§ Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Education what grants were made by her Department to bodies in adult education in each of the years 1945 to 1952 inclusive: what grants will be made in the coming year; and what are the reasons for the reduction.
§ Miss HorsbrughThe following table shows the grants made by my Department to responsible bodies (university and other) for liberal adult education classes for each of the financial years 1945–52:
£ 1945–46 … … … 140,154 1946–47 … … … 176,069 1947–48 … … … 226,267 1948–49 … … … 268,059 1949–50 … … … 300,792 1950–51 … … … 326,658 1951–52 … … … 338,182 1952–53 … … … 340,200 I have told these bodies that I propose to reduce the rate of my grants, from the beginning of the educational year 1953–54, by 10 per cent., as compared with those payable in the current educational year.
As can be seen from the above table, my Department's grants for this work have increased very rapidly in the period since the war. In my view it is reasonable to the present situation to propose a small reduction.