§ Mr. Iain Millsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science why table 1.14 of Cmnd. 8789 100W shows a reduction in expenditure on education and science of over 5 per cent. in cost terms between 1982–83 and 1983–84.
§ Sir Keith JosephIt is likely that the outturn for education in 1982–83 will be somewhat 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. The figure for 1983–84 includes no part of the £904 million for local authority current expenditure not allocated to programmes, some of which will no doubt be spent on education. When allowance is made for these two factors, both of which are explained in paragraph 2 of chapter 2.10 of the White Paper, it is likely that the reduction will be less than that shown in table 1.14. The school population will fall by about 3 per cent. over the same period.