§ 26. Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is her latest estimate of the cost of implementing the James Report, in its current form.
§ Mrs. ThatcherDepending upon the extent to which the recommendations are implemented and the size of the teaching force at the time, I expect the figures to be upwards of £50 million annual recurrent expenditure and £30 million capital expenditure plus further sums which cannot yet be estimated.
The report itself, however, envisages that its proposals would be implemented in large measure by a redeployment of existing resources; to that extent the net additional public expenditure would be less than the estimates quoted above.