§ Mr. PaiceTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the total amount spent on vocational education and training(a) from public expenditure, (b) by employers and (c) by the armed services in each year since 1970 in cash and at 1988 prices.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 4 April 1989]: The Manpower Services Commission was established in 1974 and expenditure figures can be provided only from the financial year 1974–75 onwards.
The total expenditure on vocational education and training by the Manpower Services Commission and the Training Commission was as follows:
Cash value At 1988 prices £ million £ million 1974–75 96.4 318.5 1975–76 171.7 468.2 1976–77 256.0 598.1 1977–78 292.0 625.3 1978–79 373.6 728.6 1979–80 451.4 735.1 1980–81 560.4 810.4 1981–82 749.1 981.7 1982–83 868.5 1,087.8 1983–84 1,049.5 1,249.0 1984–85 1,144.1 1,283.5 1985–86 1,256.9 1,352.7 1986–87 1,441.4 1,491.5 1987–88 1,613.1 1,613.1 Records of the annual amount spent by employers and by the armed forces on vocational education and training are not kept by the Training Agency. However, a survey carried out for the Training Agency indicated that employers spent a total of some £18 billion on training over the 12 months to the summer of 1987, of which the armed services spent some £2 billion. Comparable figures are not available for earlier years.