HC Deb 12 April 1989 vol 150 c523W
Mr. Straw

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the proportion of gross domestic product in 1975, 1979, 1983, and the latest available year which was represented by public expenditure on(a) schools for ages 5 to 16 years; (b) pre-five education; (c) further education and training; (d) higher education by each of the countries of the European Community, other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, on the best available and most comparable data.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

Some relevant data are given in the "UNESCO Statistical Yearbook" for 1988, tables 4.1 and 4.3 (pages 4.5 to 4.22 and 4.44 to 4.55). A copy is in the Library. Some care is needed in interpreting the figures, because countries have differing procedures for allocating expenditure between the various levels of education, and these procedures may have changed over the years.