§ 39. Mr. Hornbyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what she estimates to be the cost of doubling post-school education by 1980; and to what extent this estimate would exceed the cost of the proposals put forward in the recent White Paper.
§ Mrs. ThatcherWhile forecasts as far ahead as 1980 are bound to be tentative for the reasons explained in my White Paper, I estimate that to double the provision of higher education by 1981–82 would entail recurrent expenditure in that year of the order of £115 million, some £200 million higher than the comparable figure of £945 million for the proposals in the White Paper which will increase higher education provision by about 60 per cent. Additional capital expenditure of some £50 million a year throughout the decade would also be necessary.