§ Mr. Budgenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the annual cost to his Department of providing post-school education and training; how many people underwent or are undergoing post-school education and training paid for by his Department in 1975–76, 1976–77, and 1977–78; and what was the distribution of this expenditure by region.
§ Mr. GoldingI am informed by the Manpower Services Commission that the annual cost to the Training Services Agency of providing post-school education and training amounted to £110.351 million in 1975–76; to £168.403 million in 1976–77; and is estimated to cost £216.906426W million in 1977–78. 65,914 persons completed training in 1975–76, 89,545 in 1976–77 and 90,750 were provided for in the 1977–78 estimate.
Financial information is not available in the form requested. National expenditure on meeting the training needs of the individual including the cost of Head Office buildings and administration had, therefore, been apportioned to regions in the following table on the basis of the number of trainees completing training in each region.
Estimate Region 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 £000's £000's £000's Scotland 13,132 19,198 24,684 North-East 14,677 23,576 30,367 North-West 18,208 27,450 35,334 Midlands 17,987 25,934 33,295 Wales and West 15,780 23,071 29,738 South-East 15,449 25,260 32,470 London 15,118 23,914 31,018