Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase the funds available to the Student Loans Company in the light of a predicted shortfall.
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to restrict the number of students entering universities in the light of a predicted shortfall of funds available to the Student Loans Company.
Viscount Hanworth: In the 1960s when we were digging the Victoria line tunnel I remember that we caused minimal disruption around London and that the spoil was carried away directly. Can the Minister tell us why this cannot happen in the case of the Thames Tunnel when there is an easy way of carrying the spoil away-by the river?
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, the report of the Select Committee on Economic Affairs conveys one startling fact. We are told in paragraph 125 of the latest available estimate of the tax gap, which for the year 2008-09 was £42 billion. The gap is defined as the difference between tax collected and the tax that should have been collected. This gap represents an enormous sum of money and one must look for ways of...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I am in a position to repeat and summarise some of what has been said today in the course of this debate. I particularly appreciate the remarks of my noble friend Lord Judd. However, my own appraisal is by no means as sanguine as some that I have listened to. Also, the tendentious attack on the science of the IPCC that we have heard has filled me with despair. In the run-up to the...
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK Border Agency's activities on the ability of non-European Union students to study at United Kingdom universities.
Viscount Hanworth: I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he not recognise that the measures designed to combat bogus institutions are also having a severe effect on reputable institutions in the higher education sector? Would he not agree that, if the Government wish to reduce the headline figure of net immigration, it is inappropriate to include non-EU students in these figures? Under normal circumstances,...
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Answer by Lord De Mauley on 25 January (Official Report, col. 1045), whether sports parachutists will be subject to aviation passenger duty given that the aircraft they travel in will invariably return to the field from which it took off.
Viscount Hanworth: I shall speak briefly in support of Amendment 56. It is clear that this amendment is seeking to address a substantial problem with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We have seen some remarkable evidence of how the provisions of the Act can be used maliciously to frustrate research programmes by those who dislike the conclusions that the research is supporting. Is it not the freedom to...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, the Budget that we are discussing today has appalled many people on this side of the House. At a time of high unemployment, when fuels bills and food prices are rising, benefits are being cut and many families are feeling painful financial pressure, the Chancellor, George Osborne, has chosen to benefit the rich. This is bound to have dire consequences for the Conservative Party and...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, the Liaison Committee has proposed to curtail the work of the Science and Technology Committee by effectively halving the time and resources that are devoted to it. I should like to declare in the strongest possible manner that to do so would be a misguided action. I would go so far as to say that in the perception of many people, it would be an act of vandalism. It appears from the...
Viscount Hanworth: The enormity of the Holocaust places it in a category of its own, and a recognition of this is embodied in the Terezin agreement. The stated objectives of the Terezin accord have been pursued by the signatories with varying degrees of alacrity. The signatory that has faced the greatest practical task in identifying the victims and their inheritors and in making consequential actions is...
Viscount Hanworth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of the Kay review of United Kingdom equity markets and long-term decision-making; and whether they intend to take any consequential action.
Viscount Hanworth: I am surprised by the Minister's appraisal of the Kay report. However, will she concede that the rules of corporate government in the UK are in need of drastic revision? Does she not recognise the virtue of restricting the voting rights of shareholders who have long-term interests in companies in which they have invested, and is it not clear to her that the advisory role of shareholders on...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, within the past few weeks we have had to face the reality of a double-dip recession. Britain is facing prolonged economic woes. The Governor of the Bank of England has expressed his certainty that the UK economy will eventually emerge from its recession, but it is notable that he has been unwilling to give a timescale for this forecast. Others have foreseen the prospect of a decade...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, we have waited a long time for the legislative response to the financial crisis that began in 2007. The legislative response in the USA to the great crash of 1929, occasioned by rampant speculation in the stock market, was far more rapid. Already, by 1933, the Securities Act and the Glass-Steagall Act were in place. The powerful Securities Exchange Commission was in operation by...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, the report, The Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe, is an important and timely document. It alerts us to developments within the European Union and suggests that we need to keep a close watch on them if we are fully to exploit the opportunities that have arisen for co-ordination and collaboration. The report also serves to remind us that, unless we take care, we are in...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, our stock of plutonium waste would represent a valuable resource for power generation if we were to consider burning it in fast breeder reactors. Could the Minister tell us whether or not there are any genuine intentions to pursue this recourse?
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, a recent survey of UK universities has shown that, excluding students from China and Hong Kong, whose numbers continue to increase, the numbers of non-EU students in UK universities decreased in 2011-12 compared with the previous year. Does the Minister have figures in his brief that would illustrate this and, if so, is he prepared to share them with this House? Could he also tell...
Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, reform is a weasel word. It commonly denotes the removal of abuses and malpractices, the enhancement of efficiency, the defeat of vested interests and much else besides. Successive Governments have used the word as an accompaniment of coercive attempts to gain power and to exercise control over organisations or groups of people who serve specialised functions in society and who...
