asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice he has given to local authorities about expanding the provision of textbooks in primary and secondary schools.

The provision of textbooks is the responsibility of local education authorities, and, although practice varies greatly between them, the average expenditure per pupil on library and textbooks has increased from £1·30 per pupils in 1964–65 to £1·57 in 1967–68.

Is the Minister aware that the combination of rapidly-increasing textbook prices and the Government's squeeze on educational spending makes some experts fear that the advances made in the past 12 years may be whittled away?

There needs to be a little more uniformity about this. Some local authorities are very much better than others. For example, the amount spent in primary schools varies from £0·42 to £2·67 per head, and in secondary schools from £1·27 to £4·66.