Results 1-20 of 4,709 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:David Lammy

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: Last week, we published our higher education framework. There has been a narrowing in the gap between the least advantaged and the most advantaged in terms of higher education participation in recent years, but we want to go further, for example by supporting many of the recommendations in the recent report by the panel on fair access to the professions chaired by my right hon. Friend the...

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: I congratulate my hon. Friend on her doughty championing of extending universities' reach across Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes is offering higher education to more students through the Open university than any other university in the country. My hon. Friend was lucky and successful in her bid to extend that reach to mature students and part-time students in Milton Keynes. Additional student...

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: I am going to take every opportunity to expose the conceit of the Liberal Democrats over the next few months. The hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) said that they would turn their backs on the 50 per cent. participation rate and their leader said that they would downgrade their position on tuition fees because they could not cost it after the election. That is the Liberal Democrats'...

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing that point to my attention. He knows that universities are autonomous, but I had not heard that before. I will look into the matter and discuss it with the funding council.

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: Universities, parents and students up and down the country will be very nervous that a Conservative Government would cut Aimhigher. The socio-economic gap between those in the highest and lowest groups is down by 7 per cent., while participation from the poorest neighbourhoods in the country and from state schools is up. All that is against the backdrop of the Conservatives slashing funding...

Business, Innovation and Skills: Higher Education (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: My hon. Friend has been a campaigner for the use of contextual data in the past, and I hope that he will welcome that in the higher education framework. I think it best that I leave his words of advice to students to him, as that is a point that only he could make.

Business, Innovation and Skills: Topical Questions (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: Well, for reasons known only to him, the right hon. Gentleman will have missed the fact that there is indeed an inquiry, which is being led by Sir Deian Hopkin, the former vice-chancellor of South Bank university. I have said that I am sorry for what has happened, and so has the chief executive of the Student Loans Company. We did that in the House a few weeks ago, so I hope that the right...

Business, Innovation and Skills: Topical Questions (12 Nov 2009)

David Lammy: I can indeed assure the hon. Gentleman, because he will have seen that one of the seven panel members is a former chair of the British Youth Council. Let me also assure his constituents that the Government are committed to a 50 per cent. participation rate and refer them to the statements of the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable). We believe that the issue is important and should not be...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to repeat a statement made by my right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills about "Higher Ambitions: the future of universities in a knowledge economy", which we are publishing today and placing in the House Libraries. The last 10 years have been a decade of outstanding achievement for higher education in...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: I am grateful that the hon. Gentleman broadly welcomes what we have said today. I did not seek to lard the Government for all that has been achieved. In fact, I congratulated the sector and students on much that has been achieved, but it is important at this critical stage to contrast the past 10 years with a previous period in which the unit of resource was cut— [Interruption.]...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: It is important to contrast that period with the present, as we look forward. On the funding review, we always said that we would hold that when the first cohort of students come to the end of their studies. They did that this summer, so we will set up the review, as the hon. Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts) knows, because we have had conversations with him on Privy Council terms. I will...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: Mr. Deputy Speaker, forgive me. Contextual data always gets me going— [ Interruption. ] The hon. Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr. Evennett) says, "On the careers service." We will respond to my right hon. Friend's report in due course.

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: I recognise what my right hon. Friend says, with his wealth of experience in these areas. He might be aware that David Melville is looking particularly at the situation that arose at London Metropolitan university, where this has been a broader issue that may have bigger implications for the sector. My right hon. Friend is right to raise the matter, and we are looking into it.

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: On the hon. Lady's serious point, she will be aware of the Worton review on languages. I welcome that review. Professor Worton has recommended a new forum, which I am happy to chair, to try to ensure that university languages departments diversify and extend beyond traditional European languages, particularly in developing Chinese and some of the Asian languages over the next while. I welcome...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: I know that my hon. Friend is a quick reader, but I cannot believe that he has managed to consume the entire report quite so quickly. I promise him that there is meaty detail in the document. He is a valiant campaigner for funding for higher education, and I hope that he knows that the Government recognise that it is a key component of our economy and needs to continue to be properly resourced.

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: May I commend to the hon. Gentleman the relevant work that was published last week by the Department for Children, Schools and Families? It is an excellent contribution to ensuring that schools are equipped to be better in terms of the information, advice and guidance they offer over the next decade. There will be a role for Ofsted, an identifiable person in a school who is responsible for...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: My hon. Friend puts his point well. He will recognise that there are a range of views about how best to get funding into the system. He mentions one way, but the Government set their face against it when they capped fees at the £3,000 mark back in 2003-04.

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: The hon. Gentleman is right that there is much to commend the college system in the United States, but there is also much to commend the role of both further education in this country and the post-1992 universities, which have been right at the centre of extending participation and account predominantly for the 54 per cent. of students in our system who are mature students, which is more than...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: My hon. Friend is right, and we continue to work with colleagues in the DCSF and with Aimhigher associates, who are young people themselves and are returning into schools and inspiring a new generation of students. We work also with the professional bodies such as the Engineering Council, which has a range of schemes—I can think of a particular one in south London—and will...

Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury: Higher Education (3 Nov 2009) has video

David Lammy: I do not recognise that caricature, because if the hon. Gentleman looks at the recent results at A-level science and at the cohort of young people doing science, he will see that both are up, never mind the number who take up postgraduate study, which has doubled since the previous Administration. Of course there is more we can do, particularly in relation to triple science, and the DCSF is...