HC Deb 07 November 1968 vol 772 cc154-5W
81. Dame Irene Ward

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table giving a breakdown of the £18,900,000 allocated in the last financial year to national museums and galleries, the Arts Council and other bodies, excluding historic buildings and ancient monuments, showing how much is spent in London, Scotland, Wales and the English Regions, respectively.

Miss Jennie Lee

The information is as follows:

food, administration and capital charges; how many students receive grants from local and central government funds; how much they cost annually; and why he cut school meals rather than cut student grants, or shared the necessary economies between the two.

Mr. Edward Short

764,000 children on a day in May, 1968; I estimate the total gross cost at £21 million in a year. In 1967–68 the total number of awards to students in England and Wales, excluding those in teacher training, was about 250,000 and the cost of grants was in the region of £80 million. The rates of grant introduced in September include in total, only half the increase recommended by the Advisory Panel on Student Grants.

Mr. Gwynfor Evans

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much money he estimates will be saved by the cuts in the provision for school meals in Welsh schools.

Mr. Edward Short

About £¼ million a year.