§ Mr. Andrew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the planned recurrent grant to be allocated to(a) the universities, (b) the polytechnics and (c) other colleges of further and higher education in each year from 1988–89 to 1991–92, expressing the figures in cash terms and real terms, indexed so that 1988–89 = 100 and assuming constant annual inflation of (i) 5 per cent., (ii) 6 per cent. and (iii) 7 per cent., respectively.
Mr. JacksonRecurrent grant to universities in Great Britain and for higher education funded by the Polytechnic and Colleges Funding Council in England is as follows for the financial years 1988–89 and 1989–90:
UFC £ million PCFC £ million 1988–89 (outturn) 1,586 n/a 1989–90 (estimate) 1,713 1,035 The plans for 1990–91 and 1991–92, which were set out in Chapter 12 of "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1989–90 to 1991–92" (Cm. 612), are under review in the current public expenditure survey. The Government's assumptions about inflation in future years were set out in Chapter 21 "Supplementary Analysis and Index" (Cm. 621).
It is not possible to estimate the amount of grant aid paid in support of Colleges of further and higher education maintained by local education authorities. Some of their higher education provision will now be funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council. Other further and higher education is supported from local resources and through the block grant received from central Government. That block grant is not hypothecated to individual services and its application is a matter for decision by individual local authorities. The same consideration applies to the expenditure in 1988–89 of those polytechnics and colleges formerly funded by LEAs and now funded by the PCFC.