---

Higher Education

Yes, my Lords, I think that I can give the noble Lord that reassurance. In what he says he seems to be endorsing the approach that I have set out this afternoon. First, I would like to stress that, when I talk about research concentration depending on the volume and critical mass of the research being undertaken, that is not related to the size or status of a particular institution. It is very important to stress that. Secondly, the noble Lord is right to point out that, if we were to spread our resources thinly across too many institutions or research centres, it might result in each of them having insufficient resources. That is at the core of what I have described today; it is precisely what we want to overcome with what I hope is a smarter, more intelligent approach to the allocation of research funds. Incidentally, those funds have doubled over the past 12 years of the present Government. We have invested in particular in our first-rate, first-class science base and we intend to continue to protect that science base. I want just to make a final point. The reason why I believe that science needs to attract particular funding and a concentration of resources is that it involves investment in technology and machinery that is much more expensive than in other disciplines. That is why we are drawn to science and why we have to look to applying the principles of resource concentration in that direction.