To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the total capital expenditure on schools in Scotland in each year since 1978 in real terms.

The information is given in the following table which has been compiled from local authority financial returns. The reduction in expenditure in real terms during the period reflects a substantial and progressive decline in pupil numbers which in turn reduced the requirement for new school building.

Capital expenditure by local authorities on schools
Year	£ million at 1988–89 prices
1978–79	114·260
1979–80	89·576
1980–81	83·169
1981–82	87·486
1982–83	70·754
1983–84	58·204
1984–85	56·680
1985–86	59·838
1986–87	52·489
1987–88	51·697
1988–89	59·392
1989–901	60·519
1 Provisional.

The figures include expenditure on nursery, primary, secondary and special schools.Outturn figures have been converted to 1988–89 prices using the GDP deflator.