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As this term draws to a close, the dust is beginning to settle on three major intersecting government policy developments and initiatives, the (very) green paper on higher education, the Nurse review and the government's spending review.

Notwithstanding some of the finer detail, my overwhelming sentiment for higher education institutions is one of considerable relief that most of the uncertainty of recent weeks and months has been removed, and that we have a clear opportunity to remain adequately funded, internationally competitive and on track for the ambitions of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº 2034.

The Week@¹û¶³Ó°Ôº has already linked to previous comment on each of these, including my Provost's View on the green paper, initial ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº reactions to the spending review and an .

However, I would like to join up some of the dots that connect these three developments and comment on a few cross-cutting issues - some positive and some that are of concern.

Potential concerns - threats to widening participation and to Quality of Research funding

First, a note of concern. It is now clear that the BIS departmental expenditure budget has been cut by some 17%, much of which is achieved by converting student support from traditional maintenance grants into additional loans. These will be administered by the Students Loans Company, with income contingent repayment organised in the same way as loans for tuition fees. In addition, the HEFCE student opportunity fund, used to promote widening participation, is to be cut by £120 million (50% of the total) per annum. These two changes could clearly have an adverse impact on access to higher education for those from the lowest income families. In order to counter this, the green paper indicates that the new Office for Students will expect universities to pick up the responsibility and to deliver improved outcomes. At ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, we will of course focus on this important issue, but we should be clear that widening participation just became a little more problematic, and certainly and to institutions.

My second note of intersecting concern relates to the fate of Quality of Research (QR) funding as informed by the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) and currently funded through HEFCE. The proposal is that these monies are transferred from HEFCE (as it is wound up) to the new oversight body for research called Research UK, to sit alongside research council funding. So called 'dual' funding of research has been critically important in the research success of UK higher education for several decades now and contributes significantly to our international research profile, standing and competitiveness. Both the Nurse review and the green paper suggest that dual funding should continue, albeit under the new umbrella body, Research UK. I would be a strong advocate of enshrining the dual nature of these funding streams in perpetuity by the inclusion of an appropriate clause in the legislative bill, thus preventing any future temptation to join them together and perhaps to seek cuts in the future.

Welcome aspects of the spending review

There were also some very positive elements of the Spending Review for ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. One specific proposal provides the potential for major benefit to neuroscience research at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, with the . This follows on from the Prime Minister's personal commitment to facilitating dementia research after the G8 summit of two years ago. The proposal is to create a national effort that will really begin to tackle early diagnosis and drug discovery, with the notion of creating a disease modifying treatment by 2025 - a very significant goal that will be difficult to achieve without a concerted national effort. At ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº we can lay claim to being one of the world's leading centres for research on dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, and this therefore represents a major opportunity for us to play a significant and key central role in this national initiative.

Philanthropic support for dementia research at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº

In parallel, we have also had major success in attracting philanthropic support for dementia research at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº through interaction with the supermarket retail industry and the five pence plastic bag levy. One of the supermarket chief executives, Malcolm Walker, already a significant donor to ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº dementia research, came up with this brilliant idea after a meeting during which we discussed how such research could 'move faster'. A few days later Malcolm phoned me to say that he would pledge all the proceeds from the new five pence levy (introduced in England on 5 October) on plastic disposable bags sold from his supermarket, Iceland.

The purpose of this levy is, of course, to reduce the sale of such bags for positive environmental reasons, but evidence from Wales and Scotland (both of whom introduced the levy a year ago) is that sales drop by about 80%. Since there are about 8.5 billion disposable plastic bags sold each year in England, 20% is still a very large number. Each supermarket can nominate a charity to receive four pence of the five pence, with the other one pence going to the government (as VAT). There is thus in the order of £68 million per annum to distribute for charitable use in England alone.

Malcolm Walker was also highly instrumental in mobilising his fellow retail chief executives and their teams into coming behind ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº's dementia research initiative and what started as an interesting but relatively small one-year idea, has now mushroomed into eight different retailers (including Iceland, Waitrose, Morrison's, ASDA, WH Smith, HSS Hire, Poundland and Booths) giving ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº dementia research, some, or all, of their plastic bag levy funds for up to three years. We don't know precisely how much money we will eventually raise, but it certainly has the potential to be several tens of millions over time, which ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº hopes to use for an institute to bring together researchers from across ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Hospital (¹û¶³Ó°ÔºH) and key academic and industry partners, to lead national and international efforts to find effective treatments and improve the lives of those with dementia.Ìý

It is exciting to be at the centre of such diverse institutions and powerful forces rallying together to address one of the major challenges of our times. With the driving energies of the government and MRC, the retail industry in philanthropic mode, academia - both ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº and others across the nation - the NHS, and hopefully the major national medical and dementia/Alzheimer's charities working together on dementia, we can see the beginning of a coordinated national effort that will be able to make a real difference to this prevalent and debilitating disease. When I became President and Provost of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, little did I realise how disposable plastic bags would become so important to ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº.

Provost's Excellence awards

I'd like to conclude my final Provost's View of the calendar with a reflection on some the wider achievements of the ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº community. As you may recall, we decided to set up a new Provost's Excellence Scheme in order to recognise truly exceptional contributions from across ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº, with a particular emphasis on furthering ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº values. We launched the scheme earlier this year and I recently had the pleasure of considering all the nominations which came from ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº staff and students. The scheme includes the Sir Stephen Wall Equalities award, and I was very pleased that Sir Stephen was involved in making the recommendation for the winner of that category.

I was delighted to receive so many excellent nominations for the awards, although this did give the panel a tough job when it came to considering and agreeing who the winners should be. I would personally have liked to recognise many more of the staff who were put forward. The nominations reminded me of the wealth and diversity of talent and commitment shown by staff right across ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº -Ìýsomething I am very proud of. This scheme is a small but important part of ensuring that staff excellence is recognised across all fields of work at ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº.

After much deliberation, and some debate, we have now chosen the winners and are in the process of sharing the good news with these members of staff. I am looking forward to announcing the winners early in the New Year and inviting them to a ceremony to mark their achievements.

On a final note, I want to thank all of you for your hard work and your continued support of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº. I hope you enjoy a relaxing and pleasant holiday season and that you come back ready for an exciting and successful time in 2016.