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24 Mar 2009 : Column 69WH—continued
The bid from north Northamptonshire is strong and has already impressed the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Everyone in the local area is signed up to it, and considering all the house building that is expected to take place, it could make a real
difference to the future of north Northamptonshire. We could even go as far as saying that if north Northamptonshire does not get a university and approval for its university challenge bid—I believe that it is the only one in the east midlands region out of the 27 successful bids so far—it is not clear to those involved in the process of regeneration and housing growth in the local area that the employment targets for the local area will be met.
Of the 47,400 jobs that the Government plan to create by 2021, there is a shortfall of at least 19,000. Those jobs could be provided by the economic stimulus that a new university in north Northamptonshire would provide. If the university challenge scheme is unsuccessful, there will be a big black hole in the employment prospects for north Northamptonshire. We will not have a sustainable community, as the Government intend. Instead, we will have lots of houses, not enough jobs and insufficient infrastructure.
My task is to impress on the Minister the importance of this bid—not just for local education opportunities, but as part of the Government’s whole approach to getting some growth into the north of the county. I hope that when decision time comes on the issue, the Minister and HEFCE will look favourably at the proposals for a university in the north of Northamptonshire.
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The Minister of State, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Mr. David Lammy): I congratulate the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone) on securing the debate. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) and the Minister of State, Department of Health, my good and hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Phil Hope) on their work towards and long commitment to getting a university centre in north Northamptonshire. The hon. Member for Kettering spoke on the subject no less convincingly than he has spoken on previous occasions when he has raised the matter in the House and made direct representations to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
I must make it clear for the public record that the final decision on whether to establish a university centre in the Kettering-Corby-Wellingborough area will not be taken by me or my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State; it is a decision for the Higher Education Funding Council for England. That body will take that decision on the basis of assessing the bids against the published criteria and according to their comparative quality. It would not, of course, be proper for members of the Government to intervene in that process.
I know that the hon. Member for Kettering is already aware of all of that. His confidence in the Northamptonshire bid’s prospects for success on its own merits was evident from his speech. That does not lessen the effect of his eloquence today, nor of the fact that the proposal in whose favour he has spoken has the merit of commanding cross-party support in his area as well as the support of many local businesses and other organisations.
I know that because just two weeks ago I was able to witness for myself the good work being done in Northamptonshire when I attended the signing of the higher level skills strategy for the county. It is an agreement between the university of Northampton and partner
colleges Moulton college, Northampton college and Tresham institute. The strategy is an important initiative, and I was pleased to launch it. It would be right to say that it and the ambition for the wider area are partly based on the hope and expectation that a new university might come to the area.
I should make it clear that I do not wish to take issue with the basic argument that a new university centre would bring great benefits to north Northamptonshire. I clearly recognise that a new university centre would make a key contribution to the regeneration of the area by unlocking the potential of the local towns and people and by driving economic growth. I say that as someone who spent seven wonderful years at school in Peterborough, just next door. I am acutely aware of the nature of the people and the environment, of the histories of the area’s market towns, and of the contribution that a university could make.
There was a time when most people regarded universities as separate from everyday life, and certainly as largely separate from the lives of the communities in which they were situated. That is no longer true. Universities and their communities have drawn closer in recent years and, if anything, the effects of the economic downturn have given added impetus to that process. Businesses and ordinary working people are becoming increasingly aware that the world of higher education has something important to offer them. I was pleased when I was in Northampton that so many local businesses and the local chamber of commerce were there alongside the university and the colleges. That indicated the strength of ambition in that important growth area of the country.
At the same time, the universities have come round to the view that the unprecedented levels of public funding that they now enjoy confer a responsibility on them to demonstrate their value to the generality of the population, not just the 2.5 million or so people who are taking degrees at any one time. That was demonstrated graphically by Universities UK’s aptly named brochure on higher education and the economic downturn, “Standing together: Universities helping business through the downturn”. It was published at the end of last year and contains many examples of how universities are working in partnership with local and regional employers.
All over the country, universities are now getting involved with local authorities, regional development agencies, chambers of commerce and bodies such as Business Link. They are sitting down at the table with those who are making strategic decisions for the local area. They are representing future skills needs in those conversations, and it is hugely important that they are able to drive the ambitions of our local communities.
The universities are looking to take more of their knowledge and innovation out to the marketplace through knowledge transfer. They are taking more of their tuition off campus and out to the workplace itself. That should be welcomed by everyone who is interested in social and economic development. In short, it means that universities are becoming an ever more integral and, indeed, indispensable part of the economic supply chain and our social fabric.
When we talk about a knowledge economy, it is important to think about what underpins it. It was clear from the hon. Gentleman’s contribution that an area
with the rural-industrial past that his has needs real drivers to achieve ambitions. We all know that it cannot be about housing stock only. It has to be about infrastructure that lifts the aspirations not just of young people but of adults and parents as well.
That is why HEFCE is now offering new support for co-funding of courses by universities and employers. It is why the research councils are now scrutinising the economic impact of the projects that they fund, and, not least important to this debate, it is why the new university challenge that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced last year will bring a higher education presence to communities in parts of the country that have not previously benefited from or been served by one at all. Our ambition is that 20 new university centres will be opened or committed to over the six-year period up to 2014. They will provide places for 10,000 extra students when fully operational.
The new university challenge has generated significant enthusiasm in the hon. Gentleman’s area and elsewhere. Applications from no fewer than 27 areas were submitted to HEFCE last November. That demonstrates the appetite for high-level skills and understanding across the country.
Formal applications for university centres must be made to HEFCE which, as I said, will judge them on a fair basis against the criteria. HEFCE published its detailed guidance for applications on 9 March and made it clear that applications must address a range of priorities, including increasing high-level skills, creating a highly skilled work force for the local economy, and supporting progression and sustainable demand for studying. Applications must also meet criteria for collaboration between universities and further education institutions. I know that that is an area of activity where Northamptonshire already has a strong record.
Crucially, applicants need to be able to demonstrate support from local partners, as well as long-term sustainable planning and management capacity. Those are all good reasons for hon. Members to continue to lead in making the formal case for developments to the funding council with the support of local people, local businesses and funding bodies such as the regional development agencies.
Although challenging, the criteria are sufficiently flexible to be adaptable in principle to any part of the country. I can therefore assure hon. Members that the final choice of successful applications is in no way a foregone conclusion. There is no single model for a new higher education centre nor a defined set of acceptable models. In most cases, we anticipate supporting new higher education centres that are based in or linked to existing providers offering new opportunities. We do not rule out the possibility of the creation of a genuinely new university in the longer term if a strong case can be made for one.
The hon. Member for Kettering is a powerful advocate for the creation of a new university presence in north Northamptonshire. He has been supported by the Minister of State, Department of Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Corby, and by the hon. Member for Wellingborough. I congratulate them on continuing to make the case, and I am pleased to put on the record not just the important—
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Sitting adjourned without Question put (Standing Order No. 10(11)).
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