§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his estimate of the effect of the University Grants Committee's allocations on (a) the range of university places, (b) the number of courses available, (c) the number of departments due for closure, (d) the number of social science departments due for closure and (e) the number of university and polytechnic courses available in the humanities and social sciences.
§ Dr. Boyson(a) In announcing its allocation of recurrent grant to universities for 1981–82 and provisional indications for later years the University Grants Committee has given each university target numbers of home and European Community students which the committee regards as consistent with those grants and provisional allocations. These were set out in my right hon. and learned Friend's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Sir W. van Straubenzee) on 2 July 1981.
(b) My right hon. and learned Friend does not expect the allocation of recurrent grant announced in the reply referred to above to lead to any reduction in the range of 307W courses available in the university system as a whole although there are likely to be reductons in the range offered by individual universities.
(c) and (d) Whether or not particular departments should be closed or courses discontinued is a matter for consideration by individual universities in the light of the views expressed by the UGC. My right hon. and learned Friend has no estimate of the number of departments that might be closed.
(e) No estimate is available.