Vol. 566 No. 3
268 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will change the system whereby universities under the financial control of the Higher Education Authority are not informed of their budget until several months into the financial year, which causes serious planning and management problems; if budgets will be notified in advance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12873/03]
The Abridged Estimates for 2003 were published by the Department of Finance on 14 November 2002. On 3 February 2003, my Department formally advised the Higher Education Authority of the allocation of funding for the university sector. The individual universities were informed by the authority of their funding on 18 February 2003. The formal notification of funding followed on detailed discussions between my Department and the Higher Education Authority on overall priorities and funding levels in the context of the emerging picture.
It is necessary to await the finalisation of the Estimates process prior to formally notifying allocations and in this context, I am satisfied that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that individual institutions have been notified of their budgets as early as possible.
Question No. 269 answered with Question No. 253.
