Higher Education Funding Council

HC Deb 01 July 2002 vol 388 c2W

Sir Nicholas Winterton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the composition of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's settlement for the next financial year; and if she will calculate the current unit of funding per student in comparison with that apportioned in 1997. [65207]

Margaret Hodge

Publicly planned funding for higher education in 2003–04 was set out in the grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England issued in November 2001:

• Recurrent Funding—£5,650 million
• Capital—£364 million
• Access and Hardship—£115 million.

These figures may be amended following the outcome of the 2002 Spending Review. Publicly planned funding per full time equivalent student is set out at Table 4.8 of the Department's Annual Report for 2002. It shows a planned real terms value of £4,920 in 2003–04, compared to £4,910 in 1997–98.