§ Mr. Leightonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will seek to devise a formula for the distribution of resources for public sector higher education which takes simultaneous account of the needs of major institutions, such as polytechnics, and local colleges with a few advanced further education courses serving local need.
§ Mr. BrookeYes. This has been and will continue to be one of the central objectives of the approach recommended by the national advisory body for local authority higher education, and accepted by my right hon. Friend, to the distribution of the advanced further education pool in successive years.
§ Mr. Leightonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he is satisfied that the recommendations of the national advisory body submitted to him in late 1983 will not lead to a dispersal of resources in public sector higher education.
§ Mr. BrookeMy right hon. Friend believes that the recommendations of the national advisory body—NAB—will result in an improved distribution of resources across local authority higher education in 1984–85. As he indicated when accepting those recommendations, he is looking to the NAB for further advice on how the resources available may be concentrated to best effect in future.