§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, in the light of increased numbers of students opting for science and engineering courses in higher education, what revised forward calculations her Department has made about the need for postgraduate studentships in the years 1980, 1981 and 1982.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsPostgraduate studentships in science and engineering are awarded by the research councils in their respective fields within the total resources available to them from the science budget. They will be considering future numbers of awards when preparing their plans for the next annual forward look of the Advisory Board for the Research Councils, which advises me on the distribution of the science budget. This year the councils—excluding the Social Science Research Council—indicated that they envisaged making about 4,625 new awards in science and technology in 1980, about 4,675 in 1981 and about 4,725 in 1982.