§ Mr. John Leeasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of young persons between the ages of 15 and 25 years currently being released for further education or vocational training courses; and what were the corresponding figures for the years 1965, 1966 and 1967.
§ Mrs. Shirley WilliamsThe number of students over 15 released by their employers in the 1967–68 college session to attend part-time day courses of further education was 639,963. Corresponding figures for the three preceding years were:
1966–67 … … … 625,013 1965–66 … … … 602,028 1964–65 … … … 574,268 There are no separate figures for the number of such students over the age of 25, but the indications are that they represent only a small fraction of the total.
In addition, some 10,000 first-year trainees in the 15–17 age group, mainly from the engineering industry, were released to follow full-time integrated courses of combined education and training at technical colleges. Corresponding estimates for the three preceding years are 8,400, 1,400 and under 1,000 respectively.