(The Minister of State for School
Standards): My noble friend the Parliamentary Under
Secretary of State for the School System (Lord Agnew), has made
the following Written Ministerial Statement.
It is the normal practice when a government department proposes
to make a gift of a value exceeding £300,000, for the department
concerned to present to the House of Commons a minute giving
particulars of the gift and explaining the circumstances; and to
refrain from making the gift until fourteen parliamentary sitting
days after the issue of the minute, except in cases of special
urgency.
The Department for Education intends to provide a 50-year lease
of the former-Robert Owen Academy site (Blackfriars Street,
Hereford) to the New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE).
The lease is valued at £900,000 and will be subject to a premium
of only £1,000. The sub-lease therefore represents a gift to
NMiTE worth £899,000.
The New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE) aims to
secure university status and is supported by national and local
government, the University of Warwick, and industry, to transform
engineering education in Britain. They are in receipt of grant
funding from the Department for Education to support their
start-up and development. NMiTE will invest substantially in the
site to bring it back into use and deliver specialist higher
education.
We believe this lease represents good-value, supporting the
development of the new organisation aiming to secure university
status and avoiding the vacant site holding costs that the
Department for Education would otherwise have to bear.
The Treasury has approved the proposal in principle. If, during
the period of fourteen parliamentary sitting days beginning on
the date on which this minute was laid, a Member signifies an
objection by giving notice of a Parliamentary Question or a
Motion relating to the minute, or by otherwise raising the matter
in the House, final approval of the gift will be withheld pending
an examination of the objection.
