The Chancellor says that ‘This is not a budget we would want to repeat‘ while the University of Cambridge runs up a deficit higher than expected.
You may have seen the headlines on Cambridge University here. Part of me is wondering whether the Judge Institute for Management Studies can do an in-depth study of the structures and systems of Cambridge University, its colleges, and member institutions to see if they can come up with a much more sensible way of running things.
“The Board has sought explanations for the deficit over and above the explanations applicable to all Higher Education institutions. However, worryingly this has not been fully traced to source, with the result that there is no clear understanding of what has happened, or why.”
Cambridge University Reporter 6756, p16, para 59.
It gets worse for the Dons ‘n’ chaps.
“the deficit appears to be structural and will be at the cost of the endowment (and subsequently a reduced income from such). This implies a lack of budgetary control which is not in the long-term best interests of the University”
And there is no long term plan to get out of the woods…
“…there is no fully worked-out proposal to return to a positive annual net income, say of £30m, within the next five years. Further, while the Board accepts that there has been a range of shocks which has impacted the finances of every University in the country, it is the absence of a clear timeline to reverse this trend which is most concerning“
***Most concerning*** – that is a very discomforting phrase in oxbridge civil-service-speak
There is a more serious point linked to the rest of the higher education sector – one that seems to have been utterly dislocated not just by tuition fees but also by the growing inequalities driven by house price inflation. One side-effect has been the devaluation of grants and bursaries in the face of rising costs of living.
The recommendation speaks volumes:
The Board recommends, as a matter of urgency, that the University should better understand where there has been increased expenditure in the last decade, and why, and having done so, closely consider a more strategic approach to implementing the interim 5% cut than ‘salami slicing’
Cambridge University Reporter 6756, p16, para 62.
This is not something that can be sorted out by selling off an oil painting, a vintage crate of claret or a field near Felixstowe can sort out. The problem is structural – and reflects very badly on that ancient institution whose graduates and academics often end up in management consultancy (they have their own school of management studies) telling others how to restructure their organisations. Perhaps some of the graduates/alumni can apply their expertise to their own ‘alma mater’? (I guess it depends how attached they feel to their old universities – I graduated despising the place I spent three years at and over a quarter of a century later still bear that grudge!)
And…the Autumn Budget statement
Disability Rights UK were particularly scathing:
“Today’s budget should have offered hope and a lifeline for the 16 million Disabled people across the UK. Over the past 15 years, we’ve time and again had governments espouse so-called tough choices when they have always just led to our lives getting worse.”
Disability Rights UK Press Release 30 Oct 2024
The stream of national public consultations with the Chancellor’s Statement
You can browse through them here as a host of policy-specific consultations go out. I can’t help but think simplifying the system and reducing the huge range of grants, breaks, and allowances would make things easier for people to understand. That way, in the run up to each budget or autumn statement, ministers could indicate very early on which measures they are most willing to adjust and invite responses on how much each one should shift, in which direct, by how much, and what estimate they think it will have on public finances.
Lifelong learning entitlement loans – not grants
I find this whole thing depressing because look at the percentage of household debt against income. (That’s not including student debt or mortgages).
Above – Household Debt from Commons Library 18 Oct 2024
I have no idea how anyone can take on any more debt to pay for things (let alone investing in themselves/their skills) in the face of the above. Yet economies depend on some level of consumer spending. Ministers at some stage will have to face down big industry and financial interests and force them to invest in their own staff.
“To improve the dismal growth forecasts, we also need to reverse the £1 billion cut in skills budgets since 2010 and employers’ 26% cut in training since 2005.”
Learning and Work Institute – Press Release 30 October 2024
Although as others have alluded to, it’s tightly linked to East West Rail which gets mentioned 13 times in the main Autumn Budget 2024 document. (As does Cambridge).
“This public investment will get Britain moving and spur regional growth and innovation, through: …Securing the delivery of priority transport schemes, which will transform rail connectivity across the country. [including] – East West Rail will connect Oxford, Milton Keynes, and Cambridge and unlock land for housing and laboratories, supporting the wider Cambridge life sciences cluster.“
Above – Autumn Budget (2024) p69
There’s also the delayed East West Rail Consultation – I went to an event earlier this year in May at St Phillip’s Church in Romsey, Cambridge – it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. Shortly afterwards, the now Former PM called the General Election and everything had to come to a halt in the case of a new government wanting a huge change in policy. This statement basically says ‘carry on’.
“East West Rail consultation – East West Rail will connect Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge and unlock land for housing and laboratories, supporting the wider Cambridge life sciences cluster. The Budget will announce the East West Rail consultation, the next step in the project, which will be launched by the Secretary of State for Transport in November 2024.“
Watch this space or rather that space to see when the Transport Secretary announces the next steps for the Bedford-Cambridge link and the consultation to go with it. (At this point I feel like I’m in the ‘Just get on and build the damn thing!’ Only it was over a decade ago back in April 2013 on a cold day outside Cambridge Guildhall that I asked the then Leader of Labour Ed Miliband if he’d support Cambridgeshire Labour on their proposal to re-build a rail link between Oxford and Cambridge.
“In addition, the Cambridge life sciences cluster is being supported by taking the next steps in delivering East West Rail, to connect the laboratories, industrial parks, and housing needed.”
Above – Autumn Budget (2024) p79
This is what I mean by East West Rail being central to the Government’s plans for Cambridge. I quite like the idea of a northern route into Cambridge rather than a southern route on the assumption that a northern route would have light rail lines and a cycleway either side of East West Rail Line so as to provide reasonable compensation for the residents otherwise unable to use the main rail line. That would link up Cambourne, Bar Hill, Northstowe, Cottenham, and Waterbeach Newtown. By doing that, you then create the potential for leisure entrepreneurs to establish things that Cambridge cannot have (due to high land prices) and an easy means of people in and around Cambridge to get there without a car. Thus reducing the risk of surrounding towns and villages becoming dormitory towns for sci-tech parks.
And on ‘The Case for Cambridge’…
“Unlocking transformational growth in the Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge corridor through £10 million of funding to enable the Cambridge Growth Company to develop an ambitious plan for the housing, transport, water, and wider infrastructure Cambridge needs to realise its full potential, and by taking the next steps to deliver East West Rail. This will support life sciences companies and unlock private investment, cementing Cambridge’s status as a globally renowned centre of excellence and its important role within the Industrial Strategy.”
Above – Autumn Budget (2024) p73
In one sense it’s confirmation of what we already knew – but it looks awful in the context of the £11m-plus budget gap that Cambridge City Council says it will have by 2029
Whether it will be filled or not will in part depend on the Local Government Finance Settlement coming up (See para 28.1, p60) so it’s not a done deal. The same goes for local government structures.
“The upcoming English Devolution White Paper will set out more detail on the government’s devolution plans, including on working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas, with efficiency savings from council reorganisation helping to meet the needs of local people.”
Above – Autumn Budget (2024) p63
It remains to be seen if it is the sort of overhaul trailed in the MJ earlier this week. If anything, one option for the Deputy Prime Minister is to follow the recommendations of the previous Public Administration & Constitutional Affairs Committee and include clauses in the Devolution Bill establishing a major commission (Royal Commission) to research and recommend a future structure for local government and local public services. Basically Redcliffe Maud Mark II. (See the links for Redcliffe-Maud Mark 1 from 1966-69 here – it has to be on a similar scale!)
If you want to get an idea of what Redcliffe Maud’s Royal Commission recommended for Cambridge – and how Cambridge responded, see Lost Cambridge here.
Food for thought?
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The Cambridge Town Owl 