asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is her estimate of the expected maximum number of students to be accepted by the Open University in each of the next five years.

Grant for 1971–73 has been assessed on an intake of students for the first year of 25,000 and a total number of undergraduate students in 1973 in the range 36,000 to 42,000. Annual intakes for the years following 1971 remain to be determined.

May we be assured that the Open University will be allowed to make unimpeded progress? May we have an assurance that it will not be used as a cheap form of education for those leaving school in the normal way?

Government decisions have been announced and will be adhered to. It is true that at the Government's request the Open University is looking into the possibility of the 18-year-olds, and I think the hon. Gentleman would be wise to withhold his criticism until he has received advice from the Open University on that aspect.

Has the hon. Gentleman seen a report—I am sure he has—showing that inflation is currently adding about £400,000 a year to the costs of the Open University? What action does he propose to take to protect this and other universities from the failure of the Prime Minister to honour his pledge to curb inflation at a stroke?

I have no additional announcement to make on this subject today, except to point out that the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question accentuates the hideous state of the legacy which we inherited.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans she has for increasing the educational facilities of the Open University.

None, Sir.

Does the Under-Secretary recognise that if the authorities of this university yield to the pressures being exerted on them by the Government to admit 18-year-olds who cannot obtain a place in an ordinary university even though qualified, the original intention of this imaginative project will be frustrated, and this will be deeply resented by large sections of the education community?

That is not a viewpoint universally accepted by those connected with the university. The hon. Gentleman would be well advised to await the outcome of the advice given to the Government by that university.

On what does the Under-Secretary of State base that reply? Has the Open University said that it wishes to take in 18-year-olds?

The Open University is considering this, among other matters, at the direct request of the Government.

At the Government's direction?

At the Government's request. I am simply respectfully advising the right hon. Gentleman and others not to jump to conclusions.