§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how the abolition of academic tenure in universities would aid the Government's higher education policies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BrookeAcademic tenure in the strictest form in which it is found in some universities is incompatible with their dependence on the taxpayer for the bulk of their funding. My right hon. Friend's proposals for the limitation of such tenuure will have little immediate effect because they will apply to contracts entered into after some specified future date—there is to to be no interference with existing contractual rights — but are designed to give universities in the long-term greater flexibility of response to any future variations in their financial circumstances.