Image: Number 10[CC BY-NC-ND 2.0], via Flickr
Senior higher education figures tell Chris Parr what they hope the UK chancellor will announce
Last March, chancellor Rishi Sunak delivered his inaugural budget speech just a month after he was appointed to the post following the dramatic resignation of Sajid Javid.
Today, Sunak makes his latest journey to parliament with the red box in tow. If the Hollywoodesque score and raking slow-motion shots of this not-at-all indulgent preview video are anything to go by, it would seem he is relishing the opportunity. Subscribers will be able to follow all the thrills and spills on the Research Professional News live blog.
Last year’s address brought generally positive headlines both for the chancellor’s assured performance and for higher education policy-watchers, mainly because of a promise to increase R&D spending to £22 billion a year by 2024 (building on the Conservative Party’s manifesto commitment to double R&D spending to £18bn a year by that time).
There was also confirmation that sense had been seen with regard to selling off the student loan book, with that particular economically illiterate process halted; and there was the creation of a £400 million pot to fund research outside London.
As Andrew Westwood, professor of government practice and vice-dean for social responsibility at the University of Manchester, wrote last week, it is to be hoped that there will be more good news for all parts of the country later today.
“All regions in the UK experienced a decline in gross value added in 2020, but some have suffered more than others,” said Westwood, who is also an associate partner at Public First. “London, the south-east and the south-west will recover quickly. Northern Ireland, the north-east, the west midlands and Wales will suffer from much longer-term effects.
“Levelling up is getting harder, not easier, so Sunak will no doubt be keen to remind us that the government has a wide range of plans that can now be brought out of cold storage, unleashing the potential of Global Britain. International trade secretary Liz Truss may even be on hand to announce a trade deal with Argentina or New Zealand. More beef, sheep and cheese.”
Institutions based in London and the south will hope that any news designed to offer a boost to other regions doesn’t come at their expense. The axing of the London weighting in the teaching grant earlier this year was seen by many as an act of ‘levelling up by levelling down’, which helps nobody.
Diana Beech, chief executive of the London Higher group of institutions and a former adviser to three universities ministers, wants a budget that “delivers for the whole country”.
“This means London needs to be part of the chancellor’s considerations too, and ensuring the capital’s institutions get the funding they require will be vital to bringing about a rapid recovery, not just in London but across the country as a whole,” she said. “Large parts of London’s economy have been absolutely decimated by Covid-19, particularly those built around London’s airports or cultural and creative industries. The last thing we need is a budget plan that seeks to take away from London based on false perceptions of prosperity and affluence.”
Hopes and fears
What else, then, could be on the table in today’s pandemic proposals? Covid-19 will undoubtedly shape all aspects of Sunak’s 2021 budget, but what in particular might lie in store for universities?
“I think it would be good to hear a clear statement that the government would welcome higher education expansion this year, that extra teaching grant will be available for more expensive-to-teach courses and that courses that are limited in size by the government will be allowed to expand,” said Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute.
There are limits on the number of nursing, midwifery and allied health professional places available, although last year ministers created an additional 5,000 places on these courses (and ended up sanctioning 5,600 extra).
“The usual alternatives, such as getting a job or going travelling, are less of an option and there are more 18-year-olds,” Hillman continues. “Institutions stand ready to help school leavers get the places they deserve, despite a second year of exams being cancelled, but they need to know that this will be supported.”
According to Sarah Main, executive director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, a big financial question mark hangs over the UK’s option to fully associate to the European Union’s Horizon Europe research programme. It’s a question that needs an answer soon, she says.
“The government has yet to say how it will fund the UK’s association with Horizon Europe, or who in Whitehall will manage it,” Main writes in an article for Research Professional News. “Participation in European research programmes has, until now, been paid by the Treasury as part of the UK’s overall subscription to the EU. Now that a political commitment to association with European research programmes has been made, a financial commitment needs to follow.”
Based on the terms of the deal, association is likely to cost around £2bn a year, Main writes. “Scientists and research funders alike are concerned that some or all of this will come from the UK’s existing science budget.” That would represent over a fifth of UK Research and Innovation’s £9.1bn budget.
“Chancellor Rishi Sunak has the perfect opportunity…to set out how the UK’s financial contribution to Horizon Europe will be paid for and reassure the sector and the country,” Main concludes. “Prime minister Boris Johnson has championed the UK as a global hub for science and innovation, and has secured a deal on science with the EU to match. Now is the time to deliver.”
Graeme Reid, chair of science and research policy at University College London, told Research Professional News that the cost of Horizon Europe was the most important issue in the upcoming budget. “If the money was to come from UK Research and Innovation, this would be an enormous pressure on their budget—maybe even an unmanageable pressure,” he said.
Stephanie Smith, head of research policy at the Russell Group, told Research Professional News that she wanted to see “more clarity” on plans for Horizon Europe, and that in the “longer term, we hope to see more support for flexible quality-related research funding and its equivalents in the devolved nations, which has given institutions the flexibility to refocus efforts so quickly during the pandemic and helped them deliver life-saving breakthroughs”.
“We also hope the government will recognise there is a growing gap in funding for both undergraduate courses and research and that a more sustainable funding plan for higher education is required,” she added.
Further reading
After last year’s bumper R&D announcement, universities will this year be hoping for more reassurance that research remains a top priority for a government whose finances have been ravaged by the double whammy of Brexit and a global pandemic.
If you are thirsty for more budget speculation, Research Professional News news editor Mico Tatalovic and senior reporter Sophie Inge bring us their rundown of seven R&D things to look out for—including further detail on the Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund, the Shared Prosperity Fund and the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.
Meanwhile, University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady told Research Professional News that the pandemic had “brutally exposed critical weaknesses” in higher education, arguing that universities’ reliance on tuition fee income had “driven them to make poor—and sometimes dangerous—choices”.
“The government should provide secure, long-term funding for all institutions. At the very least, the budget needs to allocate funds to guarantee any income lost by institutions who see falls in recruitment during this cycle,” she told us.
Grady added that student and staff mental health had been a serious issue in education for many years and that the pandemic had compounded the situation. “Substantial additional funding for mental health services is urgently needed to address this crisis,” she said.
Daniel Zeichner, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary University Group, said that he too hoped for a commitment that would ease the burden on students. “[The APPG’s] recent report called for much more support for students through hardship funds, as in Wales, and for resources for substantial catch-up as soon as possible,” he said. “Universities can’t do it on their own; students have endured a really tough time. The budget is the opportunity for the government to respond positively.”
As Westwood wrote on Sunday: “Prime minister Boris Johnson may still be keen to eat more than one cake, but the prospect of at least one set of grown-up conversations about regional economic development, higher education funding and the practical contribution of universities to economic recovery is well overdue.” Let’s hope that is what we see later today.
This article originally appeared in the 8am Playbook email