§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how much her Department spent in each of the last three years for which figures are available to assist universities in connecting to the joint academic network and the Internet.
§ Mr. BoswellThe Department does not fund higher education networking directly. Responsibility for overseeing the joint academic network—JANET—among higher eduction institutions in Britain lies with the joint information systems committee of the Higher Education Funding Councils for England and for Wales and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. In 1993–94, the committee spent some £5.75 million on operating JANET and £8 million on Super-JANET: both allow access to the Internet. Comparable spending by its predecessor, the information systems committee of the Universities Funding Council, amounted in 1991–92 to some £4.3 million on JANET; and in 1992–93 to some £5.5 million on JANET and £5.4 million on Super-JANET.