§ Dr. HampsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the average unit of funding for an advanced futher education student assumed to be in the 1988–89 financial year; by what percentage this figure was increased in real terms for the average unit of funding of a higher education student in the PCFC sector in 1989–90; and what assumptions were made for the level of inflation in this increase.
Mr. JacksonIn the academic year 1988–89, some 288,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) students were enrolled on courses eligible for funding from the advanced further education (AFE) pools. The total provision for recurrent expenditure on the AFE pools in that year was £923 million, or £3,210 per capita.
The latest projections of 1989–90 academic year enrolments show some 287,000 FTE students on courses eligible for funding by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding council (PCFC). The total provision for PCFC recurrent expenditure is £1,030 million, or £3,590 per capita.
These per capita figures do not give an accurate picture of the year on year increase in expenditure per student, because of the different scope of the AFE pools compared with provision for PCFC expenditure. Making the necessary adjustments, provision for PCFC recurrent expenditure in 1989–90 represents a 9 per cent. increase over comparable provision in 1988–89 in cash terms, arid 3.8 per cent. in real terms on the basis of the 5 per cent. GDP deflator prevailing at the time that the public expenditure White Paper was published.