HC Deb 03 July 1995 vol 263 cc13-4
29. Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has further to extend scientific education (a) for schoolchildren and (b) for the population at large—correcting the Table Office's typographical error, Madam Speaker. [30147]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. David Hunt)

I am always willing to discuss a wide and varied agenda with my hon. Friend, but I do draw the line at wide and varied gender.

The answer to the question of course is that we shall do whatever is necessary to capture the imagination of children and the population at large to the excitement of science, engineering and technology.

Mr. Hawkins

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. The Table Office had erroneously tried to transfer that question to the Secretary of State for Education, as it did with the later question from my hon. Friend the Member for Stamford and Spalding (Mr. Davies), which I think explains what happened there. I thank my right hon. Friend for his—[HON. MEMBERS: "Get on with it."]

Madam Speaker

Order. The Table Office does not transfer questions; Ministers do. The hon. Gentleman should not attack Officers of the House who do not have a platform to answer back.

Mr. Hawkins

I am grateful for your guidance, but may I thank my right hon. Friend for the support that he is giving to scientific education? My right hon. Friend knows that I have a strong commitment to that because it is crucial—and I am sure that he agrees—that we are able to compete internationally. Unless the schoolchildren of the future have a very good scientific education, we shall be handicapped in competing with the Germans, the Japanese and the Americans.

Mr. Hunt

I agree with my hon. Friend that that does revolve around competitiveness. That is why I was pleased, on 22 May, to publish, at the same time as the competitiveness White Paper, the technology foresight steering group report, which set out that we shall need to find the future scientists who will discover the cures for diseases to which there is as yet no solution or cure. They will have to find the motor vehicle of the future. Many exciting challenges lie ahead, and we must ensure that we are ready, willing and able to meet those challenges.

Mr. Battle

What a complacent response. Is the Minister aware that many 16-year-olds at school are turning their back on science, especially in England and Wales? Is he aware that degree applications for science subjects are down this year for this year's entrants—physics down 3 per cent., environmental sciences down 6 per cent., general engineering down 18 per cent. and electronic engineering down 74 per cent.? What will the Government actually do to sort out that science gap for 16 to 18-year-olds?

Would it not be timely to consider the model of the Scottish education system, for example, to introduce a broader curriculum for 16 to 18-year-olds to ensure that all youngsters throughout Britain have a better understanding of science and a chance to take science further?

Mr. Hunt

The hon. Gentleman ignores—I think that he acknowledged that indirectly—the fact that we have ensured that all children now study science up to the age of 16, under the national curriculum. As for 16 to 19-year-olds, he will be aware of Sir Ron Dearing's review, which is currently taking place.