§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has received (a) from those involved in higher education and (b) from others concerning the allocation for university staff redundancy payments; and whether he will review the amount involved.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy right hon. Friend has received a variety of representations about the compensation of redundant university staff, mostly from those involved in higher education, but the total that will be available for redundancy payments in addition to universities' recurrent grant can only be settled in the light of consideration by the University Grants Committee of individual universities' plans for adjusting to the lower level of funding proposed. My right hon. Friend announced on 21 December 1981 that he was allocating £50 million in the financial year 1982–83 to be used by the UGC specifically for restructuring, including the cost of redundancies, and that a further additional amount for 1983–84 would be announced later.