§ Ms KellyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much funding was given to the higher education sector in each year since 1990(a) in total and (b) per student. [151001]
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 28 February 2001]: The information is in the tables:
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Table 1: Higher education publicly planned funding in England £ million 1990–01 3,266 1991–92 3,679 1992–93 3,976 1993–94 4,291 1994–95 4,559 1995–96 4,718 1996–97 4,627 1997–98 4,686 1998–99 4,834 1999–2000 5,153 2000–01 5,414 2001–02 5,826 2002–03 6,094 2003–04 6,392
Table 2: Publicly planned funding per full-time equivalent higher education student in England at constant 1999–2000 prices 1 £ 1990–91 6,935 1991–92 6,585 1992–93 6,090 1993–94 5,745 1994–95 5,585 1995–96 5,335 1996–97 4,980 1997–98 4,845 1998–99 4,820 1999–2000 4,785 2000–01 4,750 1 Unit funding per student is rounded to the nearest £5. Between 1989 and 1997, publicly planned funding per full-time equivalent higher education student fell by over 36 per cent. from just under £7,600 to just over £4,800. As a result, Lord Dearing's National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education concluded in 1997 that higher education institutions could not absorb a further reduction of over 6 per cent. in funding which was planned for 1998–99 and 1999–2000.
The Government accepted the recommendation of the Inquiry. Higher education institutions were asked to deliver no more than a 1 per cent. reduction in unit funding in both 1998–99 and 1999–2000. This was later extended for a further year.
The Government announced last November cash increases in publicly planned funding of £412 million, £268 million and £298 million over the three years to 2003–04. Coupled with planned increases in student numbers this implies estimated annual increases in publicly planned unit funding of 3.2 per cent., 2.5 per cent. and 2.9 per cent. which themselves imply estimated real-terms increases in funding per full-time equivalent student of 0.7 per cent., 0 per cent. and 0.4 per cent. over the next three years.