Contributions
755 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)As we have heard, amendment 78 and new clause 7 seek to introduce an advisory board to work with the new director for freedom of speech and academic freedom and to advise the…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)Amendment 79 would make the director for freedom of speech and academic freedom responsible for providing an annual update to higher education providers and student unions on the…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)To respond directly to the hon. Lady’s point, we think it is right that FE colleges are in scope within the Bill. They are already regulated by the OfS when they put on courses of…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)There is no formal right of appeal. If a provider or student felt that there was a factual error, of course that would be outlined in the guidance by the OfS director in relation…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)Absolutely; we would expect the OfS to consult the NUS, as well as additional student unions and student representative bodies, to ensure that it hears a comprehensive range of…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)Amendment 38 seeks to ensure that a complaint cannot be made to the new OfS complaints scheme if a complaint relating to the same subject matter is being or has been dealt with by…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Eleventh sitting)I can answer that question quite swiftly. We cannot get into the business of listing every single law in every Bill. The Bill, as the hon. Gentleman will recognise, does not…22 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Ninth sitting)I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comment. The problem is that if someone is a visiting speaker at a university, there would be no internal process that they could follow. We…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Ninth sitting)Clauses 1 and 2 strengthen freedom of speech duties on registered higher education providers and extend them to students unions at approved fee cap providers. Clause 3 plugs an…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)Amendment 35 would seek to allow only current students, members and staff of a provider to make a complaint, which would rule out those who had been expelled or lost their job as…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)To clarify, in the Bill there is no time limit, but our full expectation is that there will be one in accordance with precedent, such as that of the OIA. There will be a…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)The time limit refers to amendments 36 and 37, which I will proceed to, but indeed we are not setting a time limit. It would depend on what had happened and the facts that were…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)This is in line with how we have done legislation before, and to have in the Bill the details of the exact things that the hon. Member is asking for would not be appropriate.20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)I will make some progress.20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman, but if I can then make some progress, I might actually answer some of the Opposition’s questions.20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)Our process here is in line with section 15 of the 2017 Act. It is suitable for secondary legislation that will be subject to sufficient parliamentary scrutiny. The regulations…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)I think what is actually important is to have sufficient time for engagement and consultation with the sector and student unions, for the very reasons given about their varying…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Tenth sitting)I think that I have been quite clear, but I shall be even clearer: the regulations will be passed via secondary legislation, when there will be an opportunity for hon. Members to…20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Ninth sitting)I will, but we are going to have to let me do more than two lines at a time or we will never get through the Bill.20 Sept 2021HANSARD Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (Ninth sitting)To clarify my comments, I believed that the hon. Member was talking about going through internal processes before addressing the tort.20 Sept 2021