HL Deb 25 July 1989 vol 510 cc1426-7WA
Baroness David

asked Her Majesty's Government:

With respect to specific grant funding from the Department of Education and Science to the Open University in 1987–89 for projects concerned with alleviating teacher shortages:

  1. (a) how many teacher study hours in toto the various projects have generated; and
  2. (b) what was the cost per study hour to the Exchequer;
and what further allocation of specific grant funding the Secretary of State for Education proposes to make to the Open University to address the issues of teacher training, retraining and updating.

Viscount Davidson

Specific grant funding of £1.5m has been made available to the Open University by the Department of Education and Science over the three financial years 1987/88 to 1989/90, to enable the university to undertake a range of initiatives designed to alleviate teacher shortages in mathematics, science and technology. The university estimates that approximately 1 million hours of in-service training and initial teacher training have been delivered at a cost to the department of about £1.50 per study hour.

Decisions on future funding for the Open University will be announced by the Secretary of State for Education and Science in the autumn following the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.