§ Mr. Fosterasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many redundancies he expects amongst lecturers in British universities, polytechnics and other institutes of higher education as a result of their loss of income from overseas students and reduction in Government grants; and what the average cost of each redundancy will be.
Dr. Boy-sonAt present, the implications of the Government's expenditure plans for higher education as envisaged in Cmnd. 8175 are being discussed in detail by my Department with the University Grants Committee and the local authority associations. The question of reductions in academic staff is one feature of these discussions. While it is clear that some contraction will be necessary, it is too early to say what this may mean in terms of numbers or how much can be achieved by means of natural wastage and through voluntary early retirements. The costs of any redundancy settlements which may be made could vary considerably according to local and individual circumstances.