§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has
Total educational expenditure as percentage of gross national product Country 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 (with population of over 50 million) United Kingdom 5.2 5.3 5.6 5.6 6.2 6.3 6.0 5.5 5.4 5.2 5.5 France 4.9 3.5 5.0 5.3 — 5.3 5.5 5.5 5.3 — — Germany F.R 3.7 4.5 4.0 4.1 4.5 5.1 4.8 4.7 4.7 4.6 — Italy 4.0 4.8 5.2 5.4 5.2 4.5 4.7 — 4.6 — — (with population of under 15 million) Belgium — — — 5.1 — 6.2 6.2 6.5 6.0 — — Denmark 6.8 7.6 7.0 7.4 7.5 7.8 — 6.7 6.9 — — Greece 2.0 1.8 — 1.5 1.8 2.0 — — — — — Ireland 5.0 5.0 5.2 5.3 5.4 6.3 6.1 6.2 6.3 — — Luxembourg 4.1 5.3 5.0 5.2 — 5.0 5.3 5.2 6.1 — — Netherlands 7.7 7.9 7.8 7.9 8.2 8.6 8.5 8.4 8.5 — — The percentage of GNP spent on education in the United Kingdom compares favourably with that of other large industrial EEC countries.