§ Mr. Andrew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what the Government have allocated to the Open college for each year since its establishment in(a) cash terms and (b) real terms, indexed so its first year equals 100; and what was spent in start-up costs for the Open college.
Mr. JacksonThe Government have provided pump priming funding to the Open college since its launch in366W September 1987 with the aim of improving the skills of the work force by making open learning opportunities more widely available. To date the college has received £26.9 million. No separate funding has been supplied to the college in respect of start up costs.
The allocations made to the college each year are as follows:
Cash terms £ million Real terms1 £ million Index 1986–87 2.0 2.0 100 1987–88 10.0 9.5 474 1988–89 5.7 5.0 252 1989–90 3.8 3.1 156 1990–91 5.4 4.2 209 11986–87 prices.