§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will report progress in preparing a single measure of research excellence on the basis of collaboration between university departments and external partners. [129992]
§ Ms HewittI have been asked to reply.
The Government are working with other partners to develop appropriate metrics for the science base and knowledge transfer.
This work will be informed by the conclusions of the review of the Research Assessment Exercise which is due to report during the next few months.
§ Mr. BestTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proposals the Government have to increase funding for departmental research in UK universities. [127294]
§ Alan JohnsonThe Government have announced the most generous research settlement for many years, with overall expenditure on science and research increasing by £1.25 billion a year by 2005–06 compared to 2002–03—around 30 per cent. in real terms. In our grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England this year, we announced increased quality-related funding for research in higher education institutions of £80 million in 2003–04, £107 million in 2004–05 and £246 million in 2005–06.