§ Q15. Sir Gilbert Longdenasked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with the co-ordination between the Department of Education and Science and the Department of the Environment on the planning of suitable accommodation for the number of students who may be expected in universities and colleges in 1973 and thereafter; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterYes. Student accommodation is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science, since it is an essential factor in the planning of the higher education system. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has an interest wherever issues affecting the general housing situation arise.
The number of students in residence in the universities has grown from 64,000 in 1966–67 to 86,750 in 1970–71 and will, I hope, reach about 120,000 by 1974–75. My right hon. Friend is now considering the University Grants Committee's confidential advice on the general development of the universities in the 1972–77 quinquennium and on the provision of further residential accommodation. I understand that the Vice-Chancellors' Committee has asked the universities to consider the possibility of a change in the proportion of students living at home. In the polytechnics the number of residential places is expected to rise from around5,000 in 1971 to almost double that number in 1975, and local education authorities have submitted proposals for projects likely to start in 1974–75.