§ Baroness Davidasked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they will take to improve the provision of books and journals in the libraries of universities, in particular those of the new universities; and whether this issue will be considered by the Library Review Committee recently established by the Higher Education Funding Council which will investigate the ability of libraries to cope with increasing student numbers.
§ Baroness BlatchPublic funding for higher education has risen in real terms since 1979. It is for individual universities to determine their spending on books and other items of expenditure within the total income at their disposal from this and other sources. All aspects of the funding and management of higher education libraries are currently being considered by the libraries review group established by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
§ Baroness Davidasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether funds will be made available to tertiary and further education colleges in 1993–94 so that books can be purchased for students aged 16 to 19 on the same basis as for sixth forms in schools.
§ Baroness BlatchThe Government has announced the resources to be provided to the Further Education Funding Council for 1993–94 to 1995–96. The Funding Council will be responsible for distributing those resources to colleges, and it will be for colleges to determine the basis on which items such as books are made available to students.