Should REF environment statements get the chop?

Absolutely. Scraping the environment statement would be utterly disastrous. Remember the alleged issues with british gymnastics that was widely publicised in the media - results at any cost might not be in the best interests of UK HE. In fact the environment statement should be strengthened and more objective measures should be required rather than allowing instituions to waffle. Include staff surveys as a part of the environment statement or allow individual or groups of members of staff to anonymously and directly feedback to the REF panel. The REF should work for the individual researchers too not just the managers and psudeo managers who get bonuses and/or retention payments running to thousands of pounds for good performance on the REF. Make sure that game players are penalised. ets hope the review panel will be bold, radical and will actually have a spine and makes recommendations that not only advances the quality of instituions but also enriches the lives of the individual academics. We live forever in hope.