Letter from Westminster

This is my first Letter of 2008, after two weeks of the new Parliamentary

session. As well as writing these Letters I'm also now recording short

clips for my web site on events each week. Have a look at

www.stephenwilliams.org.uk to see the current film and for the archive of

films from recent weeks. Nick Clegg, the new Lib Dem Leader has started

to make his mark. His first two Prime Minister's Questions have gone well

and morale in the party is high. I've had a really busy time in my new

role as Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Over the Christmas and New Year period I was helping behind the scenes

with the campaign to save the Bristol Old Vic and the campaign has gone

public and high profile in the last two weeks. There's a bumper crop of

controversial issues coming up in this Parliamentary session.

The day after the result of the Lib Dem leadership election just before

Christmas, Nick Clegg called me in and asked me to join our shadow cabinet

as Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills. I

was really pleased by this as it's an area where I have built up a lot of

knowledge and experience in Parliament and it's also relevant to Bristol.

So from now on I will be attending the Tuesday morning meeting of the

shadow cabinet. I will be responsible for shadowing the government

ministers in the awful acronym "DIUS" and representing the party on all

areas of adult learning policy.

It would have been nice to have eased myself in for the first week. But I

was chucked in at the deep end with a full debate on Tuesday. Called by

the Conservatives on one of their Opposition Days it was on the subject of

equivalent or lower qualifications, or "ELQs" as they're called in the

higher education world. The government has instructed the universities

funding council (HEFCE) to phase out the teaching grant received for each

student studying for either a second (ie equivalent level) degree or for a

lower level qualification. This will free up £100million a year. The

government say they want to direct this cut towards supporting first time

students, though they haven't said exactly how they'll use the money.

I spent several hours reading through the numerous briefings from

organisations that oppose this move, nobody appears to favour it. The

Open University and Birkbeck in London will be hit quite badly as well a

number of specialist institutions. There is so much to read through that

I'm still scribbling notes while sat in the Chamber as the debate starts.

David Willets kicks off for the Tories and then John Denham, the

Secretary of State, replies for the government. I went next and was happy

with my speech, especially as I was able to make good use of the Labour

Party's internal briefing that had been leaked to me.

The first week also saw my debut at DIUS questions, which will now be a

monthly routine. I asked about ELQs, suggesting that the government delay

any changes until 2009, when a full review of all higher education funding

is already planned.

For the time being I keep my seat on the cross party Select Committee that

scrutinises the other education department - the Department of Children,

Schools and Families, the acronym here making them sound like a furniture

store. The two meetings I've been to so far this year were questioning

ministers. The Secretary of State himself, Gordon Brown's right hand man

Ed Balls was our first victim. He's the third SofS that I've questioned

in this role since 2005. Alan Johnson was a smooth operator but I don't

think Ruth Kelly really enjoyed these encounters. The monthly

departmental questions that each cabinet minister has to face in the

Commons chamber are largely theatrical occasions. True, if there's a big

scandal or crisis, then a baying House of Commons can't be much fun. But

the pain is all over in about an hour and the minister is usually in

control. A two and a half hour select committee grilling leaves the

minister exposed to detailed scrutiny, albeit in a calm and thoughtful

setting. Ed Balls is a surprisingly nervous Commons performer and is

chaperoned at the select committee by DCSF's top civil servant. In the

end he escapes unscathed.

The following week, Balls' number two, the schools minister Jim Knight

came before the committee to answer questions on schools admissions. The

new admissions code was introduced by the 2006 Education Act. It's meant

to make it much harder for schools to select pupils by any unfair

criteria. We ask lots of questions about the social composition of

schools - for instance the high achieving schools tend to have far fewer

than average children from poor backgrounds. We also ask about parental

choice, transport and private schools.

Away from the world of education my main Bristol focus has been cultural.

Just before Christmas I had protested at the decision of the South West

Regional Development Agency to scrap Bristol's long awaited arena. Now

another unelected quango, this time Arts Council South West, is

threatening the viable future of a long standing arts venue, the Theatre

Royal or Old Vic in King Street. Ever since I was elected as Bristol

West's MP in 2005 I've been having meetings with the theatre's management

and other interested parties about the widening funding gap. Firstly, the

theatre badly needs a refurbishment and at least £9million is needed. But

the theatre has also been losing money on the plays it has staged -

basically not enough people have been going to watch. This is a

combination of some of the plays not being popular but also the fact that

sitting in the theatre can be an uncomfortable experience. Last year the

budget got out of control and the theatre had to be closed by the board.

It has been "dark" since last August.

The Arts Council nationally has rationalised its grants, upsetting just

about every region as a result. For the last six weeks or so it looked as

though the Bristol Old Vic was going to be one of the major casualties,

with the withdrawal of the £1.25 million annual grant. The Arts Council's

£2m contribution to the refurbishment appeal was also at risk. It wasn't

until Christmas week that the Arts Council finally confirmed to me in

writing that they intended to pull the plug.

A campaign by actors and others who care about culture in Bristol had

already sprung up to save the Old Vic. Cllr Simon Cook of Clifton East

has been heavily involved throughout. I tabled a Commons Early Day Motion

in support, with Steve Webb, Roger Berry and Doug Naysmith also signing.

Fortunately, Dick Penny, the Director of the Watershed has taken the lead

in the campaign and may now emerge as the chair of a new board. At the

end of Parliament's first week I arrived back in Bristol early to speak at

the public meeting called by Dick in the Theatre Royal itself. It was a

remarkable evening with about 700 people in the theatre itself and a few

hundred more turned away. This was quite a special evening (continuing

for hours afterwards in 'Renatos'!!) that will be remembered for many

years. The following Monday I met with the Chief Exec of the Arts Council

SW in Westminster to press the case for continued support of the Old Vic.

I also address the funding of African arts in Bristol as Kuumba is under

threat. We'll have to wait until the end of January to find out if we've

been successful, but I am much more optimistic now than I was a month ago.

On a happier cultural note I went to the opening night of the new National

Gallery touring exhibition at the City Museum. This time the theme is

Love, so go along for some romantic paintings and see if you agree with me

that the Marc Quinn sculpture "kiss" is the best exhibit.

Another Bristol highlight was visiting Bristol Cathedral School. I've

spoken in many school assembly halls but this school has its morning

gathering in the nave of the cathedral! So I speak to the entire school

and answer questions on life as an MP and on current political issues.

The school is starting the journey to becoming an academy. This means it

will cease to be a private fee paying school and will become free to all

applicants in greater Bristol. Colston's Girls School on Cheltenham Road

is following the same process. I very much welcome this transfer to the

state sector as a start to dismantling the educational apartheid in

Bristol.

Among the questions I was asked in the cathedral were whether we should

have a referendum on Europe? How much am I paid? And should the school

leaving age go up to 18? All of these issues come up in the next week in

Parliament and are already attracting a lot of media attention. The

ratification of the new European treaty will take weeks of debate in the

Commons. I will be heavily involved in the Bill to raise the compulsory

education and training age to 18. I was on Radio Four's The Week In

Westminster talking about it this weekend. And I've just read the two

volume independent report on MPs' pay and administration budgets... But

more about all of these issues next time!