HC Deb 22 June 2000 vol 352 c272W
Mr. Gerald Howarth

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the average cost of educating(a) a primary and (b) a secondary school pupil in (i) 1970, (ii) 1980, (iii) 1990 and (iv) 1999; and what was the cost of educating a pupil excluded from school in each of those years. [126785]

Ms Estelle Morris

Unit costs based on net institutional expenditure for primary and secondary pupils in English maintained schools for the financial years 1979–80, 1989–90 and 1998–99 are set out in the following table. Figures on the same basis for 1969–70 are not readily available. Information about the cost of educating pupils excluded from school is not collected centrally.

Primary Secondary
1979–80 430 610
1989–90 1,210 1,860
1998–99 1,882 2,450

Under this Government, funding per pupil has increased by over £300 per pupil. In this year alone it has risen by £180. And that does not even include capital expenditure. Under the last Government, spending per pupil fell by £60 in real terms between 1994–95 and 1997–98.