The Government provides funding to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which in turn funds independent environmental research in the United Kingdom. NERC's funding from DIUS’s science and research budget, has risen from £259 million in 2003-04 to £392 million in 2008-09. The increased sum includes support for the major new £1 billion programme living with environmental change, launched on 18 June, involving a wide range of partners, to which NERC and the other research councils are providing £363 million over the current spending review period.. The Department also funds the Higher Education Funding Council for England which provides quality related funding for research, including environmental research, in English Higher Education Institutes.