§ 45. Sir E. Boyleasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether all local education authorities have now been advised of the major school building projects which are to be included in the 1967–68 programme; and what is the value of the improvement projects which he has approved for that programme, other than those needed to prepare for the raising of the school leaving age.
§ Mr. CroslandI hope to announce the second part of the programme by the end of this month. I expect that the programme will make an appreciable contribution to the improvement of existing schools.
§ Sir E. BoyleOn the second part of the Question, in 1965–66 and 1966–67 the volume of school improvements was a little over £25 million for each year. Can the right hon. Gentleman say approximately what the amount will be for 1967–68?
§ Mr. CroslandI should not like to give a figure simply because it is increasingly impossible to distinguish between 1649 improvements and other forms of school building. Many of the buildings put up in anticipation of raising the school leaving age will have an improvement element in them. When a slum school is replaced by a new school on a new housing estate, this is clearly an improvement, although it has not been defined as such in the past. To isolate a particular figure can only be misleading.