HC Deb 02 February 1984 vol 53 cc311-2W
Ms. Richardson

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the different principles underlying the composition of the University Grants Committee and the National Advisory Body for Further and Higher Education.

Mr. Brooke

The structure and composition of the University Grants Committee and of the National Advisory Body for Local Authority Higher Education reflect their historical origins, their terms of reference, the relations between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the institutions in respect of which each body advises him, and the arrangements, whether statutory or otherwise, for the funding and governance of the institutions concerned.

Ms. Richardson

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will list the academic qualifications of each of the members of the committee of the National Advisory Body for Further and Higher Education, including the disciplines in which those qualifications were obtained.

Mr. Brooke

This information is not centrally available, nor would it be proper or relevant for my right hon. Friend to ascertain and disclose it.

Ms. Richardson

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the full cost, including staff and other costs within colleges, of the work of the National Advisory Body for Further and Higher Education, over the past 18 months; and if he will estimate the savings likely to accrue from it.

Mr. Brooke

The running costs of the national advisory body itself in the financial year 1982–83 and the first half of the present financial year amounted to £1.1 million. Information on costs elsewhere arising from the NAB's work is not available. The Government's expenditure plans for 1984–85 assume significant savings in total spending on local authority higher education. The NAB's plans for 1984–85—which my right hon. Friend has endorsed—provide for these savings to be realised in full, largely through economies in the least cost-effective institutions, while meeting qualified student demand in full.