Jesse Norman calls on the Government to look at the potential of rolling out to other cities the transformative model of higher education and further education together, with a focus on skills, as exemplified by the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering in Hereford.
Jesse Norman (Hereford and South Herefordshire) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend to his place; he has made a brilliant start as Secretary of State. The emphasis that he is placing on further education and skills is the very opposite of myopia, if I may offer that observation to the House.
I am sure that my right hon. Friend is aware of the extraordinary institution that is the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering in my constituency—a transformative model of higher education and further education together, focused on skills, and an extraordinary lift and shift model for levelling up. Does he share my view that this is something that the Government should be really leaning into and supporting for the longer term?
Nadhim Zahawi (The Secretary of State for Education)
I certainly share my right hon. Friend’s priorities and ambition. More importantly, if we can make this work, it truly is scalable and can be a model for other parts of the country in our levelling-up agenda.