Huddersfield School of Architecture

Part of Petition – in the House of Commons at 11:51 pm on 8 April 1986.

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Photo of Mr George Walden Mr George Walden , Buckingham 11:51, 8 April 1986

The hon. Gentleman is casting aspersions on the work of HMI, as I understand it. May I reiterate what I said earlier on numerous occasions throughout my speech? My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a careful review of all the steps taken before reaching his provisional decision. I think that it is important, and that it will be helpful to all hon. Members if I get the Government's view on record.

My right hon. Friend also took account of factual material bearing on quality and relationship to cognate disciplines, to which attention had been drawn by representatives of the polytechnic in its discussion with officials. In this context, the reported views of the validating body, the CNAA, and the professional body, RIBA, were noted. In the judgment of my right hon. Friend, however, these did not by themselves render unreasonable the identification of the school at Huddersfield polytechnic for a zero intake to its part I course in 1986.

It was against that background that my right hon. Friend took his provisional decision that there should be no intakes to the part 1 course at Huddersfield in 1986. I must however re-emphasise, as I have on several occasions during my speech, the essentially provisional nature of the decision, the basis of which was set out in the Department's letter of 7 March to the polytechnic's maintaining authority, which also conveyed an invitation to make further representations in the light of its contents.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury (Mr. Whitfield) for attending the debate, because the broader hearing the Government case has the better we like it. I can assure the hon. Member for Huddersfield, my hon. Friend the Member for Dewsbury and other hon. Members that my right hon. Friend will give careful consideration to whatever representations are made by the deputation that he will shortly receive from the polytechnic and the maintaining authority. He will proceed to a final decision only in the light of those representations.

It was valuable for me and for the Government to hear the views of the hon. Member for Huddersfield, and I sympathise with his concern and with the concerns of his constituents. I know that other hon. Members also have an indirect but vital interest in this matter and I was grateful to hear their comments tonight. I hope that I have stressed sufficiently in my remarks that the Government have adopted a cautious approach to this complicated problem. The European dimension raised by the hon. Member for Huddersfield introduces a further complexity into this matter.