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RCUK Efficiency Programme

Efficiency Programme The RCUK Efficiency Programme covers efficiency savings in five areas: 1.Wakeham Savings on grants 2.Equivalent savings in RC institute funding 3.Asset utilisation 4.International subscriptions 5.Administrative savings from the SSC/SBS project

Efficiency Programme The efficiency areas for this CSR period are set out in the BIS Science and Research Allocations booklet published December research-funding to

Efficiency Programme As part of the 2010 CSR discussions around the RCUK Delivery Plan, the RCUK Efficiency and Reform Group was created Efficiency : Ensuring Excellence with Impact, sets out how the Research Councils intend to make these savings. These plans have been put together in order to protect research as a vital resource for the future. prod/assets/documents/documents/EfficiencyEnsuringExcellencewithImpact.pdf

International Subscriptions Our main international subscriptions are handled by STFC Negotiations with international partners need to be handled very sensitively. But cost saving can also be achieved through financial planning, for example, forward purchasing of currency.

Efficiency Savings Background: In June 2010 RCUK and UUK published a joint report of a Task Group led by Sir William Wakeham: Financial Sustainability and Efficiency in Full Economic Costing of Research in UK Higher Education Institutions It made a number of recommendations relating to the need for the research base to continue making progress in the efficiency of its operations. Report available at:

Wakeham Savings From the Forward to the Wakeham report: “…. We are currently in a period that will see significant restrictions in public expenditure. … Higher education will need to play its part in demonstrating greater efficiency and economies.”

Wakeham Savings In particular, the report found a wide variation in the Indirect costs of Research Organisations. “Indirect costs” of running the Research Organisation are calculated using TRAC (the Transparent Approach to Costing) This produces a ‘charge out rate’ which is used to arrive at the full cost of a research project, and then charged on Research Council grants.

Wakeham Savings “Indirect costs” cover things like: –clerical and administrative staff in academic departments –non-staff costs in academic departments –central services, including academic services such as the library and information services –the estates costs of central service departments

Wakeham Savings It doesn’t cover things like: –Estates costs of academic departments, such as repairs and maintenance, –Energy and other utilities, rates, etc …. which is where one might expect important savings to be made.

Wakeham Savings - Targets As part of CSR RCs were set savings targets for: –Efficiency savings in indirect costs. –Savings from removing the indexation on grants –Equivalent savings for institute funding. 11/1212/1313/1414/15 CSR TOTAL £30.5M£82.2M£138.5M£176.6M £427.9m

Wakeham Savings - Targets The savings needed are split between research grants and institute funding: Research Grants Institutes Total 2011/12£21.7 £8.8 £ /13£61.2 £21.0 £ /14£104.2 £34.3 £ /15£133.6 £43.0 £176.6 Total£320.8 £107.1 £427.9 The savings are split equally between research grants and institute funding – in proportion to the budgets.

Wakeham Savings on Grants How are the Wakeham savings applied to grant funding? In a nutshell… –Research Organisations are allocated to Efficiency Groups (A-E) depending on their indirect cost rates –ROs are informed of their Efficiency Group for in the Spring –Each Efficiency Group applies a % reduction to the indirect costs we pay on grants (with ROs in Group A having a 0% reduction)

Wakeham Savings on Institute Funding How are the Wakeham savings applied to institute funding? In a nutshell… –Through counting the savings made by the pay restraint imposed. –And the cash savings resulting from UKSBS Procurement

Impact of Wakeham Savings Is it working to reduce indirect costs on grants? Indirect costs per FTE 2010/112009/10 dataSavings Maximum£45, 105£47, % Minimum£27, 683£30, % Mean£37,457£38, % The data above is based on the fifty ROs represented which between them receive the vast majority of the Research Councils’ funding.

Implementing Wakeham Savings Full FAQs on the Wakeham Savings process are available here:

Asset Efficiency A lot going on here: –Current RCUK Policy on Equipment funding –Working together: collaboration and clusters –Asset sharing discussions in the University sector – for example, N8 –Capital Investment Roadmap

Capital Allocations Asset sharing is being driven by significant cuts in capital funding: £K Baseline: AHRC3,150- BBSRC66,48038,000 EPSRC49,26131,000 ESRC20,60018,700 MRC134,51733,000 NERC34,18332,200 STFC – Core Programme - 19,630 STFC – Cross-Council Facilities 85,24721,070 STFC - International Subscriptions -46,221

RCUK Policy on Equipment funding From May 2011: Extra justification for all items of equipment costing between £10k and the OJEU threshold (currently £134,011 including VAT). –Evidence of an evaluation of the use of existing relevant capital assets. –ROs will be expected to make a contribution towards the cost of the equipment. Business case required for all items of equipment above the OJEU threshold value

Asset Sharing – Support for Clusters RCUK is keen to support the development of asset registers in order to enable greater efficiency in usage, and more strategic procurement. Interoperability is key to support inter-institutional sharing / booking / costing. A statement of our support for collaborations between universities was published in March 2012:

Asset Sharing – HEI Developments There are a number of developments in the university sector around supporting great sharing of equipment. An N8 project (Uniquip) using RCUK/EPSRC funding has been looking at the issues and systems needed to make asset sharing work. JISC have agreed to fund a follow up project bringing together: –N8 (Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Durham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Lancaster, and York) –S5 (Southampton, Oxford, Imperial, UCL and Cambridge) –M5 (Loughborough, Leicester, Warwick, Nottingham, Aston and Birmingham) –SW and Wales Partnership of Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff

Asset Sharing – N8 Project What are the issues identified in the N8 Project? –Cultural barriers around equipment “ownership” – Need for user friendly taxonomy for equipment and shared, accessible asset registers – Effective business models for access and costing – Asset analysis and shared capital investment strategies Report published in Mar 2013: 'Making the best better' report. - N8 Research Partnership

Investing for growth: Capital Infrastructure for the 21st Century Launched in 2012, this is a strategic framework against which Research Councils will plan future investments in the UK’s capital infrastructure for research. The Framework addresses UK capital research investment. This includes the benefits of equipment sharing.

Looking to the future We are looking to work with UUK – as part of their follow up to the ‘Diamond Review’: Efficiency and effectiveness in higher education: - It primarily looked at efficiency in teaching provision, administration, accommodation, estates, etc. /EfficiencyinHigherEducation.aspx

Further Information Full information on the RCUK Website at: