§ Mr. Tony Baldryasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is able to announce his decisions on local authority higher education provision in 1985–86 and on the distribution of the advanced further education pool for 1985–86; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir Keith Joseph[pursuant to his reply, 18 December 1984, c. 141–43]: I have today written to the chairman of the committee of the National Advisory Body (NAB) accepting the NAB's advice on the distribution of the sum of £2.5 million which was set aside from the advanced futher education quantum of £620 million for 1985–86 for the selective support of research in a number of major institutions as I announced in the House on 18 December.
The NAB's advice is based on very careful consideration of requests from institutions for funding totalling £14 million. NAB recommends that financial allocations between £75,000 and £150,000 be made to 21 institutions (including 20 polytechnics), the funds to support scientific and technological work, as follows:
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£'000s Central London Polytechnic 150 Coventry Polytechnic 150 Hatfield Polytechnic 678 150
£'000s Kingston Polytechnic 150 Leicester Polytechnic 150 Liverpool Polytechnic 150 Newcastle Polytechnic 150 Plymouth Polytechnic 150 Portsmouth Polytechnic 150 South Bank Polytechnic 150 Trent Polytechnic 150 Brighton Polytechnic 100 Camborne School of Mines 100 Manchester Polytechnic 100 Sheffield City Polytechnic 100 Bristol Polytechnic 75 City of London Polytechnic 75 Lancashire Polytechnic 75 Teesside Polytechnic 75 Thames Polytechnic 75 Wolverhampton Polytechnic 75 Total 2,500 I welcome the selectivity which underpins these allocations, since I am convinced that, particularly when resources are limited, a selective approach towards allocations enables the funds available to be deployed with maximum effectiveness.
Letters are today being sent to local education authorities and institutions notifying them of my decisions regarding the research initiative. Copies of my letter to the NAB committee chairman have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.