asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is yet able to announce the form and terms of reference of the review of the University Grants Committee announced in the higher education Green Paper, Cmnd. 9524.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I, as the two Ministers who are advised by the University Grants Committee, propose to establish a committee whose terms of reference will be:

"To review, within the context of expected developments in higher education, the University Grants Committee's constitutional position and role in relation to the Government and to the universities, its membership, its internal structure and working methods, and its secretariat."

Lord Croham has accepted our invitation to be the chairman of the committee. The members of the committee will be announced as soon as possible. The secretary of the committee will be Mr. Peter Syme of the Department of Education and Science. The committee is expected to start work in the autumn. The committee will seek evidence as it considers appropriate, but any individuals or organisation wishing to submit preliminary observations should send them to the secretary of the committee at the Department of Education and Science before 30 October 1985.