§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) by what date she now expects to be in sight of the elimination of the primary schools built in the 19th century;
(2) if she will estimate the number of 19th century primary schools in use in England and Wales at the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such schools will still be in use in April, 1978.
§ Mrs. ThatcherAccording to the latest returns made by local education authorities, there are about 6,800 primary schools in England and Wales built before 1903 not approved for replacement in building programmes up to and including 1971–72 which require replacing or improving and for which there is a continuing need. It is too early to say how many of these schools will still be in use in 1978 or when the last of them will be replaced; but over 1,000 of them will be replaced or improved by major projects in 1972–74 at a cost of about £92 million and a further £96 million will be devoted to this purpose in the two following years. In addition local education authorities are able to use for improvements costing up to £40,000 part of their minor works allocations of over £30 million a year.