Chuka Umunna
Main Page: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)Department Debates - View all Chuka Umunna's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Minister for Skills and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock)
I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend. The Lancaster Guardian, like many local newspapers across the country, plays an important role in changing the culture, supporting apprenticeships and ensuring that young people know the opportunities that are available to them.
Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)
In the last annual report and accounts of his Department, the Secretary of State said that the Department remained
“on track to deliver against our spending review settlement.”
However, the head of the National Audit Office said in the same report that there are significant uncertainties relating to billions of pounds’ worth of the Department’s assets, which will affect its financial position. Can the Secretary of State explain the discrepancy?
Vince Cable
I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to the significant assets that were left with the dissolution of the regional development agencies. In fact, the job of managing that complex process has been extraordinarily successful.
Mr Umunna
No, I refer to the student loans worth billions of pounds. Subsequent to the publication of those accounts, the NAO published a report that revealed that because Ministers have dramatically overestimated the number of graduates who will be able to repay the loans to pay for the Secretary of State’s higher tuition fees, he has, in effect, blown a hole in the Department’s budget. In fact, the Library estimates that from 2015-16 an extra £600 million a year will have to be found. Will the Secretary of State now explain how he will fix the problem without putting under threat the country’s scientists, students, universities and colleges?
Vince Cable
This is an absurd misunderstanding of what is called the resource accounting and budgeting—RAB—charge system, which depends on long-term predictions of earnings growth. I assure the hon. Gentleman that if the recovery of the economy continues as it is, the RAB charge estimates will be substantially revised down and the imaginary black hole will very soon disappear.