§ Mr. Harry GreenwayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what resources he estimates to be going into adult education in real and money terms(a) now and (b) five, 10 and 15 years ago; how many people were on adult education courses at the same periods; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FormanThe table shows recurrent expenditure on adult education centres by authorities in England up to 1990–91, the latest year for which information is available, together with numbers of enrolments at these centres. The figures include students below the age of 19.
Adult education centres 1975–76 1980–81 1985–86 1990–91 Cash expenditure (£ million) 32 61 102 1401 Real terms expenditure (£ million at 1990–91 prices) 117 112 137 1401 Enrolments (000s) 1,847 1,543 1,418 1,352 1 provisional figure. Expenditure by local education authorities on adults in further education colleges is not separately identifiable and enrolment data for 1975–76 were not collected on a basis consistent with later data, but there has been a clear and very welcome increase during the last decade in total further education enrolments of people aged 19 and over, taking together adult centres and other colleges providing further education. Between 1980–81 and 1990–91 these enrolments increased by 27 per cent. overall. Outside adult centres, the increase was 62 per cent.