Christmas Adjournment

Absolutely, and it is indeed strange that the Open university should have been one of the principal victims of a decision taken without consultation either in the sector or with business. As my hon. Friend says, the decision was taken to remove funding for those studying for courses that are part of equivalent or lower qualifications—precisely those courses needed by the economy, as workers have a higher need to keep reskilling. These men and women who are sacrificing their time to re-educate themselves, in conformity with the Prime Minister's stated aim of lifelong learning—he used to be an Open university tutor—and who mostly remain in work, paying taxes and supporting our economy, are to be treated less favourably than other students. For many, their employer will not make up the lost funding, and for those who are trying to break away from their present career or profession, their employer will not provide any support. These men and women, who entered university straight from school but who, in mid life, have been out of the workplace for a number of years as parents bringing up the next generation or as carers looking after relatives, are to be denied the chance to find their feet again and to re-equip themselves for the changing world of work by going back to university to study. Instead of part-time study being favoured because of its economic benefits, it is always the poor cousin. I sincerely hope that the demonstration of support for my early-day motion on equivalent and lower qualifications by 204 Members, from both sides of the House, will have provoked a rethink on this issue. Part-time learning throughout life will be a necessity in our society. The Open university needs our support in order to grow and flourish, and I, for one, hope that the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families can make an appropriate new year's resolution. In the time left available to me, I wish to raise a couple of other constituency issues, the first of which relates to trains. It would appear that Milton Keynes is no longer the first stop on the inter-city route, but is now the penultimate stop on the commuter route. Commuters in Milton Keynes simply cannot understand why, when the Government are forcing our city to expand, little extra provision is being made for our services. Although we are grateful that the platforms in Milton Keynes Central are being upgraded, I asked the Minister what benefit that will bring to the commuters of Milton Keynes. I received an answer to my parliamentary question, which stated:"““The enlarged Milton Keynes Central station was justified on the basis that the town could be served by an increased frequency of inter city trains linking Milton Keynes with the north””." That is fascinating, but when we looked at the new timetable, we discovered that the number of direct services to Liverpool had been cut—not increased, as the answer says—from seven to two, and the number of services to the north-west and Scotland had fallen from six to just one. People who want to get on that train must do so at 6.26 am. In addition, I should mention the ridiculous situation whereby trains to Euston will stop to let passengers off at Milton Keynes, but nobody can get on. Not a single inter-city train now stops there during peak hours. The other issue that I wish briefly to cover is our hospital, which was built in 1984—for the population at the time. Milton Keynes general hospital has expanded rapidly over recent years. It is easy for the Prime Minister to say that every hospital will have a deep clean, but that is not that easy to do in hospitals such as the one in Milton Keynes. It has a high occupancy rate, which means that it has no decant area. Some 32 areas in the hospital have been identified as needing to be cleaned, at the cost of some £8,000 per area, but a dedicated decant area has yet to be identified. The hospital is struggling to find somewhere to enable the deep clean to be carried out. While I am on the subject of the hospital, I should like to pay tribute to the work of the midwives. They are working under increasing pressure, because the birth rate has been increasingly rapid in Milton Keynes over the years.