§ Baroness Davidasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the light of the joint Department of Education and Science/University Grants Committee initiative in earmarking £3 million per annum in additional funding for university library acquisitions between 1987 and 1990, which appears to have arrested the decline in university library book and journal expenditure, whether they will consider 80WA a similar initiative in the near future both with the Universities Funding Council and the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council.
§ Baroness BlatchIt is for the funding councils to distribute the substantial public funds for higher education on the basis of their own assessment of needs and priorities. Although both councils have moved away from earmarked allocations, the funding specifically identified by the UGC remains available for spending as part of the UFC's block grant. It is, of course, for institutions themselves to determine their spending within all the resources available to them, including the planned increase in public funding for higher education in 1991–92 of 10 per cent. for the second year running.