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Written question asked by Paul Blomfield (Labour) on Thursday, 6 July 2017, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 July 2017. It was answered by Claire O'Neill (Conservative) on Tuesday, 11 July 2017 on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

University of Sheffield: Iron and Steel

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the decision by the Higher Education Funding Council for England not to fund the Advanced Structured Testing Centre at Sheffield University on the UK steel industry; and if he will make a statement.

Answer

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is a non-departmental public body with statutory independence from Ministers. Detailed and specific funding decisions are therefore entirely a matter for HEFCE. In this instance, HEFCE issued a competitive call into which universities across the UK were invited to submit bids for science capital funding. All bids were evaluated by an independent expert assessment panel against clearly defined, published criteria, including a requirement that bids should be built on a strong record of research excellence and should leverage co-investment from non-public sources at a ratio of at least 2:1.

The University of Sheffield’s bid for a “Steel Research and Testing Centre” did not meet all of the criteria on this occasion. A further funding round will open in the Autumn, and the University may submit a revised bid.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
3549
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Iron and steel Manufacturing industries Research University of Sheffield
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk