§ 42. Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further steps he will take to overcome the deficiencies in technological skills of those engaged in British industry.
§ Mr. WaldenMy right hon. Friend is maintaining the PICKUP programme which is encouraging and supporting universities and colleges to develop more and better training for adults in employment and the Department is playing its part in the Government's adult training campaign to bring home to employers the importance of investing in the training of their employees. In addition,
Financial year Recurrent grant (£ million) Recurrent grant in 1985–86 real terms (£ million) Recurrent grant indexed in real terms: 1971–72 = 100 Student numbers in academic (calendar) years 1971–72 6.63 30.92 100.0 19,581 1972–73 7.90 34.14 110.4 31,902 1973–74 9.78 39.43 127.5 28,424 1974–75 13.86 46.83 151.5 42,636 1975–76 16.38 44.03 142.4 49,358 1976–77 23.57 55.99 181.0 51,035 1977–78 24.15 50.37 162.9 55,127 1978–79 29.96 56.49 182.7 58,788 1979–80 36.71 59.22 191.5 60,963 1980–81 47.13 64.02 207.1 61,446 1981–82 51.27 63.32 204.8 60,550 1982–83 54.21 (55.21)* 62.57 (63.73) 202.4 (206.1) 64,422 1983–84 55–72 (56.42)* 61.55 (62.33) 199.0 (201.6) 66,403 1984–85 58.25 (59.05)* 61.75 (62.60) 199.7 (202.5) 66,763 1985–86 60.93 60.93 197.1 67,433 * Figures in brackets arc based on the inclusion of £1 million, £0.7 million and £0.8 million in 1982–83, 1983–84 and 1984–85 respectively, to enable the Open University to develop its professional, industrial and commercial updating (PICKUP) activities. These sums were originally made available as loans but were converted to grant with effect from the financial year 1986–87. The university's PICKUP activities are part of its non-degree continuing education programme.