Letter from Westminster

Written by Stephen Williams MP and published in Clifton Chronicle on Mon 22nd May 2006

Education Select Committee had a busy time this week, with three sittings. Our first meeting was a continuation of our in-depth look at citizenship teaching in schools. This is a relatively new statutory requirement and schools are still getting to grips with the subject.

One area we are exploring is the question of just what exactly is meant by citizenship? In its narrowest sense it would be teaching children about British institutions and democracy. If every sixteen year old learns the difference between an MP and a councillor and understands how laws are made by Parliament then they will have a better grounding than many older voters! But some ministers want things to go further, teaching pupils about "British values." This can lead to a lively debate on the nature of those values, or for that matter whether some values such as freedom and tolerance are found throughout the western world.

Our second meeting concerned the current university lecturers pay dispute. As the Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Higher Education I had already been closely following this issue. The committee questioned representatives of the university employers and then the two main unions. It is certainly fair to say that academic pay rises have fallen short of those enjoyed by other professions over the last twenty years. It is also true that British academics earn less than their overseas counterparts. But there was a lively debate over whether academics would be viewed as badly paid by most people.

There was also the question of the value of the employers' offer. When the top up fees legislation was passed by Labour in 2004 it was suggested that the net extra income would be shared between academic pay, student bursaries and university facilities. The full value of the pay offer is £1.6 billion whereas the extra fee income will be £1.3 billion. Of course, the universities have other income as well. The real problem is the sluggish growth in government spending on higher education. The Liberal Democrats will be monitoring future expenditure to make sure that the government does not rely on fees to provide the growth.

Now you hear of MPs going on junkets to Washington, California, Australia and the like. Well this week I went on my first select committee fact-finding trip. To Darlington, on the train. We were looking at a really innovative new school, the Darlington Education Village. This brings together on one site and in one linked building a mainstream primary and secondary school and also special needs children. We saw a school with all ages from 2 to 19 and children with profound and multiple learning difficulties as well as those with mild special needs.

It was a fascinating visit and will inform our report on special needs education later this year. As a final aside, I was stunned to find that my single rail fare from Darlington to Temple Meads was over £200. It would have been cheaper and quicker to have flown, but that's a subject for another column.