opportunities to debate our proposals. That is the basis of the important proposed legislation that my right hon. Friend will present to Parliament.

[Peter Kyle]

As somebody who has been involved in setting up two academies and who remains chair of governors of one academy, I know full well that academy status can be a powerful tool for school improvement, but it is not the only tool. Interim executive boards, investment in teaching and a new curriculum are all other tools. Why is the Minister so obsessed with one tool at the expense of all the others?

[Joseph Johnson]

I point the hon. Gentleman to the White Paper, which has one chapter on structures, while all the others are on other relevant aspects of what makes for a great school, including teaching, management and governance.

Turning to our universities, in the last Parliament we put in place the essential funding reforms that have set university finances on a stable footing and enabled us to lift student number controls.

Student Maintenance Grants

Debate between Lord Johnson of Marylebone and Peter Kyle

Tuesday 19th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)]

Brighton and Hove City Council has set up a fairness commission to make sure that it delivers fairness and social mobility in its public policy making. With 3,700 students out of 10,000 at Sussex University and 6,700 out of 16,000 at Brighton University on maintenance grants, has not their job just got an awful lot more difficult because of the Government’s policy?

[Joseph Johnson]

The hon. Gentleman can tell his constituents that university and going into higher education remain transformational experiences, especially for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are likely on average to go on to earn £100,000 more over their lifetimes as a result. Owing to the instrument that we are debating today, they will have access to more financial support while they are at university than ever before.

Let us acknowledge the success of these reforms. As a consequence, we today have a higher education system with record numbers going to university, record numbers of disadvantaged students, the highest ever rates of black and minority ethnic participation, and more women in higher education than ever before. The principles underpinning these reforms flow from a clear manifesto commitment to

“control spending, eliminate the deficit, and start to run a surplus.”

I have already referred to the other commitments in the manifesto, on page 35, relating specifically to higher education funding.

Those Opposition Members who oppose our policy and want to reintroduce more direct taxpayer support must think about whether they would also have to reintroduce the student number controls we abolished and prevent thousands of young people from attending university.