§ 15. Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his Department's current estimate of the number and cost of school books that will be bought in the current year.
§ Dr. BoysonProvisional figures for the financial year 1981–82 show that local education authorities in England spent £56 million on books for primary and secondary schools in that year. Expenditure figures for the current financial year will not be available until the autumn.
§ Mr. BennettIs the Minister aware that at a recent meeting that I had with geography teachers they said that they had never had so little money to spend on the purchase of new books and the replacement of old books, and that they had never known a period in which geography books were becoming obsolete so quickly because of the Government's industrial policy? Is there a school that has geography books which accurately describe, for example, the present industrial distribution of the British steel industry?
§ Dr. BoysonThe sum provided in the rate support grant to local authorities for books and other equipment this year in real terms per pupil is exactly the same as in 1978–79 when the Government took office. It is for the schools to decide how they should use the money to the maximum advantage. If geography is changing at the speed that the hon. Gentleman suggests, we had better wait for a while before we order the next set of books.
§ Mr. MarlowWill my hon. Friend set up a survey to compare the money spent on books in the public sector with the money spent in the private sector? Many people believe that the private sector buys fewer books and that they are looked after rather better.
§ Dr. BoysonI do not think that we have any figures that touch on my hon. Friend's supplementary question. We could undertake a rough sample and we would be prepared to do so. I sometimes wonder whether the English and mathematics books that are used in schools—I am not referring to geography books or science books, which are the subject of rapid changes—last as long now as the books of 20 years ago.
§ Mr. DobsonDoes the Minister recall that last year the Secretary of State told the House that he was allocating an extra £20 million to local authorities to be spent on school books? Have the authorities spent the moneys on school books or have they spent them on something else, in the sacred name of local government autonomy?
§ Dr. BoysonI note that the hon. Gentleman has little faith in local authorities today. He has just made his second attack on them. I presume that he is attacking Labour authorities as well as Conservative ones. I know that the Government move very fast, but it is a little too early for us to have the expenditure figures, as the financial year has not yet ended.