§ Mr. Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he had recently had with directors of university-based research units on the current status of advanced research in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. BoswellMinisters have had no such discussions recently. The assessment of the quality of research in universities has been the responsibility of the Universities Funding Council (UFC). the UFC's 1992 assessment exercise shows that the average rating of UFC-funded universities has increased since the last assessment in 1989.