Less than equal

The outcome of the wrangle between Mr Hattersley and DES Ministers about the rate of growth in educational provision foreshadowed by the December White Paper was that Mr St. John Stevas at last confessed. Over the next ten years education would expand in ‘volume’ terms by only 3·4 per cent per annum, although the government expects the economy to continue to expand at a rate of 5 per cent. He argued however that that was no sin, in that education is a labour‐intensive industry, and more sensitive than others to increases in the wage and salary bill. In consequence, the rate of increase of expenditure on education would be much higher than the 3·4 per cent ‘volume’ expansion, and in accord with the government's hopes for the growth of the Gross National Product.