To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, pursuant to his answer of 16 December, Official Report, columns 31–33, (a) what advice he received from the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council and (b) when he last consulted the Standing Conference of Principals on the question of whether to designate any further polytechnics.

The references to polytechnic designations in my right hon. and learned Friend's answer of 16 December took account of responses from the Ploytechnics and Colleges Funding Council and the Standing Conference of Principals, among others, on the Department's consultation paper "Degree Awarding Powers and University Titles" issued on 31 October. Neither body offered advice on whether to designate further ploytechnics.