§ Mr. Bill WalkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has determined the allocations of grant-in-aid for recurrent expenditure to grant-aided colleges in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythThe allocations are as follows:
Offer 1991–92 £m Craigie College of Education 1.198 Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art 3.419 Dundee Institute of Technology 6.540 Edinburgh College of Art 3.126 Glasgow Polytechnic 14.525 Glasgow School of Art 2.993 Jordanhill College of Education 8.301 Moray House College of Education 6.259 Napier Polytechnic of Edinburgh 17.799 Northern College of Education 4.618 Paisley College of Technology 9.757 Queen's College, Glasgow 3.918 Queen Margaret College 4.413 Robert Gordon Institute of Technology 11.154 RSAMD 2.314 St. Andrew's College of Education 2.914 Scottish College of Textiles 2.107 The offers, which are conditional on parliamentary approval of the supply estimates, take account of the substantial increases in the tuition fees which colleges will receive for undergraduate students under the student awards system.
The system of determining grant-in-aid allocations distributes the funds available by reference to a funded number of students for each college, weighted by subject group. Some modifications in the funding system have been made for 1991–92 following consultation with the colleges, notably to transfer from grant-in-aid into aggregate external finance for local authorities most of the resources for in-service training of teachers at colleges of education; and also to reflect more closely colleges' past performance in attracting and retaining students. In addition there are substantial inward transfers from other providers of courses in professions allied to medicine and the built environment. Not counting these transfers, the number of students for whom grant-in-aid provision has been made has been increased by about 7 per cent. in 1991–92 in recognition of the success of the sector in attracting additional students.
The grant allocations take account of the further substantial increases in the level of the publicly-funded undergraduate tuition fees to be paid to colleges as from September 1991 and, after adjusting for transfers, the allocations .represent an increase in Government funding of about £20 million; or 14 per cent. compared with the current year if colleges achieve their funded student enrolments. The table shows how grant-in-aid plus estimated tuition fees for funded students will change for individual colleges.
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Year-on-year comparison of grant-in-aid and tuition fees Grant-in-aid plus estimated tuition fees for funded students (£ million) 1990–91 1991–92 Change Per cent. Craigie College of Education 1.634 1.850 +13.2 Duncan of Jordanstone 4.994 5.797 +16.1 Dundee Institute of Technology 9.472 10469 +10.5 Edinburgh College of Art 5.045 5.494 +8.9 Glasgow Polytechnic 16.659 20.105 +20.7 Glasgow School of Art 4.532 5.005 +10.4 Jordanhill College of Education 10.765 11.892 +10 5 Moray House College of Education 8.059 9.119 +13.2 Napier Polytechnic of Edinburgh 23.783 27.251 + 14.6 Northern College of Education 6.070 6.833 +12.6 Paisley College of Technology 13.751 15.611 +135 Queen's College, Glasgow 4.113 4.782 +16.3 Queen Margaret College 6.061 71.09 +17.3 Robert Gordon Institute of Technology 15.360 17.814 +16.0 RSAMD 2.924 3.100 +6.0 St. Andrew's College of Education 3.759 4.460 +18.6 Scottish College of Textiles 3.117 3.363 +7.9 All colleges 140.098 160.054 +14.2 Note: The inward transfers of resources for building courses and courses for professions allied to medicine from other sectors, and outward transfers of resources for in-service training of teachers are excluded from the figures.
The allocations reflect the high priority which the Government are continuing to give to higher education. The funding levels will adequately cover cost increases and will also enable the colleges to continue to contribute to the rising participation in higher education of recent years. Colleges are free to recruit students above the levels on which grant-in-aid is based and can thus benefit from the increased tuition fee levels to be paid from public funds for those students who are entitled to students' awards.