asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether adjustments will be made to the financial support for higher education to take full account of the first step towards the rectification of the university teachers' pay anomaly during the next financial year.

The universities' recurrent grant for the current academic year, which spans the financial years 1978–79 and 1979–80, includes provision for pay increases for all university staff. The need for an adjustment to the grant to take account of the rectification of the university teachers' pay anomaly will be considered in the light of the level of actual pay settlements as well as the movement of prices generally.