HC Deb 30 May 1961 vol 641 cc22-3
28. Mr. G. M. Thomson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what consultations he had with the University Grants Committee regarding the allocation of funds for the expansion of the number of university places in Scotland.

Mr. Maclay

I maintain close contact both with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and with the University Grants Committee on matters relating to universities in Scotland. I should make it clear that the Chancellor's statement of 18th May applied to the needs of the next decade and that longer term needs will be considered in the light of the Report of the Robbins Committee. The position in this respect was explained by the Chairman of the U.G.C. to the representatives of the six Scottish centres interested in a new foundation when he met them last December and the position has not changed since then.

Mr. Thomson

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that his consultations and influence do not seem to be very successful? Is he aware that while there are seven universities to be established in England, Scotland has not had a new university since the sixteenth century, and that at present the Government's programme for university places in Scotland is totally inadequate to the number of students expected in the new few years?

Mr. Maclay

The hon. Gentleman is just not correct in the latter part of his statement. As the Chancellor of the Exchequer explained in the House, and as I have explained now, the building programmes he has authorised for universities will enable the Scottish universities and the Royal College of Science and Technology to accommodate the increasing number of students coming forward this decade.

Mr. Manuel

Does the right hon. Gentleman really think that the solution he is proposing is one which will be accepted by the people of Scotland? How much does the right hon. Gentleman think his education would have been retarded at Glasgow University, or wherever it was he was educated, if when he was being educated there were repair works and renovations going on? His proposals are quite intolerable to the people of Scotland, who want another university.

Mr. Maclay

Perhaps the hon. Member would study what has been said in answers today and in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement earlier. I will give him fuller information, if he would care to talk to me about it, in the light of the remarks of the Chairman of the U.G.C., who really does know something about universities.