HL Deb 02 December 1987 vol 490 cc1051-3

2.45 p.m.

Lord Gladwyn

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why they did not take the initiative during the recent meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government at Vancouver in respect of the decision to create a Commonwealth institution for "distance learning" by co-operating with Canada and India in allocating considerable funds to this venture and by proposing that it should be located, not in Canada, but in the United Kingdom.

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the Commonwealth programme will not be located in any one country. It is to be a network of distance learning activities throughout the Commonwealth and will build on existing institutions. As part of this programme Her Majesty's Government have offered to finance the expansion of certain facilities at the Open University. Indeed we made this offer prior to Vancouver.

Lord Gladwyn

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply. But does she admit that the Government and the Commonwealth Secretariat have been painfully slow in pursuing the admirable objective of distance learning? And will she note that I still cannot understand why the Government do not admit the desirability of situating the university in London, especially since it would then have at its immediate disposal the services of the BBC with its unique experience in distance learning?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord that we do have unique experience in the field. However, I believe that the documentation unit and the credit transfer register at the Open University will be central parts of the network. Those are the facilities which the British Government have offered. The documentation unit already houses lists of prospectuses from all distance learning institutions in the world. That will he developed to serve the needs of the network. I think that those facilities are potentially just as important as the co-ordinating centre.

Baroness Ewart-Biggs

My Lords, does the Minister agree, in view of the wide-ranging experience of the United Kingdom in the field of distance learning, that the PNEU, the external services of the BBC and many other institutions have made valuable contributions? Does she agree that we are in a better position than Canada and India, who have supported the new venture most generously, and that we should do a little more than the measure which the Minister has put forward today?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, I believe that we will provide a valuable and essential part of the proposed network. However, I agree with the noble Baroness that the Overseas Development Agency has collaborated with many British institutions over the years, including the BBC and the Open University. It has a particularly close working relationship with the British Council. All that experience will serve what is not simply a British but a Commonwealth network.

Baroness David

My Lords, are the Government prepared to commit funds for acquiring or developing teaching materials through the Open University or the Open College on request from the new Commonwealth institution? That would be a practical help and it would widen the influence of Britain. I am aware of what the Minister said earlier concerning the Open University.

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the principles were agreed by the Heads of Government in Vancouver for co-operation in distance learning. What is now being set up is a committee to study the detailed arrangements. No doubt the remarks of the noble Baroness will be taken into account in that context.

Lord Morris

My Lords, why on earth should the new Commonwealth institution not be located in Canada?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, no reason at all that I can think of. We welcome the fact that Canada is prepared to contribute on that scale. Perhaps I may take this opportunity to draw it to your Lordships' attention that the British Government, on a bilateral basis, has funded correspondence colleges in several southern African countries, adult education courses in Kenya, the development of the Indira Ghandi Open University in India and the consultancy study of distance learning in the Commonwealth commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat as part of the exercise leading to the Briggs Report. In those ways we are helping other Commonwealth countries to play important roles in the Commonwealth network.

Lord Gladwyn

My Lords, am I right in assuming that all the Government have done is to give a half assurance of the contribution of a very small amount, along with Barbados and Botswana, to this very creative project?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, in this matter I can speak from personal experience. I attended, on behalf of the British Government, the Commonwealth Education Ministers' Conference in Nairobi earlier this year. The British Government were the first government to offer financial support or facility for the project.

Baroness David

My Lords, can the Minister tell us what amount of money the Government have committed? Is it as much as £2 million, which is the sum that Canada has committed?

Baroness Hooper

My Lords, the two facilities to which I referred earlier, the documentation unit and the credit transfer register, are likely to cost the Government between £1 million and £2 million over a period of five years as estimated. We remain committed to a detailed study of the project and as a result of that funding will be considered in the overall context.