asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many university teachers were employed in universities in the United Kingdom for each year since 1978–79; how many held temporary posts; how many held permanent posts; and what are the equivalent figures for research staff.
Information on permanent and temporary posts in universities is not available centrally. The numbers of academic staff employed in universities in the United Kingdom are as follows:
| Full-time | ||||
| Total | Teaching and research | Research only | Part-time* | |
| 1978–79 | 41,867 | 34,378 | 7,489 | 1,521 |
| 1979–80 | 43,358 | 35,021 | 8,337 | 1,587 |
| 1980–81 | 44,092 | 35,107 | 8,985 | 1,678 |
| 1981–82 | 43,924 | 34,661 | 9,263 | 1,738 |
| 1982–83 | 43,083 | 32,806 | 10,277 | 2,371 |
| 1983–84 | 43,149 | 32,429 | 10,720 | 2,865 |
| * The breakdown of part-time staff between teaching and research is not readily available. | ||||
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many university lecturers have taken early retirement or been made redundant since 1979; and what has been the cost to the Government in compensation and redundancy payments.
Under the special arrangements announced on 25 January 1982, at column 275, for the compensation of redundant university academic staff, approximately £94·5 million was paid to 3,318 academic staff who retired between 1 August 1981 and 31 September 1984. Information is not readily available about payments to staff who left before or after this period, which was that to which the special arrangements applied.