Time for very careful scrutiny of the Higher Education & Research Bill
Over the summer, CaSE convened a workshop on the Higher Education & Research Bill attended by around 40 people from CaSE member organisations and collaborators across academia, industry, charities and learned/professional bodies.
Over the summer, CaSE convened a workshop on the Higher Education & Research Bill attended by around 40 people from CaSE member organisations and collaborators across academia, industry, charities and learned/professional bodies.
The workshop provided an opportunity to go through the research and innovation aspects of the Bill which will legislate for new research and innovation funding structures, including the creation of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) .Discussion centred around four broad and overlapping themes, UKRI & council links, Innovation, Teaching & Research, and Governance. We separated into groups by theme – post-its, pens and flipcharts made an appearance and each group tried to capture the clause-by-clause concerns and to assess where concerns were broadly shared, what the emerging priorities were. And, of course, how some of the concerns could best be addressed – for instance, by text amendments to the bill or by clarification whether through further engagement with government, through parliamentary debate or other means. If numbers are a measure of priority, the two themes that generated the most interest were UKRI & Council links, and Innovation.
Following the second reading of the bill in the House of Commons on 19th July, this Bill has now been committed to a Public Bill Committee. The Public Bill Committee will meet this month after the end of recess and will scrutinise the Bill line by line. Information and updates on the bill can be found on the parliament website. The Committee is expected to report to the House by 13 October 2016. During this period members of the Committee can propose amendments.
The debate on the Second Reading underlined the areas of the bill that will likely attract most attention and command the majority of the Committee’s time – these centre around fee increases, new providers and other matters on the HE side of the Bill. A common feature of the debate in the Commons was also the context that surrounds this bill – namely Brexit – coupled with new departmental structures splitting this Bill across two departments and two Secretaries of State.
Concerns were repeatedly raised as to whether now is the right time to be pushing ahead with this legislation. Government are resolved to continue, meaning pragmatic engagement with the process will be essential if the bill is to be in the best possible shape by the end. We will therefore be working hard to ensure the Research & Innovation aspects of the Bill are rightly scrutinised and considered in the Commons before the Bill progresses to the Lords from mid-October.
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