23/09/2012 Sunday Politics South

In the south: It is on your bacon Reading as they roll out their

version of London's Boris Bikes scheme. We would be enough to cut

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2002 seconds

Welcome to Sunday Politics. My name is Peter Henley. And today's

programme, it is on your bike in Berkshire as London's cycle hire

scheme comes to Reading, matey ease the town's notorious traffic

problems. But will it? First, let's meet in two politicians who will be

with me. Annette because the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorset and

Bull, and we have big Conservative MP for Meon Valley.

-- the Conservative MP. Are you looking forward to the

party conferences or the police commissioner elections beyond?

Annette, is this a turning point for the Liberal Democrats? It is an

important conference halfway through the parliament. We have

very many difficult positions to make, and it is really important

because we have really engaged with our membership at party conference

this. And they want you to strike out from your coalition partner us.

Some of them do, some of them are there to support us, and I think

people learn a lot of the conference, more about the reasons

why we have taken certain decisions, which is important. Some of the

most important sessions are where ministers address the conference

and explain what they have been doing, and I think there is a

greater understanding, but it is an exciting pivotal conference because

we are looking forward to the next general election where we will have

a set of Liberal Democrat policies going into the election, and at

this conference, this is not saying that we are at odds with the

coalition, but this is what we will be saying in her next manifesto for.

Before we get to the general election, the Police Commissioner

election. We have the core of the by-election on the same day. --

Corby. We need enough people to come out and give it credibility.

It is a very important post, and the first chance the public has had

to influence policing locally. It is our job to make it appealing to

people to go to the ballot box. We have two independent candidates, so

there are plenty of interest -- there is plenty of interest from

the park is. And plenty for us to talk about. We already knew that

this year's university intake would be a hit with higher fees, but they

were also hit with tougher low- grade Mark King. Then the

government introduced a cap on the number of students with lower

grades than a -- than AAB and they could take on. Don Nutbeam, the

Chancellor of Southampton University, has been outspoken

about that. It was complicated to explain, so it must have been

complicated for you to match the applications with the number of

people are you could take. Yes, it has been a very disappointing year.

A lot of the Russell Group universities, the best universities

in the country, have been unable to allow talented students with good

A-level results and to the university this year because of a

combination of miscalculation in terms of the numbers of students

who might get higher A-level grades. Miscalculation by them? By the

Higher Education Council for England. And some miscalculation by

the Government in terms of their thinking about how the new market

would work for universities. The result of this is that universities

like mine have had to turn away well-qualified candidates who, last

year we would have happily taken, next year we will again be able to

take, so it has been a tough year for us. It has been difficult for

these 18 year-olds who have had to face larger fees for the first time

but have also seen pretty tough A- level marking. Is that part of the

way that this seems to have gone wrong? It is very hard to save. I

cannot say because the A-level marking is beyond our control. Last

year there were 96,000 students who got the recommended grades, and

this year there were 79,000 students. Are there fewer students

come in through anyway? There were fewer last year, and the people who

might have taken a gap year last year decided not to because of the

increase in fees. But a duty to university like ours, we had 30,000

applications for 5,000 places. So there is still huge interest which

cannot be met. How much money have you lost, how many fewer students

are you getting man you would have want it? Very difficult to say, it

would depend on how many turn up and drop out in the first few weeks.

But it is hundreds, and that is the same for several other of the

country's leading universities. I cannot believe that this is what

the coalition had in mind when they put in place the policies they have,

that they are not allowed in order enabling students with talent who

otherwise would have got into a university, to do so for. There was

a letter in last week's papers from your academics saying you need to

be clear about what has gone wrong. How clear can you make this?

think I am making this very clear, there were miscalculations and as a

consequence, the Times Higher aged creation supplement estimated there

are probably 50,000 fewer people in English universities. -- the Times

Higher Education Supplement. There are massive changes occurring that

I do not think were fully anticipated by the Government when

it set in places policy. This is a bit of a car crash, isn't it?

would concur that you have got two very big changes in one year.

