§ 14. Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a state- 1202 ment about the effects on the proposed school building programme of expenditure cuts contained in the Budget.
§ Mr. PrenticeI am considering carefully how the savings required of education in 1976–77 can be made with least detriment to the service and to those most in need. I shall try to inform local education authorities by the end of June of their allocations for school building starts in that year.
§ Mr. HuckfieldWill my right hon. Friend recognise that the difficulty with such cuts, apart from their impact, is their effect on plans for months and years ahead? Will he therefore help to end some of the uncertainties, particularly in the faster-growing parts of the country like Warwickshire and my constituency in particular, by giving an assurance that they will be able to retain the kind of priorities they now have?
§ Mr. PrenticeMy hon. Friend will appreciate that the allocation for 1975–76, which for Warwickshire was just over £1,750,000, is not affected by the Chancellor's statement. What my right hon. Friend has required of spending Departments is some reduction of projected spending for 1976–77. We have to give careful thought to how to do this with the least detriment to the services. I shall make the allocations for the school building programmes for the year at the earliest possible moment. I originally hoped to do it at about the end of June.