Is the REF still useful?

"University managers still value the REF’s capacity to semi-officially identify areas of research that it would make sense for their institution to expand or contract." - I sincerely hope this isnt true. If you are going to decide your future based on what a panel might think about what did from upto 5 or 6 years ago, then god help us. The best institutions are looking ahead not backward and indeed the very best are creating those futures and not playing catch up.