Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any, they (1) have taken, or (2) intend to take, in response to the School of Advanced Study’s proposal to close the Institute of Commonwealth Studies; and what assessment they have made of the importance of that institute to students from Commonwealth countries.

Universities are independent, autonomous organisations and are therefore responsible for their decisions relating to research priorities and which activities to support. We would expect universities to regularly review and develop their strategic research priorities, and that this may result in some internal restructuring to better support these priorities.