Further and Higher Education Act 1992

66 Administration of funds: supplementary

(1) Before exercising their discretion under section 65(3)(a) of this Act with respect to the terms and conditions to be imposed in relation to any grants, loans or other payments, a council shall consult such of the following bodies as appear to the council to be appropriate to consult in the circumstances—

(a) such bodies representing the interests of higher education institutions as appear to the council to be concerned, and

(b) the governing body of any particular higher education institution which appears to the council to be concerned.

(2) In exercising their functions in relation to the provision of financial support for activities eligible for funding under section 65 of this Act a council shall have regard to the desirability of not discouraging any institution for whose activities financial support is provided under that section from maintaining or developing its funding from other sources.

(3) In exercising those functions a council shall have regard (so far as they think it appropriate to do so in the light of any other relevant considerations) to the desirability of maintaining—

(a) what appears to them to be an appropriate balance in the support given by them as between institutions which are of a denominational character and other institutions, and

(b) any distinctive characteristics of any institution within the higher education sector for whose activities financial support is provided under that section.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) above an institution is an institution of a denominational character if it appears to the council that either—

(a) at least one quarter of the members of the governing body of the institution are persons appointed to represent the interests of a religion or religious denomination,

(b) any of the property held for the purposes of the institution is held upon trusts which provide that, in the event of the discontinuance of the institution, the property concerned shall be held for, or sold and the proceeds of sale applied for, the benefit of a religion or religious denomination, or

(c) any of the property held for the purposes of the institution is held on trust for or in connection with—

(i) the provision of education, or

(ii) the conduct of an educational institution,

in accordance with the tenets of a religion or religious denomination.