Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse is of setting up the Turing scheme; and whether that cost was included in the £100 million of funding recently announced for that scheme.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The UK is already a significant net contributor to Erasmus+. Government estimates that the UK’s notional contribution to the current (2014-2020) programme over its seven-year duration will be around €1.8 billion, whilst the UK expected to receive around €1 billion in receipts over the course of the programme.
The budget for the next programme is nearly doubling from €14 billion to €26 billion. In order to participate in Erasmus+, the EU proposed new terms of participation for the UK which included a participation fee in addition to a GDP-based contribution. The only terms on offer to the UK for Erasmus+ participation would mean that we would likely make a gross contribution in the region of £600 million per annum and pay in around £2 billion more than we would get out over the course of the next programme. We obviously respect the right of the EU to set the terms for participation in its programmes but, in this case, we did not believe those terms represented value for money for the UK taxpayer.
Therefore, as an independent and sovereign country, it is also right that we will proceed with the introduction of a new international educational exchange scheme that has a genuinely global reach. The government remains committed to international education exchanges and that is why we have committed to funding the Turing scheme.
The Turing scheme will be backed by over £100 million for the academic year. This includes the costs of administering the scheme and I am pleased to confirm that the new scheme will be administered by the same consortium of British Council and Ecorys which have been delivering Erasmus+ in the UK for a number of years, drawing on their experience of working with education providers across the UK, and ensuring continuity. This will fund similar levels of student outbound mobilities as under Erasmus and provide funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges and schools to go on study and work placements overseas, starting in September 2021.
The Turing scheme will also go further than Erasmus+ by including countries across the world, while delivering greater value for money to taxpayers.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what cost-benefit analysis his Department has conducted comparing continued UK participation in Erasmus with the establishment of the Turing Scheme.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
The UK is already a significant net contributor to Erasmus+. Government estimates that the UK’s notional contribution to the current (2014-2020) programme over its seven-year duration will be around €1.8 billion, whilst the UK expected to receive around €1 billion in receipts over the course of the programme.
The budget for the next programme is nearly doubling from €14 billion to €26 billion. In order to participate in Erasmus+, the EU proposed new terms of participation for the UK which included a participation fee in addition to a GDP-based contribution. The only terms on offer to the UK for Erasmus+ participation would mean that we would likely make a gross contribution in the region of £600 million per annum and pay in around £2 billion more than we would get out over the course of the next programme. We obviously respect the right of the EU to set the terms for participation in its programmes but, in this case, we did not believe those terms represented value for money for the UK taxpayer.
Therefore, as an independent and sovereign country, it is also right that we will proceed with the introduction of a new international educational exchange scheme that has a genuinely global reach. The government remains committed to international education exchanges and that is why we have committed to funding the Turing scheme.
The Turing scheme will be backed by over £100 million for the academic year. This includes the costs of administering the scheme and I am pleased to confirm that the new scheme will be administered by the same consortium of British Council and Ecorys which have been delivering Erasmus+ in the UK for a number of years, drawing on their experience of working with education providers across the UK, and ensuring continuity. This will fund similar levels of student outbound mobilities as under Erasmus and provide funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges and schools to go on study and work placements overseas, starting in September 2021.
The Turing scheme will also go further than Erasmus+ by including countries across the world, while delivering greater value for money to taxpayers.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) other devolved Administrations on potential alternatives to the (i) Erasmus Plus and (i) Horizon Europe programmes.
Answered by Michelle Donelan
I have regular conversations with our counterparts in the Scottish government and other devolved administrations across a wide range of research and development issues.
These discussions include the UK’s approach to EU research programmes, where the government is seeking to negotiate with the EU a fair and balanced deal for the UK’s participation, including in Horizon Europe. Alongside this, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working with the devolved administrations and other stakeholders to develop credible options, should alternative schemes be required. We will continue to actively engage with the devolved administrations in policy development.
On Erasmus+, the government remains open to considering participation in some elements of the next programme. This will be subject to our ongoing negotiations with the EU. We will, in parallel with the negotiations, continue to develop a domestic alternative to Erasmus+. I regularly engage with my counterparts in the devolved administrations on matters relating to education and the EU exit, including Erasmus+ and the potential domestic alternative. The devolved administrations are also part of the governance and development process for the domestic alternative scheme, and we will continue to co-operate closely with them.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, what plans the Commission has to publish equality impact assessments on proposals to move the House from hybrid to physical proceedings.
Answered by Pete Wishart - Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Home Affairs)
Any mitigations identified as part of the equality impact assessment, will be published by 15 June, alongside any other steps taken in the Covid-19 risk assessment which has been published on the transparency pages of the House of Commons website.