§ Mr. Cockeramasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement about expenditure on education by local authorities in 1983–84.
§ Sir Keith JosephCurrent expenditure by local authorities on education, which at present accounts for about half the total on all services, must be contained within the increased provision of £19.5 billion announced506W by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment in his statement earlier today. It will be for local authorities themselves to determine the balance of their expenditure between services, taking account of Government policies. I look to them to do their utmost to contain their pay and other costs and to manage their resources efficiently. I hope that they will then be able, without compulsory redundancies among teachers on any large scale, to avoid any substantial worsening in the present pupil-teacher ratio as the school population declines; to maintain the provision of books; to meet the growing demand from 16 to 19-year-olds; and to contract higher education in an orderly way.