Student Unrest

HC Deb 10 February 1969 vol 777 cc856-8

19. Mr. Shinwell

asked the Paymaster-General whether, in the light of her work on matters concerning youth, she will inquire into and seek a solution of student unrest.

Mrs. Hart

I certainly intend to find out all I can about the worries and aspirations of young people in general. But questions about students as such are for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science; and we shall also have the benefit of the views of the Select Committee which is currently inquiring into this mutter.

Mr. Shinwell

In view of the epithets used by my right hon. Friend's colleague the Minister for Education and Science, are we likely to get much useful information in that fashion? In view of the absence of specific and factual information on the cause of student unrest, as my right hon. Friend is responsible for looking after youth, would it not be desirable for her to consult the representatives of student organisations?

Mrs. Hart

I have, not only since my present appointment as Paymaster-General but over the last year, had a number of opportunities to talk to representatives of student organisations. My impression, which is shared by my right right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science and the Minister of State, as they made clear in the debate a week last Wednesday, is that there is undoubtedly a genuine and widespread desire among students to take rather more of a share in the management of various aspects of universities but as the Minister of State herself made clear in that debate these, inevitably, are matters that take some time to arrange, but we must give high regard to the efforts that the universities are making to meet the problem.

Mr. Patrick Jenkin

Is the right hon. Lady aware that those who are from time to time engaged in university affairs rather deplored the efforts by the Secretary of State to earn the plaudits of the Alf Garnetts of this world by his rather extreme statements in that debate? Does the right hon. Lady accept that the views put to her by the right hon. Member for Easington (Mr. Shinwell) have a good deal of substance in them, and that it is important that we should gain the confidence of these people if any progress is to be made?

Mrs. Hart

The hon. Member is being extremely unfair in interpreting my right hon. Friend's remarks in that way. He was clearly differentiating between the objectives of a great many students and the methols which a very few of them are using from time to time. This is the distinction that we need to make, while recognising that this is a matter of genuine concern to the great majority of students.

Mr. Rankin

Does my right hon Friend agree that an inquiry of this nature cannot be conducted on two separate fronts? Ought it not to be coordinated?

Mrs. Hart

Yes. My hon. Friend will understand that on all matters in which I have some responsibility but in respect of which executive responsibilities are carried out by some of my right hon. Friends there is complete co-ordination and complete discussion at every stage.

Mr. Hordern

Will the right hon. Lady, in her consultations with youth organisations, also consult the Young Conservatives, if necessary in the privacy of her own home?

Mrs. Hart

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that one of the most enjoyable opportunities I have had recently in meeting a large gathering of young people was when I attended a function organised by the British Youth Council, at which Conservative, Liberal and Socialist students were all fully represented.