§ Mr. WardTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the outcome of his consultations about a common financial year in the proposed single higher education system.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthMy Department and the Welsh Office education department are today writing to higher education institutions in the following terms
Higher education institutions: A common financial yearThe White Paper, "Higher Education: A New Framework" (Cm. 1541), indicated the Government's intention that there should be a common financial year to operate within institutions in the new higher education sector. By "financial year" is meant that period for which accounts are maintained. As a first step, the White Paper indicated that there would be consultation with the UFC and PCFC on what that year should be. There would then be consultation with institutions' representative bodies.Following consultation as indicated above, the Government have decided that the common financial year should he 1 August—31 July. This was the preferred option of the representative bodies of higher education institutions and the Funding Councils, and reflects the cycle of academic activity in most institutions.Subject to the passage of the Further and Higher Education Bill [Lords], the Secretary of State proposes to direct that the 1993–94 financial year of Higher Education Corporations shall be 1 August—31 July. Subsequent financial years shall be each successive period of twelve months. The 1992–93 financial year will therefore end on 31 July 1993.Other higher education institutions in receipt of public funding have the power to determine their own financial years, and those which currently do not operate on 1 August—31 July are requested to change on a similar timetable to that proposed for the Corporations.