HC Deb 17 December 1993 vol 234 cc921-2W
Mr. Dunn

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many student unions are affiliated to the National Union of Students; and which student unions have opted out or have attempted to opt out of the National Union of Students in the past five years.

Mr. Boswell

Affiliation arrangements are a matter between the National Union of Students and the student unions at institutional level. Comprehensive information on student unions' affiliation decisions is not available centrally.

The NUS's annual report for 1991–92 indicates that some 800 student unions throughout the United Kingdom were affiliated. The information available to the Department is that the student unions at Edinburgh, Glasgow and St. Andrew's universities, and at King's and Imperial colleges, London, are not currently affiliated to the NUS.

Mr. Dunn

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish the amount of money given to the National Union of Students(a) directly and (b) indirectly by the Government in the last year for which figures are available.

Mr. Boswell

The National Union of Students is not supported directly from central Government funds. It is a confederation of campus student unions and depends for its main income on affiliation fees from local unions. Student unions' funds originate from a variety of sources: principally profits on their trading activities, and block grant from their parent institutions, paid out of funds deriving from a mix of public and private sources. NUS affiliation fees for 1991–92 amounted to £2.57 million, some 93 per cent. of a total NUS income of £2.76 million.

Forward to