Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 137
First Report - Universities and Scotland
Published 28 May 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Universities and Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Minister Stewart did not think the UK or Scotland would be disadvantaged as an associate member of Horizon Europe.322 Expanding on this further, Rebecca Hackett, Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, informed us that: [ … ] there are certain rules on what associate members can do in comparison to full members in terms of leading consortia. It comes back to [ … ] the strength of the UK’s offer in terms of research and innovation and that ability to bring in international partners, which is something that has really been recognised. If you look at Israel as an example of a country that has huge strengths, as an associate member it has been able to play a very full role, similarly for Switzerland, Norway and others. We are very confident that the UK and the institutions across the UK will be able to play a very full part in the programme and benefit enormously. Having had that membership of the programme and the track record of participating, we should be in a very good place to do that.323
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, First Report - Universities and Scotland (HC 54), 28 May 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 27 April 2022 (deadline 28 July 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out continued work with the devolved administrations and existing UK-wide policies on international students, immigration, research funding and talent, and states it will submit a response to the earlier Immigration and Scotland report "shortly".
- On the Turing Scheme, it confirmed funding for three years, including "£110 million for the 2022/23 Academic Year". It states the scheme "prioritises pupils, students and learners over staff and inward mobility funding", and says the first year's impact will be evaluated.
- On Erasmus+, it states that President Von Der Leyen "has previously confirmed that association by part of a country is not legally possible".
- On UKRI, it states that Board appointees "are not recruited to represent any constituency, sector or regional grouping", while a legal requirement to have regard to research conditions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is taken into account. It says Research England's place on the Executive Committee reflects its status as a legal component of UKRI.
- On visa costs, it states that "UK visa fees are broadly in line with our competitors" and that it will "continue to keep visa fees under review".