Mr Phillip Whitehead: Why does the hon. Gentleman, of all people, propose that resource restraints in higher education have to be accepted, constant and taken for granted when such assumptions are not made in other areas of Government expenditure, such as the police?
Mr Phillip Whitehead: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. When a body that is not designed to produce cuts produces cuts, what do we call that? Design failure?
Mr Phillip Whitehead: If the hon. Member for Cambridge (Mr. Rhodes James) can contain himself, he will find that in the House we are counted by number, as in the good book, and not necessarily by subject. I hope that the hon. Member for Cambridge, like the other fellows of All Souls here tonight on the Government Benches, will give me the courtesy of a hearing. We are having this debate because we think that it...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: That is the point. If we were complacently contemplating our record in education and reskilling the vast majority of our young population so that they were better fitted for the complexities of the world of the 1980s and 1990s, perhaps there would be philosophical justification for entering into that argument. I fail to see it. Our record in many of those significant areas is worse than that...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: My hon. Friend is correct. The concept that the UGC failed to grasp and which the Government, in their willingness to instruct the committee at that stage, omitted was what I call the concept of added value in higher education. There is added value in taking the student with three E grade A-levels and making of him more than might have been expected at the point of intake. It is easy to turn...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: We all know what happens when a composer conducts his own piece. The Secretary of State should be replying to the debate, because these are his policies. He will be mute throughout, and the Under-Secretary will have to reply. That is their problem. My first question is this. The Secretary of State said in the presence of his hon. Friend that the Robbins principle was being reassessed; he...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: I also congratulate the Minister on the decision that he took. I thank him also for seeing the Labour Party delegation that visited him. Whatever he says in the House now, his decision will be seen as a proper rebuff to Mr. Burrett for his report. Will the Minister therefore publicly dissociate himself from recommendation 12 of Mr. Burrett's proposals to the effect that the two museums which...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: As the Minister, at an early stage, read Sir William Rees-Mogg's letter, will he accept that if the level of funding for the Arts Council next year falls significantly below £98·5 million, one of the four national companies based in London may have all financial support withdrawn? Will he accept also that a proper level of funding for those companies is needed, especially as we await the...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I have given only brief notice of a point of order about the rights of the House, on which I seek your guidance—
Mr Phillip Whitehead: Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I submit that this is a matter concerning the rights of the House. When a Committee has found a statutory instrument profoundly unsatisfactory and voted it down, and taking into account the fact that the Leader of the House had previously given undertakings that student grants should be debated on the Floor, it is incumbent upon the House, if its...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to announce the revised list of closures for institutions providing initial teacher training.
Mr Phillip Whitehead: Does the Secretary of State accept that the maladroit exercise that he attempted to carry out during the summer vacation has now led to 10 institutions being closed without any reason whatever being given? The reasons for this whole exercise have not been explained to the House. Will he allow time for a debate and say why he has still gone far above the ACSET limit in the closures that he is...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: Does the Minister agree that it is scandalous that these proposals were announced the day before Education Question Time and with no debate in the House? What guarantee do we have that the proposals will be debated and some amendment be possible?
Mr Phillip Whitehead: Will the Minister discuss with the University Grants Committee why it asked Salford to raise its intake of part-time students by 75 per cent. and at the same time asked it to raise the fees for those same students by 150 per cent? What is the logic of that? How can Salford do even the things that the UGC now asks?
Mr Phillip Whitehead: With your permission, Mr. Speaker, I beg to present a humble petition on behalf of my constituent the Venerable Robert Dell, Archdeacon of Derby. Archdeacon Dell petitions this honourable House to repeal the House of Commons (Clergy Disqualification) Act 1801 which was passed to effect the retrospective disqualification of a Member of this honourable House, the Rev. Horne Tooke, the great...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: May I press the Minister a little further, as this is the last Arts Question Time before Christmas? Does the clause in the National Heritage Bill that allows museums to make charges without qualifications if they see fit mean that he has gone down the charges path? Would he not rather endorse the educational use of museums that is written into the Education Act 1964, which has recently been...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: Does the Minister agree that the trustees should include representatives of the work force within the museums?
Mr Phillip Whitehead: Is the Minister aware that he has had in his possession for some months a letter from the chairman of the Arts Council which stressed that, unless a minimum of £98·5 million was paid in grant this year, substantial cuts would have to be imposed on national companies and regional activities which, to some extent, the Arts Council has supported? Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that a...
Mr Phillip Whitehead: asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he expects to announce the grant allocation for the Arts Council for the coming year.
Mr Phillip Whitehead: I wish to return to two matters on which I have not received a satisfactory reply. [Interruption.] They relate to the same subject. Has the right hon. Gentleman replied to the chairman of the Arts Council? If so, what were the terms of that reply and will be publish the correspondence? The original letter was a public letter. What comments has the Minister to make on statements by two of four...