Sewel Memorandum
Higher Education Bill
Motion
That the Parliament agrees that the provisions contained in the Higher Education Bill which have the effect of creating a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, and which confer powers and functions on Scottish Ministers, so far as those provisions relate to matters within the legislative competence of the Parliament, should be considered by the UK Parliament.
Purpose
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide details of Part 1 of the Higher Education Bill being introduced at the UK Parliament in January 2004 which relates to issues that are currently within the competence of the Scottish Parliament in respect of the funding of Arts and Humanities research. The Parliament is invited to agree that this should be considered by the UK Parliament under the terms of a Sewel motion associated with this memorandum, and to note that in due course an Order made under section 30 of the Scotland Act will be required to reserve this currently devolved area.
Background
1. The Higher Education Bill contains provisions to create a Arts and Humanities Research Council ( AHRC) with different objectives but equivalent legal status to the existing Research Councils funded by the Department of Trade and Industry's ( DTI) Office of Science and Technology ( OST) within the meaning of the Science and Technology Act 1965 ( STA). The AHRC will then take over the role of the existing Arts and Humanities Research Board ( AHRB) whose operations, along with its employees, assets, liabilities etc. will then be transferred to the AHRC.
2. The AHRB is currently non-statutory and was established in 1998 with funding provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England ( HEFCE), the British Academy, and the Department for Education (now the Department for Employment and Learning) in Northern Ireland ( DELNI). In 1999, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council ( SHEFC) and the equivalent body in Wales (HEFCW) decided to join in providing funding to the AHRB, and it now supports research and postgraduate study in all parts of the UK. Currently SHEFC contributes around £5 million per year to the AHRB.
3. The role of the AHRB is analogous to that of the seven existing Research Councils which operate across all parts of the UK; however, the AHRB does not have the statutory status of a Research Council created by Royal Charter under the terms of the STA, which are funded by the DTI under reserved powers. Following a review in 2002, carried out jointly by the UK administrations, it was agreed that converting the AHRB to a new AHRC on equivalent legislative footing to the science Research Councils would enable a number of improvements to be made in arts and humanities research funding. In brief, these are that an AHRC would have an equivalent status to that of the existing Science Councils, and so would enable Arts and Humanities Departments to bid for research funding on an equal footing to Science Departments. It would also allow the sector to work more closely with the other Research Councils on the research agenda and on cross-cutting strategic issues.
Rationale and Benefits for Scotland participating in an AHRC
4. Scottish Arts and Humanities research funding benefits significantly from being part of a UK-wide system for administering project grants by the AHRB. For example, in 2001-02, 11% of research award funding was allocated to Higher Education Institutions ( HEIs) in Scotland, and 4 of the 17 research centres funded by the AHRB are in Scottish HEIs. Four of the fifteen conveners of peer review panels are currently from Scottish Universities. These figures, and similar figures from the UK Science Research Councils, indicate that Scottish research benefits from being part of a UK-wide system for the distribution of research project funding.
5. While the AHRB system has delivered benefits, there has however been a consistent pressure from the academic community in Scotland, that it does not deliver all that it might for Arts and Humanities research in Scotland. These views are similar to those in other parts of the UK. The Scottish Executive therefore consulted widely on the proposal to convert the AHRB to AHRC following the publication of the UK Review document in 2002. It held discussions with the Deans of University Arts Faculties and received several letters supporting the change, with none against. The conclusion reached by the Scottish Executive was that the University sector in Scotland is overwhelmingly supportive of the change, as are the current AHRB members and SHEFC.
6. During the consultation, the sector in Scotland strongly supported putting arts and humanities on the same footing as sciences. It very much supported the view that funding could benefit from being part of the same system of budgets set by the DTI for the Science Research Councils, which totals over £2 billion. The sector agreed this would improve stability of funding for Arts and Humanities research and also provide an opportunity for Departments to bid against a much larger overall budget. The sector was concerned that under the current funding of the AHRB, which is derived from contributions from the UK Higher Education Funding Councils, Arts and Humanities research could potentially lose status against that for science. The size of the AHRB's overall budget is dependent on the continued decision of the Funding Councils to maintain their contributions, and so offers scope for a divergence in funding priorities compared to other research. Establishing an AHRC would ensure that schemes of project funding like those available in the sciences are fully developed for the arts and humanities. The sector was also concerned that the AHRB had no place at the table when high-level discussions are taking place about research funding and policy.
7. The consultation also showed a clear wish for funding to reflect the widely accepted view that artificial boundaries between the different sectors of science, engineering, technology, arts and humanities are reducing the opportunities for innovation. Similarly the sector wanted to encourage a culture which works across the various sectors very flexibly and fluidly. The transformation of the AHRB into a UK-Research Council will help to maximise opportunities for multi-disciplinary research, not only in supporting projects which cross subject boundaries but also in contributing arts and humanities perspective in the development of research policy in other spheres, and vice-versa. A UK-wide AHRC will also help to increase the level of collaboration between Scottish researchers and their counterparts in the rest of the UK.
