HC Deb 27 June 1968 vol 767 cc791-2
12. Mr. G. Campbell

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science why the Government have refused to support the sending of a United Kingdom team of young mathematicians to this year's international competition to be held in Moscow, after the success of this event in Belgrade last year.

38. Mr. John Page

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether a decision has now been reached about sending a team of young British mathematicians to take part in the forthcoming Mathematical Olympiad in Moscow.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

A team sponsored by the Mathematical Association, with financial help from industry and private individuals, will leave for Moscow to take part in the International Mathematical Olympiad on 7th July. I should like to pay tribute to them both for their public-spirited gesture.

Mr. Campbell

The House will be glad to learn that the Government have changed their mind. What reason can there be for withholding sponsorship for what has now become a very worth-while annual event, which is linked with the British mathematics Olympiad?

Mrs. Williams

My right hon. Friend's predecessor's view was that the public expenditure involved was not justified in relation to the academic return to the education system. The Government have reserved their position as regards future years and have helped in making arrangements for the present visit.

Mr. Page

Is the hon. Lady aware of the great stimulus which this competition gives to the groups of our brightest mathematicians scattered about the country, and will she take it that we are grateful to her for the change of heart in the Ministry since she arrived and took an interest in the matter herself?

Mrs. Williams

It is a great stimulus, but I hope that schools will not, as it were, treat it as a coaching exercise but treat it as a general stimulus to mathematical study.