§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what grants were made to universities from public funds in each year since 1974 expressed in real money terms; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Brooke:Recurrent and capital grants made available to universities in Great Britain in each financial year since 1974–75 on the advice of the University Grants Committee and the Computer Board, were as follows:
Financial Year Cash £ *Cost £ 1974–75 488,714,386 1,484,235,995 1975–76 610,814,409 1,476,395,652 1976–77 692,938,013 1,479,403,943 1977–78 622,003,229 1,166,635,211 1978–79 691,903,606 1,174,988,293 1979–80 842,460,288 1,223,776,947 1980–81 1,067,061,671 1,306,872,836 1981–82 1,098,643,005 1,223,433,190 1982–83 †l,312,258,944 1,370,190,603 1983–84 †1,357,795,954 1,357,795,954 * Cash figures adjusted to a 1983–84 base, using GDP deflators which provide an estimate of the average movement of prices across the country as a whole. † Includes redundancy and restructuring costs — £57,000,000 in 1982–83 and £38,800,000 in 1983–84. These figures are not comparable from year to year because of various funding charges, most notably because of adjustments made to reflect changes in the level of the home undergraduate tuition fee which for most students is paid from public funds. For example, the real value of this fee was more than doubled for the 1977–78 academic year, 589W approximately halved for the 1982–83 academic year and further reduced for 1983–84. In all these cases there were compensating adjustments in UGC recurrent grant which prevent valid comparisons between years.
Individual Oxford Colleges also receive income from College fees which for most students are paid from public funds as part of the student award. These cover some of the costs which for other universities are met through UGC recurrent grant.