Astronomy and particle physics : report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence.
- Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Science and Technology
- Date:
- 2011
Licence: Open Government Licence
Credit: Astronomy and particle physics : report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence. Source: Wellcome Collection.
30/176 page 26
![65. Professor Kennicutt believed that, should there be an extended period of reduced funding, the UK would “suffer a permanent loss of leadership and skilled scientists in astronomical instrumentation”.” Capital grants to universities 66. Although, as already noted, resource research grant funding will be maintained over the next four years, the STFC delivery plan indicates capital grants to Higher Education Institutions will fall (see Table 3 below).! While the majority of capital funding to universities comes from the higher education funding councils’ to support infrastructure and running costs, research councils can provide capital funding for specific research and programmes. Table 3: STFC capital grants to Higher Education Institutions £ million 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2.7 (a) Pa é 1.0 1.0 1.0 Note: (a) Based on provisional figures from Science Programmes Office (SPO) Exploitation Grants. Sources: APP 33a, Science and Technology Facilities Council STFC, Delivery Plan 201/1ito 2044/5, December 20, p25 67. The STFC’s written submission to this inquiry stated that “the reduced capital available will potentially have impacts on [funding] for equipment within University grants”. In evidence to us, the STFC expressed “worry” at the reduction.’ It explained that this category of capital was “mostly concerned with small equipment, computers and supportive equipment for general research” and noted that such grants in 2009/10 had stood at £4 million.“ This means that the rate of reduction is even steeper than that indicated in Table 3 above, with the level from 2012/13 being just a quarter of the equivalent sum three years earlier. 68. Professor Allport said that it might be difficult for individual university groups, who had in the past used these grants to develop, for example, new detectors for facilities such as CERN, to find equivalent funding from other sources, such as the EU, because these bodies considered that this area of R&D should attract core (ie. national government) funding.'® He explained the effect of the reduction in funding: °° Ev 43, para 1 10° STFC, Delivery Plan 2010/11 to 2014/15, December 2010, Appendix C '°! The councils are: the Higher Education Funding Council for England; the Scottish Funding Council; and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales; in Northern Ireland the Department for Employment and Learning funds universities. 102 Ey 51, para 5 103 Q 146 104 As above 105 Q 98](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3222204x_0030.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
