Written question asked by John Denham (Labour) on Friday, 29 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 10 November 2004. It was answered by Kim Howells (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what the average age is of scientists with permanent contracts employed by universities; and what the average age was 10 years ago. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average age is of scientists with permanent contracts employed by universities; and what the average age was 10 years ago. [195634] Dr. Howells: The latest available figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, are shown in the following table. Information for 1992/93 is not held centrally. We have taken `scientists' to mean academic staff in all science subjects. As well as figures for science staff, we have shown figures for all staff for comparison. Average age of academic staff1 UK HE Institutions _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Academic years Staff in science departments2 All staff 1994/953 45 45 2002/03 46 46 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Covers full-time and part-time staff on permanent contracts. 2 Includes staff in cost centres covering all science subjects. 3 Earliest comparable figures--information for 1992/93 is not held centrally. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency's Staff Record.

Secondary information