§ Mr. Eggarasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many departmental committees of inquiry he and his predecessors, including Ministers of
180W Education, have commissioned since 1955; and what were the subjects the committees investigated, the dates they were established, who chaired them and the dates they reported.
Public Expenditure £million 1984–85 prices 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 ‡1984–85 (i) Education (a) Central Government 1,971 1,610 1,573 1,646 1,738 1,649 1,780 1,778 1,764 Percentage change (-18) (-2) (+5) (+6) (-5) (+8) (0) (-1) (b) Local authority* 12,513 11,735 11,715 11,473 11,759 11,655 11,627 11,683 11,434 Percentage change (-6) (0) (-2) (+2) (-1) (0) (0) (-2) (ii) Schools (a) Central Government 112 77 45 69 58 57 51 54 61 Percentage change (-31) (-42) (+54) (-16) (-1) (-10) (+6) (+12) (b) Local authority* 9,346 9,326 8,572 8,334 8,517 8,362 8,311 8,319 8,172 Percentage change (0) (-8) (-3) (+2) (-2) (-1) (0) (-2) (iii) Universities† (a) Central Government║ 1,629 1,277 1,301 1,357 1,449 1,358 1,507 1,488 1,466 Percentage change (-22) (+2) (+4) (+7) (-6) (+11) (-1) (-1) (b) Local authorities — — — — — — — — — * Includes current expenditure of local authorities (both relevant for rate support grant and other) and their capital expenditure. †Current and capital expenditure on universities; also includes grants to the Open University, the Computer Board for the Universities and Research Councils and to certain other bodies. ‡Figures for 1984–85 are provisional. ║The universities line excludes income from tuition fees which are largely paid from public funds as part of student awards. As the balance between recurrent grant and fee income has changed from time to time, the percentage changes shown are not a true measure of changes in public expenditure on universities.
§ Sir Keith Joseph[pursuant to his reply, 13 May 1985, c. 43–48]: I regret that the item about school examinations listed at column 47 was partly incorrect and that a reference to the report of the committee of inquiry into the teaching of mathematics in schools has been omitted. The information should read as follows:
'School examinations: report of the steering committee established to consider proposals for replacing the General Certificate of Education ordinary level and Certificate of Secondary Education examinations by a common system of examining. 1977 [1978].Chairman: Sir James Waddell.Mathematics counts: report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools. 1978 [1981].Chairman: Dr. W. H. Cockcroft.'