Written question asked by Sally Keeble (Labour) on Thursday, 22 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 26 January 2009. It was answered by David Lammy (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 January 2009 on behalf of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

Research: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps he plans to take to increase funding for research at new universities.

Answer: On 22 January, the Department's grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was published. This outlines the broad principles on which we expect HEFCE to base their funding allocations. This letter states that we expect HEFCE"““to continue to recognise and reward the highest levels of research excellence wherever it is found.””"It also made reference to the importance of both rewarding pockets of excellence, and of adequately supporting the institutions with the largest volumes of world-class research:"““I know that you will need to maintain high levels of funding for those institutions with the largest volumes of world-class research whilst rewarding and nurturing pockets of excellence elsewhere.””"

Secondary information