§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much HEFCE funding of research will be diverted from university departments graded(a) at 4 and (b) below 4 annually to finance enhanced payments for departments graded at 5 or above. [105303]
§ Margaret HodgeThe Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has used extra resources provided by the Government to increase the total recurrent funding for research by £102 million in 2003–04 compared with 2002–03. HEFCE has rebalanced the funding levels between ratings to ensure better resourcing and improved quality of the best research. This did mean a reduction in funding of £21 million for departments rated 4 and a net reduction of £4.3 million for departments rated 3a and 3b. This takes into account the new capability development funding for 3a and 3b departments in subjects where there is a particular need to boost research. The Government are keen to encourage more mid-rated554W departments to aspire to ratings of 5 or above and we have asked HEFCE to look at how funding for these departments can be related to potential to progress further.