asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many students have been in full-time attendance at adult education colleges during each of the past 10 years; and how many are expected to be during each of the next three years;(2) how many adult education colleges have been (

There are at present five adult education colleges in England with which my right hon. and learned Friend is directly concerned. These are the long-term residential colleges one of which, Northern, opened in 1978 and another, Fircroft, closed in 1975 but is expected to reopen this autumn. No closures are expected for the year ahead.These colleges provide full-time courses of one or two years' duration, on which numbers of students in the past 10 years were:

1970–71	489
1971–72	461
1972–73	475
1973–74	461
1974–75	428
1975–76	440
1976–77	404
1977–78	380
1978–79	368
1979–80	389

Numbers of students up to and including 1977–78 include those at a similar college in Wales whose funding is now the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.