§ Mr. Snowasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the recurrent grants to universities.
§ Mr. CroslandThe grants in aid of the recurrent expenditure of universities and colleges in Great Britain are settled on a quinquennial basis. The settlement for the last three years of the current quinquennium, ending on the 31st July, 1967, was adjusted last February to take account of the acceptance of the Robbins Committee's proposals for immediate university expansion. Since then, supplementary grants have been approved for the increases in academic salaries approved on the recommendation of the National Incomes Commission and for a further increase in the intake of medical students.
The current level of grant has been under review following advice from the University Grants Committee. In order to help the universities meet the Robbins' objectives in the light of increased costs 231W since 1963 the Government has decided to increase the grants for the academic years 1964–65, 1965–66 and 1966–67 by a total of £5.8 million. The total estimated recurrent provision for the three years, including salary supplementation, but excluding rates which are the subject of separate grants, will thus rise to about £295 million as follows:
1964–65 … £86.3 million 1965–66 … £99.3 million 1966–67 … £109.8 million