§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is to be the percentage change in expenditure on education in England between 1982–83 and 1983–84.
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§ Sir Keith JosephIt is not possible to give a precise answer in the form requested because outturn figures are not yet available. It seems likely that between 1982–83 and 1983–84 expenditure on education will rise in cash terms while the school population will fall by 3 per cent. Table 2.10 of the White Paper (Cmnd. 8789), however, shows a cash reduction in expenditure on education of £104 million between 1982–83 and 1983–84, for two reasons; first because the outturn for education in 1982–83 is likely to be lower than the figure shown in the table, which includes local authority education budgets prepared when the rate of inflation was much higher than it is now, and secondly because the figure for 1983–84 includes no part 243W of the £904 million for local authority expenditure not allocated to programmes, some of which will no doubt be spent on education.