Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 71
First Report - Universities and Scotland
Published 28 May 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Universities and Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In terms of lessons learnt from 2020, the Minister went on to say: We set up a taskforce [ … ] to look at the hardship issues and hardship funds, and [ … ] we also want to set up another taskforce [ … ] to look at the impact of the lockdown on educational outcomes and the ability to complete the learner journey, because we might have to put extra measures in place. The universities and colleges will have to do this, not the Government per se, but we are working with the agencies and the institutions to see what has to be done to make sure that students who have not been able to have the face-to-face teaching that is necessary for their qualifications are still able to qualify.165 160 Q15 161 Q14 162 Q131 163 Q181 164 Q224 165 Q230 Universities and Scotland 31
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, First Report - Universities and Scotland (HC 54), 28 May 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 27 April 2022 (deadline 28 July 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out continued work with the devolved administrations and existing UK-wide policies on international students, immigration, research funding and talent, and states it will submit a response to the earlier Immigration and Scotland report "shortly".
- On the Turing Scheme, it confirmed funding for three years, including "£110 million for the 2022/23 Academic Year". It states the scheme "prioritises pupils, students and learners over staff and inward mobility funding", and says the first year's impact will be evaluated.
- On Erasmus+, it states that President Von Der Leyen "has previously confirmed that association by part of a country is not legally possible".
- On UKRI, it states that Board appointees "are not recruited to represent any constituency, sector or regional grouping", while a legal requirement to have regard to research conditions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is taken into account. It says Research England's place on the Executive Committee reflects its status as a legal component of UKRI.
- On visa costs, it states that "UK visa fees are broadly in line with our competitors" and that it will "continue to keep visa fees under review".