HC Deb 06 February 1989 vol 146 cc462-3W
Mr. Paice

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the annual expenditure by central and local government on education for the under-fives for each year from 1971 to 1988.

Mrs. Rumbold

The table below shows annual recurrent spending by local authorities on under-fives since 1976–77. These figures include expenditure supported by grants from central Government which cannot be separately identified. Figures on a comparable basis before 1976–77 are not available.

Recurrent local authority spending on under fives
Spending £ million cash Index from 1976–77
1976–77 127 100.0
1977–78 128 100.8
1978–79 146 115.0
1979–80 177 139.4
1980–81 222 174.8
1981–82 241 189.8
1982–83 274 215.7
1983–84 296 233.1
1984–85 331 260.6
1985–86 350 275.6
1986–87 397 312.6
Spending £ million cash Index from 1976–77
1987–881 443 348.8
1988–891 495 389.8
1 Provisional outturn figures.