§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science on what basis he calculated the sum to be distributed amongst universities for expanding their programmes of continuing education; and what consideration he has given to raising that level of financing after April 1986.
§ Sir Keith JosephWithin the total sums available to institutions of further and higher education under the Department's programme for the development of50W professional, industrial and commercial updating (PICKUP), I decided that an initial sum of £200,000 should be made available for the period April 1985 to March 1986 to promote: either the establishment of a suitable organisation capable of mobilizing the resources of all relevant departments and faculties for the development of PICKUP provision (in universities currently undertaking little PICKUP work); or the expansion of post-experience activities in identified priority areas (in universities already deploying resources on PICKUP-type work).
Decisions on support in future years will depend on the results of the first year's funding, but I am encouraged by the commitment which universities have shown so far in response to this new initiative.