Funding the Commission
Section 85: Power of the Welsh Ministers to fund the Commission
264.This section allows the Welsh Ministers to provide funding to the Commission. It allows the Welsh Ministers to attach terms and conditions to such funding as they consider appropriate (including in relation to repayment of sums and payment of interest) subject to the limitations specified in section 86.
265.Terms and conditions applied to funding by the Welsh Ministers may require the Commission to enter into an “outcome agreement” with persons whom it proposes to fund. An outcome agreement is defined by this section. Outcome agreements are a means by which the Commission, through its funding decisions, will contribute to the discharge of its strategic duties (under sections 2 to 12) and the achievement of the Welsh Ministers’ strategic priorities for tertiary education and research.
266.The Commission’s strategic plan will set out how it intends to discharge its strategic duties and how it will address the Welsh Ministers’ priorities in the statement published by the Welsh Ministers under section 14. Outcome agreements will set out the activities that a provider agrees it will carry out in return for funding which will contribute to the implementation of the Commission’s approved strategic plan.
267.The Welsh Ministers may impose terms and conditions requiring the Commission to enter into outcome agreements in all cases where it provides funding. Alternatively, the Welsh Ministers may require the Commission to enter into an outcome agreement where the Commission proposes to fund particular activities, types of provider or specified amounts of financial support. For example, the Welsh Ministers may require that outcome agreements apply to all courses of higher and further education, or only to certain specified courses but not in cases where the volume of provision is small and funding falls below a specified amount.
Section 86: Funding the Commission: limitations on terms and conditions
268.This section includes a number of requirements and restrictions in relation to the terms and conditions that may be imposed by the Welsh Ministers. The purpose of the requirements and restrictions is to protect the institutional autonomy of tertiary education and research providers, the academic freedom of higher education providers and the ability of the Commission to determine funding allocations.
269.In particular, this section provides that the terms and conditions imposed by the Welsh Ministers in relation to funding for higher education, further education and training, and research and innovation must not relate to activities carried on by individual providers (unless they apply to all providers or those falling within a particular class or description and are a pre-condition of funding).
270.This section also provides that terms and conditions must not be framed by reference to criteria for the appointment, dismissal or selection of academic staff or criteria for the admission of students. This provision protects providers’ freedom to select staff and admit students as they see fit.
271.Further, this section provides that terms and conditions relating to funding for research and innovation may only be framed by reference to an area of research or innovation if that is included in the Commission’s approved strategic plan. The terms and conditions may not refer to particular programmes of research or innovation projects.
272.In addition, the terms and conditions for higher education may apply to particular courses but must not apply to particular parts of courses nor must they require the Commission to either provide or prohibit the provision of particular courses. These provisions enable the Welsh Ministers to ring-fence funding to support particular courses of higher education and to require the Commission to have regard to the desirability of funding them. By way of example the Welsh Ministers may give funding to the Commission to support the provision of a particular course or courses leaving it to the Commission to determine how the funding is to be used. The Welsh Ministers can require the funding to be repaid if not used for the specified course(s). This provision protects providers’ freedom to elect to offer particular higher education courses.
273.Additionally, this section provides that terms and conditions in respect of higher education or research and innovation must not apply to the content of courses or programmes of research and innovation nor how they are taught, supervised or assessed. This provision protects providers’ freedom to teach and admit students as they see fit.
274.Subsection (7) dis-applies the limitations of subsections (5) and (6) for courses or parts of courses being provided and assessed through the medium of Welsh. This provision enables the Welsh Ministers to allocate funding to the Commission to support the provision or assessment of higher education courses or part of such courses through the medium of Welsh.
