HC Deb 10 April 1973 vol 854 c1129
19. Mr. John E. B. Hill

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when she will announce details of the next school building programme.

Mrs. Thatcher

I hope by Easter to have given most local education authorities details of their preliminary lists of projects on which work is expected to start in 1975–77.

Mr. Hill

Will this programme maintain the trend in expansion? To what scale of cost limit will it be geared? When the local education authorities have received notice of their allocation, will my right hon. Friend consider placing copies of these allocations in the Library for the convenience of hon. Members?

Mrs. Thatcher

The new programme will be on the existing cost limits. I shall certainly place copies in the Library. We have just announced the first new improvement programme for secondary schools, with some 54 new secondary schools replacing old schools.

Mr. Marks

Will the cuts which the right hon. Lady is making in the total school building programme over the next two years be felt more in the primary school sector or in the secondary school sector?

Mrs. Thatcher

I am not aware of the cuts to which the hon. Gentleman refers. There is a vastly increased primary school building programme and a secondary school improvement programme for the first time. Basic needs are certainly down. This is a matter of the number of children. Both the raising of the school leaving age and the countercyclical programme have now been completed.