§ 32. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Education if he will put forward proposals to the European Ministers of Education, meeting under the auspices of the Council of Europe, for the production of more reliable comparative statistics about educational progress in European countries.
§ The Minister of Education (Sir David Eccles)I accept the need to improve international statistics on education, and my Department will continue to co-operate with agencies, such as U.N.E.S.C.O. and O.E.C.D., which are aiming to provide more reliable figures.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs the right hon. Gentleman putting forward definite proposals? Is he aware that whenever he quotes statistics from U.N.E.S.C.O. which are favourable to his record, apparently that is all right, but whenever we quote statistics from U.N.E.S.C.O. which are unfavourable to his record the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education says that they are unreliable? Can he do something urgently about this?
§ Sir D. EcclesI am not aware of that. It is true that it is very hard to make accurate comparisons between one country and another, but I think that as time goes on we may get things better.
§ Mr. WilleyIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that we are all very disturbed by a comparison made by my hon. Friend during a recent debate arising from figures he obtained from U.N.E.S.C.O.? Will the right hon. Gentleman assure us that his Department will do all it can the whole time to see that these disturbing figures are brought to our attention?
§ Sir D. EcclesWe have recently had a visit from the chief statistician of U.N.E.S.C.O. I hope that that may bring good results.