§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the annual increase in educational expenditure for each of the years since 1959 in cost and volume terms, together with the forecast increase for future years.
§ Mrs. ThatcherThe annual increases in education and libraries expenditure for financial years from 1968–69 to 1976–77, as calculated from Tables 2A and 2B of Cmnd. 5178, are:
Financial Years Cost Terms Volume Terms % % 1968–69 to 1969–70 … … 2.6 1.8 1969–70 to 1970–71 … … 5.7 3.5 1970–71 to 1971–72 … … 5.8 6.7 1971–72 to 1972–73 … … 5.5 5.4 1972–73 to 1973–74 … … 5.2 3.6 1973–74 to 1974–75 … … 4.1 2.5 1974–75 to 1975–76 … … 5.4 3.9 1975–76 to 1976–77 … … 5.1 3.6 For years before 1968–69 no reliable estimates are available on a year by year basis.
§ Mr. Marksasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT educational expenditure for each of the years since 1959 as a percentage of gross national product, together with her forecast for future years, presuming a growth rate of 5 per cent. per annum in gross national product.
§ Mrs. ThatcherEducational expenditure expressed as a percentage of gross national product for the financial year up to and including 1969–70 is published in Education Statistics for the United Kingdom, 1970, Table 41. For 1970–71 the percentage is provisionally estimated at 6.3 per cent. the same proportion as in 1969–70, and for 1971–72 at 6.6 per cent. Thereafter, assuming an arbitrary constant growth rate of 5 per cent. per year in132W gross national product, the projected percentages implied by the expenditure estimates in Cmnd. 5178 would be:
Financial Years Per cent. 1972–73 … … … … 6.6 1973–74 … … … … 6.7 1974–75 … … … … 6.6 1975–76 … … … … 6.6 1976–77 … … … … 6.6