asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the number of appointments of tenured academic staffs, such as lecturers at universities in each of the last four quarters for which figures are available; and, of these, how many were new blood posts.

Figures are available only on a yearly basis. 230 of the 785 new academic appointments to universities in 1983–84 were made under the Government's "new blood" scheme. Figures for 1984–85 are not yet available. Information is not collected centrally about the terms of employment of particular academic staff.