HC Deb 03 July 1953 vol 517 cc750-3

Considered in Committee under Standing Order No. 84 (Money Committees) [Queen's Recommendation signified.]

[Sir CHARLES MACANDREW in the Chair]

Motion made, and Question proposed, That for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to make provision for the granting of scholarships in commemoration of the assistance received by the United Kingdom under the European Recovery Programme and known as Marshall Aid, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of grants made by the Secretary of State to the Commission established by the said Act to defray the expenditure of the Commission incurred for the purpose of providing, in each year, up to twelve scholarships tenable in the United Kingdom by citizens of the United States of America, including administrative expenses incurred in connection therewith."—[Mr. Anthony Nutting.]

12.22 p.m.

Lieut.-Colonel Elliot

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the promise of consideration which he has just given. I quite understand that it may not be possible to incorporate my proposal within the present terms of the Bill. May I point out that the Money Resolution actually contains the words "tenable in the United Kingdom," which confines the Bill and might make it impossible for my hon. Friend to amend it along the lines of my suggestion. It would not be possible at this stage to alter the Money Resolution, and if my hon. Friend decided to broaden the Bill it would mean making some small extension in a subsequent Money Resolution. I trust that my hon. Friend will not rule that out, and that he will be prepared, if necessary, to broaden the Money Resolution at a later stage, or use some form of supplementary Money Resolution.

Meanwhile, in passing this Money Resolution the Committee would confine the Bill to "scholarships tenable in the United Kingdom." I make the point strongly because it might lead to a certain amount of difficulty. Several of the institutions in which such scholarships might be held have facilities outside the United Kingdom. I am not quite sure whether the words "tenable in the United Kingdom" would cover that situation; it may well be that they could be so stretched as to cover it, so that a scholarship at the London University would still be tenable even though the student were for some purpose or another temporarily working outside the United Kingdom although still, so to speak, within that university.

I indicate that as one of the complications which might arise in the conditions under which these scholarships will eventually be granted. I trust that in any case they will not be unduly limited to Oxford and Cambridge—and I say that as representative of a group of other universities, both in Scotland and in England, which have facilities quite as important for the study of modern problems as those available at Oxford or Cambridge.

I deprecate the suggestion of the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. de Freiras) that the scholarships should be confined to those studying political science. It may well be that co-operation between peoples of different views in political science could be better assisted through the study of some totally different subject, such as music, which was stressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Handsworth (Sir E. Boyle). It may well be that developments of co-operation and friendship will be found outside the narrow limits of political science which will yet have repercussions on political association, thereby facilitating the object which we all have in view. I therefore deprecate limiting these scholarships to any single field just as I would deprecate limiting the study necessary to fulfilling them being carried out in any particular locality.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

Is there any possibility of the Joint Under-Secretary of State withdrawing this Money Resolution and submitting it to the consideration of the Committee next Friday, when we shall take the Committee stage? The points which have been made from both sides of the House have intimated that we think a ceiling of £40,000 is too low. In view of the number of views expressed on the subject, is it not reasonable to ask the Foreign Secretary to go to the Treasury and ask that the ceiling should be higher? If we put a financial limit to the scheme of £40,000, it will be out of order next week to move Amendments to increase the expenditure. I appeal to the Joint Under-Secretary of State to take note of the suggestion made by the right hon. and gallant Member for Kelvingrove (Lieut.-Colonel Elliot).

Mr. Nutting

There is, of course, nothing in the Bill or the Money Resolution which limits the expenditure to £40,000. I was very careful, in my speech introducing the Bill, to say that that was the estimated cost. The fact that the figure appears in the Financial Memorandum has no statutory effect or limitation upon the scheme but is merely a guide to Parliament so that they may know what should be the maximum cost when the scheme is fully working.

I will consider the point raised by my right hon. and gallant Friend, as I have already promised, but there are considerable difficulties about it and I cannot guarantee that we shall be able to insert into the Bill any words to cover the point he makes. I prefer to consider it rather from the other direction he indicated— whether we could stretch the existing words to allow students to go to universities associated with British universities but in the Colonial Empire. I prefer to look at the matter from that point of view rather than from the point of view of amending the words in the existing draft. I therefor prefer that the Committee should approve the Money Resolution as the House has approved the Bill.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolution to be reported upon Monday next.