EPSRC Council assesses impact of reduction to EPSRC funding

Wednesday, 14, Mar 2007 12:00

EPSRC Council met on 12 March 2007 to decide how to save the £29M removed from its budget as part of its contribution to the £68M reduction in the ring-fenced science budget.

“Because virtually all of EPSRC’s funds are spent in universities on research grants and post graduate studentships, decisions have inevitably impacted on the seedcorn of the future: innovative research and young people at the start of their research careers,” said EPSRC’s Interim Chief Executive, Dr Randal Richards. “In engineering and the physical sciences this is doubly serious because these are shortage subjects that are essential to the economy and much of the rest of science.”

The Council discussed a number of options and decided, after vigorous debate, that it must protect the prospects for young people looking to begin research as PhD students as much as it can. Therefore studentships will be protected at the expense of research grants. As a result, the Council will not be able to award £14M in grants (about 52 responsive mode grants) that it had planned to support in 2007/08. The remainder of the £29M will be found by withdrawal of support for the construction of new beamlines on the Diamond synchrotron light source, the cancellation of a number of IDEAS sandpits, the cancellation of additional equipment for nanotechnology and reductions in administrative costs.

Our remaining plans for 2007/08 are based on us having access to End-Year Flexibility (EYF)* of £30M in 2007/08. This is subject to Treasury approval. Currently, the Research Councils have not received the necessary authority from the Treasury to utilise EYF during 2007/08. As so much of EPSRC’s expenditure is accounted for by commitments made in earlier years, Council has agreed contingency plans until a decision has been made concerning the future access to EYF, to enable it to remain within budget. These plans involve limiting the number of PhD studentships, and research grant funding, within 2007.

We have written to University Vice-Chancellors to let them know the current position, and that we can guarantee two thirds of their expected PhD new starts for October 2007. Approval of the balance can only be given if access to EYF is available.

The Council is concerned at the breach of the ring-fence and the implications for long-term planning. It will be seeking reassurances about the future of the Science budget.

Additional information:

The removal of £29M from EPSRC’s budget has come from our End-Year Flexibility (EYF). * EYF is a cross-government process that allows departments to manage their budgets effectively over a number of years. For EPSRC this is a vital part of financial management because a commitment to a three-year research grant results in expenditure typically over six years.