HC Deb 25 February 2002 vol 380 cc746-8W
Chris Grayling

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students are taking higher education courses in further education colleges(a) in total and (b) as a proportion of the overall total number of higher education students. [31555]

Margaret Hodge

[holding answer 30 January 2002]: The latest available figures for the 2000–01 academic year show that there were 218,200 students on HE courses in FE colleges, which represents 10.8 per cent. of the total number of HE students in the UK.

Chris Ruane

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students entered(a) higher education and (b) further education in each of the last 20 years. [25126]

Margaret Hodge

Information on entrants to higher and further education courses in English institutions is not available for all the years requested. The available information on total student numbers is shown in the table.

Number of students on higher and further education courses England
Academic year Higher education1 Further education2
1981–82 702,400 1,385,200
1982–83 717,600 1,419,100
1983–84 735,400 1,495,100
1984–85 742,800 1,527,800
1985–86 765,900 1,561,500
1986–87 796,200 1,629,500
1987–88 811,500 1,672,300
1988–89 842,600 1,755,100
1989–90 896,500 1,799,800
1990–91 968,100 1,767,900
1991–92 1,071,400 1,815,300
1992–93 1,188,200 1,761,400
1993–94 1,301,900 1,929,100
1994–95 1,419,300 2,924,200
1995–96 1,494,200 3,399,800
1996–97 1,533,900 3,802,100
1997–98 1,568,200 3,767,200
1998–99 1,591,500 3,662,300
1999–2000 1,610,000 3,608,100
2000–013 1,651,600 3,671,500
1 Census count as at December 31 in years up to 1993–94, and as at December 1 in subsequent years. Includes HE students in FE colleges and the Open University.
2 Includes FE students in HE institutions in all years, and sixth form colleges as from 1993–94. Due to a change in data collection, the figures for FE sector colleges for the years 1994–95 to 2000–01 are not comparable with those for earlier years; as from 1994–95 the figures are based on a whole year count of students, whereas in previous years they a based on a snapshot count at November 1. As from 1994–95, includes funded and non-funded students.
3 Provisional. The figures for FE sector colleges are estimated.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will state for each local education authority the size of special grant paid where funding changes as a result of the transfer of functions to learning and skills councils of responsibility for post-16 education occurred. [37042]

Mr. Timms

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ann Keen) on 30 January 2002,Official Report, column 412W.