asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what priority education has in Government spending.

The recent White Paper "Public Expenditure to 1978–79" indicated the Government's priorities among expenditure programmes. The present rate of expenditure on education and libraries in Great Britain, at current prices, is about £6,000 million per year. employed outside the United Kingdom on the latest available date, and on the same date in each of the preceding 10 years; and to what extent the annual costs are not comparable;(2) what is the total number of civil servants employed outside the United Kingdom, in each Department concerned, on the latest available date and on the same date in each of the preceding 10 years; and to what extent the numbers are not comparable.

Central records do not distinguish between United Kingdom-based civil servants working in the United Kingdom or abroad. The information available centrally and given below relates to the Estimates provision for staff locally engaged abroad.