8. One alternative to a UK-wide AHRC could be that the rest of the UK will want to proceed to establish an AHRC without Scottish involvement. This would presumably mean establishing a Scottish based funding board: this was seen as likely to be deeply damaging to the sector, through loss of competitive status of Scottish research in UK terms.
9. On the basis of this clear and unambiguous support from the sector outlined above, Scottish Ministers agreed to proceed with the change, and the UK administrations jointly announced in January 2003 that they intended to introduce the necessary legislation.
Legislation
10. The legislation to create an AHRC reserved to the UK Parliament will be carried out in two distinct stages. Legislation to change the status of the AHRB to an AHRC will be achieved through the UK Government's Higher Education Bill, to be introduced in January 2004, and consent of the Scottish Parliament will be achieved through the Sewel motion associated with this Memorandum. A new Royal Charter will be granted once all of the legislation is in place and this is expected to be in autumn 2004 or early 2005.
11. The second stage of the legislation is to enable the AHRC to be made a reserved body and funded by OST exactly like the UK science Research Councils. This process will require a separate legislative process under the arrangements laid out in the Scotland Act for adjusting the devolution settlement. The Scottish Executive and UK Government will therefore support the making of an Order under section 30(2) of the Scotland Act 1998 to modify Schedule 5 of that Act as it relates to those matters that are reserved. It is expected that this Order will be laid in both Houses in Westminster and Scottish Parliament in the summer or autumn of 2004.
Content of the Bill
12. The Higher Education Bill is the legislation which has emerged from the White Paper 'The Future of Higher Education' which was published in January 2003. The Bill deals with a range of issues relating to Higher Education, most of which is relevant only to England and Wales. However, the provisions to create the AHRC apply across the UK.
13. Part 1 of the Bill relates to Research in Arts and Humanities and will establish the AHRC on a similar basis as currently exists for science research under the Science and Technology Act 1965. The Bill sets out the functions proposed for the AHRC which include:
- carrying out, facilitating, encouraging and supporting research and instruction in the arts and humanities;
- advancing and disseminating knowledge in, and promoting understanding of, the arts and humanities;
- promoting awareness of the body's activities; and
- providing advice on matters relating to the body's activities.
14. Part 1 also provides for the transfer of the AHRB and it sets out key elements of the operational framework including those relating to expenses, reporting arrangements to the Secretary of State, and details of income and expenditure that the AHRC will require to provide to the Secretary of State as required. Part 1 of the Bill provides for the Secretary of State to directly fund AHRC activities through the DTI on the same basis as for the other Research Councils.
15. Funding for Science research outside the Research Councils is not a reserved power within the meaning of section 5 of the Science and Technology Act 1965, and so Scottish Ministers are able to fund science research directly to suit our requirements. Such powers are currently used to fund strategically important science research through SHEFC. Similar arrangements will be made for Arts and Humanities research which will allow Scottish Ministers the option to fund arts and humanities research directly.
Royal Charter
16. The draft Royal Charter for the AHRC, published alongside the Higher Education bill, mirrors the format and content of the Charters for the science Research Councils and sets out the responsibility and constitutional arrangements of the AHRC. However, in the Review of the AHRB it was recognised that some Arts and Humanities research was highly specific to geography and culture, and that this needed to be protected by special provisions within the Royal Charter. While formal reporting for AHRC, as with the other Research Councils, will be to OST, accountability arrangements will ensure that AHRC plays a proper role in regionally specific research. Hence, the objects set out in the Royal Charter include explicit recognition of the role of AHRC in supporting "research relating to the cultural aspects of different parts of the UK". Additional safeguards will also be included alongside the Royal Charter which will require the AHRC to report annually on the research it commissions, including that on regionally specific subjects, as well as on the regional distribution of its research funding. This is further underpinned by a number of other mechanisms that will include transparency and visibility of the AHRC; criteria for decision making about research funding; and ensuring that membership continues to be broadly representative of the different parts of the UK.
Financial Implications
17. The Executive, through SHEFC, is providing funding of £5.4m to AHRB in 2003-04; provision for 2004-05 has not yet been agreed. It is expected that the AHRC will become operational from 1 April 2005 and a transfer of funds from the Scottish Executive to the OST will be necessary at this point. This will be a once-for-all transfer and the arrangements for this have still to be determined. However, funding responsibility for AHRC will not transfer to OST before the legislation to reserve the new body is complete. It has been agreed that the level of funding to be passed back to Westminster will not exceed current levels.
18. Ministers will have the option, as now, of funding Arts and Humanities Research directly if they wish.