HC Deb 11 May 1966 vol 728 cc92-3W
Mr. Dickens

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of the national income was devoted to education in 1935, 1950, 1960 and 1965; and what is estimated for 1970.

Mr. Crosland

Total educational expenditure in the United Kingdom, as a percentage of the gross national product, has increased as follows:

1950–51 2.9
1960–61 4.1

Final figures for 1965–66 are not yet available, but the percentage in 1964–65 was 5.1.

There are no official figures of the gross national product for 1935 but educational expenditure is estimated to have been then about 2.2 per cent. of G.N.P.

The estimated percentage for 1969–70, based on the National Plan and assuming consistency of estimation of the factors concerned between now and then, will be of the order of 5.6 per cent.

To these percentages one could add, for the post-war years, about 0.3 per cent. of the G.N.P. as expenditure on school meals and milk.