HC Deb 08 July 2003 vol 408 cc676-7W
Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding was received by each medical school in each year since 1997. [124077]

Alan Johnson

With the exception of St. George's hospital medical school, which is funded directly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), medical schools form part of larger institutions. The majority of the funding the HEFCE pays to institutions is given as a block grant and it is for individual institutions to decide how much funding to pass on to each of its academic departments, including medical schools. There are therefore no figures held centrally about the funding for medical schools, other than St. George's.

The total recurrent funding for teaching and research paid by the HEFCE to St. George's hospital medical school is shown in the following table.

St. George's hospital medical school £ million
1997–98 10.2
1998–99 11.4
1999–2000 11.6
2000–01 12.2
2001–02 13.5
2002–03 14.8
2003–04 16.2

Mr. Clappison

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact on medical schools of the allocation of funding for places according to(a) the location of applicants' schools and (b) the achievement of three Cs or less at 'A' level; how many such applicants have been admitted to medical school; and how much funding has been distributed to medical schools on this basis. [124078]

Alan Johnson

For 2003/04, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has allocated £265 million to higher education institutions in their block grants to recognise the additional costs of recruiting and supporting students from disadvantaged or non-traditional backgrounds. There are around 4,300 medical students who attract additional funding because they come from low-participation areas, and around 2,900 who attract additional funding either because they are mature students or because their pre-entry qualifications are lower than the equivalent of three Cs at 'A' Level.

Details of how much of this funding has been spent by institutions on their medical schools is not held centrally, except for St. George's hospital medical school, which will receive £126,704 from the widening access and improving retention pot in 2003/04.