HL Deb 11 February 1981 vol 417 cc275-6WA
Lord Avebury

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What amounts the Schools Council spent on curriculum development for multi-cultural education in each of the years 1978–79 and 1979–80 and how much it is expected they will spend in the years 1980–81 and 1981–82, and what percentage of their total budget these amounts represent.

The Minister of State, Department of Education and Science (Baroness Young)

Figures for the work on multi-cultural education in which the Schools Council has been or will be engaged are available only in relation to the direct costs of research and development work. These are shown below as a percentage of the council's total budget, and also as a percentage of the direct costs of all the council's research and development work. A distinction is also drawn in the table between projects wholly and partly in the field of multi-cultural education.

1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82*
Total Budget (£) 2,747,845 3,128,929 3,512,190 3,618,300
R&D 1,096,421 1,232,113 1,359,040 1,387,100
(a) Specific projects on multi-cultural education 7,290 26,839 7,215 68,550
% of R & D budget 0.66 2.20 0.53 4.90
% of total budget 0.26 0.86 0.20 1.90
(b) Projects connected with multicultural education 146,611 91,981 120,952 86,783
% of R & D budget 13.37 7.40 8.90 6.25
% of total budget 5.30 2.94 3.44 2.40
(c) Total of (a) and(b) 153,901 118,820 128,167 155,333
% of R & D budget 14.03 9.64 9.40 11.20
% of total budget 5.60 3.80 3.65 4.30
*Provisional.

House adjourned at nine minutes past eight o'clock.