we should have done them one at a time? They did go hand in hand, and

I think there was a general signing up to the policy. If there has been

a miscalculation on the expectation with the A-level grades then that

is difficult to build into the picture, but the important thing is

that we have not seen the mass turning off of applications to do

with the fees, which was my greatest fear. I passionately want

to be sure that people from working-class backgrounds get to

university, and the early indications are that that group has

not been affected. Was the cost any part of this? In terms of student

behaviour? Yes, you said some were put off and did not take a gap year,

but more the mad? It is difficult to say. We are too soon into the

cycle. I would say that a lot of young people that apply to come to

university this year had already made a decision to do A-levels and

go to university before the government introduced this. Our

fear is that we have not yet begun to see the effect of the change in

policy, and we will not see it for another couple of years. We do not

know yet. And now we have changes to GCSE exams and a tougher marking

that is being called for. This is really shaking things up at a time

where we need trained graduates. The figures show quite clearly that

the actual drop in applications that has occurred is about 1% of

the existing population. There are fewer 18-year-old us there -- than

there were so there will be less people at university. But those

from middle wealthy backgrounds have applied much less than those

from the poorer backgrounds, which says to me that there is a

calculation going on here. I think the message has gone through to

people at the bottom end of the spectrum that there is a lot of

help for you if you are somebody who struggles with cash and who's

going to struggle to pay off these loans, the graduate tax. The

Institute for Fiscal Studies has made it clear that this is a more

progressive system than the previous one, it is easier to pay

back, you will have less to pay back, and you have to earn more

before you pay anything back. It has been very carefully thought

through. I do not think we will see the drop-off, I think we will see

people being more careful about which university they choose, they

will start to look good value for money and the student body will

have to have more control over what the universities offer. Can I say,

it is really important that universities and everybody gets the

message over that students do not have to pay fees up front. That is

really important. And the system works, so you get the people into

university who need it to. That is the critical point for me. I do

agree, we have not yet done a good enough job in communicating what

the advantages are of a particular loan system, if we have a system

that require students to pay �9,000 fees. Thank you.

But the Liberal Democrats kicking of their conference in Brighton, I

caught up with the Deputy Prime Minister.

When you arrive at the conference, you will be greeted by Sussex

Police who are getting rid of 1,000 staff. Nearly half of those police

officers. But in your manifesto you promised to increase the number of

policemen on the beat. We have asked the police to make some

savings, and what we're doing by working with Sussex Police and

other police forces is to make sure that whilst they pay their -- play

their role in achieving the savings, we do so and a way that does not

hit the absolute need for the police to keep us safe. Thankfully,

crime rates have been coming down. The performance of the police has

remained a strong as a birth. it carry on? I go back to your

manifesto which said that you would have 3,000 police on the beat, and

you said you would pay for it by getting rid of national identity

cards. They have gone. Why do the police not... We needed to find

savings. Yes we have asked the police to play a part in this as

well. He promised to deliver a more affordable homes. Is the economy to

blame their? We are delivering more affordable homes. We have set aside

�4 billion which will deliver thousands upon thousands of

affordable homes. More than that, we have announced that the we will

put up �10 billion worth of guarantees which will -- we will

offer to local residents in the South which will help them build

more affordable and social homes. No apology on affordable homes or

police numbers? But you apologised for her tuition fees. What we

didn't tuition fees was different. We said we would fought against a

rising tuition fees under any circumstances in the parliament. I

have put my hands up, we made a mistake, but that was wrong. But no

more apologies for. On affordable housing we have got a good records

and we unveiled ambitious policies to boost this. It is great we are

finally cracking the problem which Labour ducked for so many years.

Many of the things in the manifesto have to depend on what money was

available to us. We are very clear about that in the man Avesta.

Thank you. -- in the manifesto. The number of families in bed-and-

breakfast accommodation is by three-quarters over last year. That

cannot be right, can it? No, and we had a decade where the number of

social housing units has fallen. 420,000 less. Are things improving

your it? The simple fact is that we have announced social housing is

that we have taken money out of large commercial housing

developments to put land in place. But those sites are not coming

forward because of the financial situation, and subsequently we are

not building social homes. There is plenty cash available, and there

are many schemes allowing banks to be more liberal about who they are

funding, which will hopefully make a difference. I looked at the

affordability statistics in Sheffield and writing, and the

income is about the same, about �19,000 average income, but the

cost of the house is twice as much, 278,000, compared to Sheffield. You

cannot sort that out quickly, can you? No, you cannot. But there are

a lot of measures in place now. They clearly need a much bigger

boost, people are right when they say investing in the construction

industry, getting that moving, that is good for the whole economy and

everybody. At the confidence we will be talking about this, because

we have an even bolder policy, but this Government has already taken

important steps, for example bringing empty homes and use, over

750,000 empty properties across the country and nearly one-quarter of a

million and two over six months. The last government did more or

less nothing. We have got that moving in some very good schemes.

