Higher and Advanced Further Education (Hansard, 20 December 1985)

§ Sir Keith Joseph

I have today written to the chairman of the committee of the National Advisory Body for public 339W sector higher education (NAB) in response to its advice on the planned disposition of academic provision and of students in public sector higher education in 1986–87, and on the basis for distributing the advanced further education quantum of £661 million and the voluntary sector quantum of £45.4 million for the financial year 1986–87, which I announced in the House on 12 November 1985 at columns 104–108. I have accepted its advice in its entirety, with the exception of recommendations bearing on intakes to part I architecture courses in 1986–87.

NAB's plans provide for overall student numbers to remain roughly stable compared with the targets set for 1985–86 and for the continuation of the policies reflected in those targets, notably, the preservation of student access. They also offer a continuing incentive to institutions to maintain provision in science, engineering and other vocational disiplines and provision for sub-degree and part-time students.

In relation to architectural education, I have accepted NAB's recommendation that intakes to public sector courses in England should be reduced so as, with parallel reductions in universities and Scottish provision, to stabilise the size of the architectural profession at the level reached when students at present on course qualify. I have not been able however to accept NAB's advice that this reduction should be accomplished with the closure alone among the 18 public sector schools in England of the Department at the North East London polytechnic. Accordingly, I propose to consider further the pattern of provision in 1986, consulting as appropriate with institutions, before coming to a final decision in one to two months. In the meantime, in order to avoid pre-empting my final decision, I have determined intakes for the purpose of financial allocations in 1986–87 so as to allow for possible intakes at all the existing public sector schools, including NELP.

In 1986–87 the greater part of the local authority quantum and the whole of the voluntary sector quantum are being allocated to local education authorities and voluntary colleges in relation to target student numbers by institution, mode of attendance and subject. The allocations have been made so as to allow every institution a standard teaching unit of resource for each weighted student. This is supplemented in the case of institutions where advanced provision exceeds 25 per cent. of the total in recognition of the higher costs associated with predominantly higher education work. The effect of this is to continue the pressure on high spending institutions to reduce their costs and to afford increased protection to the more economical institutions.

The allocations announced today also include for a few selected local authority institutions sums to a total of £2.5 million to continue the selective support of research and £451,000 for further support of the biotechnology initiative, both of which began last year. A further £648,000 is included in respect of the recurrent costs in 1986–87 to the institutions selected for participation in phase 2 of the engineering and technology programme. This assumes that the institutions concerned will be able to demonstrate satisfactory support for their approved courses from industry.

Letters are today being sent to local education authorities and institutions notifying them of my decision. Copies of my letter to the NAB committee chairman and of a note explaining the method by which the two quanta 340W for 1986–87 are being distributed, together with full details of the allocations, have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.