Education (Student Support) (European University Institute) Regulations 2010

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, for giving us the opportunity to explore these regulations in more detail. Like him, when I read them at the weekend I was increasingly disturbed by the implications of what was in them. It is interesting that this debate follows the previous one on immigration when we were discussing the wish of people from overseas to study in the UK. This regulation offers an opportunity for our people to study in the EU to the benefit, surely, of both parties. My noble friend Lord Wallace of Saltaire tabled Questions in February and March in connection with these changes to funding. They were answered by the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Today’s debate is being taken by BIS. These matters obviously span departments and one wonders whether they perhaps have suffered from falling between two departments, both of which may have been looking for easy budget cuts. Will the Minister confirm that these decisions were taken somewhere within BIS? What consultation took place with key stakeholders? That is not at all apparent from the evidence in front of us—for instance, consultation with the FCO and the institutions affected. Perhaps the Minister would further say whether any assessment was sought from previous students to gain evidence of the value of the programmes and what they had gained from them. Perhaps as significantly, with the benefit of these programmes behind them, where had their career progressions taken them in terms of the sort of positions that they were holding? This year, the total budget for the College of Europe and Bologna was £279,000 and for the European University Institute it was £174,000. There was apparently no impact assessment and the Explanatory Memorandum states that, ""any impact on the public sector would be minimal"." Any savings to be made from cutting these budgets are unlikely to be significant within the total higher education budget and certainly smack of gesture politics rather than a serious attempt either to balance the books of the national economy or to make a beneficial redistribution within education funding. But if the financial impact is minimal, there is a much broader question of value. As the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, has said, the EUI has a growing reputation as an academic institution. What will be the impact on the UK’s ability to play its full part in contributing and benefiting from that reputation in understanding and influencing the EU debate? For students to be selected for these scholarships, they need to be proficient in a language other than English. This raises a broader concern, which we have raised previously in your Lordships’ House, but which will benefit from being raised again; namely, the decline in modern language teaching in secondary schools. Although this takes the debate slightly beyond these regulations, perhaps the Minister will indicate what measures the Government are taking to ensure that the country has sufficient people fluent in modern languages to enable the UK to be represented and influential at the highest levels in the EU. We add our concern about the way in which these cuts were made, the rapid reinstatement of places but for one year only, and the knock-on effect of discouraging internationally minded young people from seeking rewarding careers in the EU. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.