§ Mr. SawfordTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what mechanisms are in place to monitor and audit funding awarded to universities through the research councils. [46841]
§ Mr. BattleAll Research Councils' expenditure is subject to audit by the National Audit Office (NAO).
Research Councils themselves have annual programmes of dipstick testing of the usage of their grants within higher education institutions (HEIs). These programmes are carried out jointly by Council staff and the Research Councils' Internal Audit Service. The NAO are currently conducting a value for money audit examining the procurement by HEIs of capital equipment funded by Research Council grants.