§ Mr. INSKIPasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether grants to universities will be made in the current year to the amount of £1,000,000, and is it intended that in future years the grants shall not fall below this figure; whether the allocation of these sums will be controlled by the Chancellor of the Exchequer or by the President of the Board of Education; and whether universities in receipt of aid from rates raised by local authorities will receive grants in accordance with the principle stated by the Prime Minister on the 14th August, 1918, to a deputation from the University of Wales?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe permanent State grant to universities was raised in 1919–20 from £468,500 to £1,000,000. The same sum is being provided in the present financial year, in addition to certain non-recurrent grants, and will be continued in future years. The responsibility for the distribution of the money rests with the Treasury, which has always adopted the advice of the University Grants Committee. As regards the last part of the question, the doubling of the Treasury grant was decided on some months after the deputation to which the hon. Member refers. The grant to the University of Wales and its constituent colleges is1486W determined by the £ for £ principle, this being in substitution for and not additional to increased grants on the lines of those given to English, Scotch, and Irish universities.