Extracts from
Westminster Hall debate on Social Mobility (Wales)
(Ellesmere Port and Neston)
(Lab):...This country is too closed. It is a country where
too often people’s life chances are defined by where they are born
and who they are born to. We are now in a world where many parents
believe their children will have less opportunity than they did,
and I deeply regret that. Automation and Artificial Intelligence will only
exacerbate the problem, and we are miles away from even beginning
to understand the social impact that will have. The only way we
will be able to meet those challenges in the future is by
intensive, long-term Government intervention, not just at the ages
of five or 15, but at 35 and 50 and so on. The world of work will
change more rapidly than ever before, and we need to recognise that
opportunity will need to be addressed not just in our younger
years, vital though that is, but throughout our lives. We have to
invest in ourselves through all of our working lives, but we cannot
do that without Government support...
(Islwyn)
(Lab/Co-op):...I recently visited the Man Group, an
investment company that is investing in Artificial Intelligence. It told me that
it now wants graduates with degrees in machine learning. The
graduate entry level salary for that is £60,000. Most of its
graduates will have been to Oxford. We should teach kids coding and
similar skills from an early age, because the future will be
automation and Artificial Intelligence. My son Zachariah
is 10 months old, and he will probably do a job that I have never
heard of. We must start teaching kids the core skills in school.
The issue goes back to what my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere
Port and Neston (Justin Madders) said: we need mentors in schools,
to teach people about those things...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
Extract from
Health Questions (Commons) on Life
Sciences
(Cambridge) (Lab):
Medical research charities play a key role in developing new
medical treatments, yet the Charity Research Support Fund, which
enables universities to unlock investment from the sector, has
been frozen since 2010. Will the Minister heed the call from the
Association of Medical Research Charities to enhance CRSF in real
terms, in line with inflation and with charity investment?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health
(Steve Brine): I can come back to the hon. Gentleman in
more detail on that. As part of the life sciences sector deal,
there is just over £210 million of industrial strategy challenge
funding for early diagnosis. This includes funding to build on
the UK’s leadership in genomics, where we are very strong, and to
establish programmes in digital diagnostics and Artificial
Intelligence in healthcare.
