asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will relax the regulations governing the qualifications for the grading of chief and senior technicians in universities.

No regulations on this matter are made by my Department. The qualifications required for appointments to the grades of chief and senior technician are matters for the universities.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that Answer. I was under the impression that his Department acted in conjunction with the University Grants Committee on this point and that there was this chronic shortage of senior and chief technicians in the universities. I speak from personal experience in this matter. Many people are being deterred from going into universities by the restricted promotion prospects. Would my right hon. Friend not agree that this situation is one which is almost a case of dead men's shoes rather than of ability?

The situation is that the Universities' Committee on Technical Staffs, on which, I understand, Queen's University, Belfast, is represented, made recommendations to the universities about the promotion of senior technicians and about the examination qualifications which should be recognised for all purposes, but, of course, universities are not committed by the recommendations. As autonomous institutions they must themselves decide their implementation.