§ Q1. Mr. Dalyellasked the Prime Minister if he will require the Secretaries of State for Defence and Education and Science to prepare a co-ordinated scheme for making land in urban areas at present held for defence purposes available for the expansion of facilities in further education of the order of 50,000 students each year over five years, as recommended by the Henniker-Heaton Committee.
§ The Prime Minister (Sir Alec Douglas-Home)No, Sir. Further education is a responsibility of the local education authorities, and they must decide in the light of local circumstances what are the most suitable sites on which to develop.
§ Mr. DalyellIs it satisfactory that in order to meet these fairly modest proposals on day release some authorities are being obliged to hire accommodation from private developers?
§ The Prime MinisterWe have accepted that in the next five years the number who will come on to day release will almost double. That is another 250,000. I do not think that that is very modest, but I think that the main thing is to get the accommodation, whether it is hired or built.