HC Deb 13 March 1973 vol 852 c311W
39. Mr. Hornby

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what she estimates to be the cost of doubling post-school education by 1980; and to what extent this estimate would exceed the cost of the proposals put forward in the recent White Paper.

Mrs. Thatcher

While forecasts as far ahead as 1980 are bound to be tentative for the reasons explained in my White Paper, I estimate that to double the provision of higher education by 1981–82 would entail recurrent expenditure in that year of the order of £115 million, some £200 million higher than the comparable figure of £945 million for the proposals in the White Paper which will increase higher education provision by about 60 per cent. Additional capital expenditure of some £50 million a year throughout the decade would also be necessary.