§ Mr. Lipsonasked the President of the Board of Education why the pre-war expenditure on education is given in the White Paper at £123,000,000 when the actual expenditure for 1940–41 was £98,709,000; and whether this discrepancy means that the cost of the reforms envisaged in the White Paper will be more than the £67,000,000 there stated?
§ Mr. ButlerThe figure of £123,000,000 to which my hon. Friend refers is not the pre-war expenditure on education. It represents the cost of existing services as it is likely to be immediately before the introduction of any of the proposed reforms, i.e., in an unreformed postwar year. To arrive at this figure the pre-war expenditure has been adjusted in two respects: first, by the addition of 15 per cent. to cover the general rise in costs, and, secondly, by an adjustment to meet the great expansion during the war of the provision of school meals and milk. The answer to the second part of the Question is therefore in the negative.