We look forward to that policy announcement.

They have taken off a big way and London, and the biggest bike hire

scheme outside the capital is going to be coming to the south. It is

early days for Reading's version of Boris Bikes, but the hope is that

regular commuters and casual cyclists will swap four wheels for

two. How does this fit into the Anyone who has been to Reading

In just one hour during the morning commute, 40,000 vehicles are

competing for space to get into the town. At the same time, some 20,000

cyclists are getting on their bikes are breeding.

-- every day. Everyone wants to move around the

same time every day. Everyone wants to get into work for around 9am,

and their leading around 5:00pm in the afternoon. We are all moving

around at the same time. That is our daily challenge for. Now, the

so-called Boris Bikes scheme is coming to town. It is a modest sum

to higher abide by the day, week or year, and cycle anywhere in the

capital using 350 docking points. It is sponsored unpopular with 9

million trips since its launch two years ago.

In Reading, the Labour-run council will use part of �21 million from

the Government's Local Sustainable Transport Fund to pay for the

scheme. We are looking at a roll-out of

about 500 bicycle hire in Reading. Initially 200 will be located at

key points, the station, major employers such as the Hospital and

University, local business parts, which will be the largest scheme

out of London. Reading is seeing major investment in transport. The

railway station is undergoing a �78 million redevelopment, and the

money will also help pay for a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over

the Thames, no third crossing for motorists, though. The biggest

issue for cycle campaigners is the lack of decent bike routes through

the town. There is more dapper than network at the moment. More people

would get on their bikes have there was a decent Cycle Network. That is

what we should be privatising, not the cycle hire scheme. If you get

on a bike today, and you think how do I get from A to B? You have to

fall very small signs which are difficult to pick up, and if you

are concentrating to find the signs, you are not concentrating on the

It is about making it easy for cyclists. This is what the cycling

campaigners are talking about, the official cycle route goes to my

left and through three underpasses. But rather than do that, cyclists

choose to go up the slope and alongside the Reading relief road

here, rather than go under the underpasses. They say that there

needs to be proper planning for cycle routes if more people are to

get on to two wheels. How can the council expect people to change the

habits without a joined-up network. --? We're working with local

campaigners to improve the network, but inevitably there will be gaps,

and we will see the roll-out of the scheme as a catalyst to further

improving the provision for cyclists. It is both. Talk is cheap.

But his action accounts. I would like to see the council coming out

with some real concrete action about this. I have not seen a press

release on anything concrete about what they are going to be doing to

improve the Cycle Network In re did. Reading's bike hire scheme has got

the headlines,... Will they be called Page's Pedallers hear and

read English to mark I will leave that for others to decide -- will

they be called Page's Pedallers here in Reading? I will leave that

Oxford could also see these bikes at the park and ride at Thornhill.

That will be a trial. And there are also talking about Bournemouth, so

people are getting on their bikes, and I am sure everyone enjoys a bit

of extra exercise. Now, the regular round-up in 62nd

XI. - 60 Seconds. The air was a warm welcome for a

Chinese business delegation visiting Bracknell. -- there was a

warm welcome. Not such a good reception at the

House of Commons for the new Culture Secretary. You do not use

topical statements to make -- you do not use topical questions to

make a statement. But a more sympathetic reading for

the house when asking about the new assessments for the blue badge

disabled parking. This 87-year-old had has withdrawn.

I can understand they want to crack down on the people using them and

should not be, but they should not be cracking down on the people who

do need them. Finally, there remained the clock

tower of Parliament the Queen Elizabeth tower. A well-received

idea, first thought of by Bournemouth MP to buy a Sellwood. -

- Tobias Sellwood. But surely most people will still Colin Big Ben.

-- call it. The the Chinese looking to invest

-- where would you. Dymond to investing? I would like to push

them into their design and engineering firms in my

constituency. I would like them to buy some of the expertise. It is

welcome, this money, but your constituencies area at all. Yes,

but I have a fantastic brewery in the back garden of a street in my

area. He has some fantastic product. You should be getting shares in

that! It is a good time for the Chinese

to come up with investment at the moment, but for the economy

generally, do you think the employment figures are a sign of an

improvement? It is extraordinary that we see the statistics. There's

a great conundrum, we see the statistics about the shrinking

economy, at the same time as one million private sector jobs being

created. I think there is some ground for optimism. Not just a

bounce back. Obviously very patchy across the country, but my

constituency seems very resilient. Having a good mix of activities is

the key, and the private sector grow in.