asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many people were employed in the public educational service in 1970, 1973, 1974 and at the most recent available date; and what was the total wage and salary bill in each of these years.

The number of local education authority employees in England Wales as published by the Department of Employment for the years in question are as follows:

June	Full-time	Part-time
1970	588,000	518,000
1973	684,000	598,000
1974	716,000	615,000
1975	739,000	651,000

Provisional figures for June 1976, provided by the Joint Manpower Watch, are 752,000 full-time and 639,000 part-time staff.Expenditure, including Employers' National Insurance and Superannuation contributions, is as follows:

Financial Years	£m outturn prices
1970–71	1,150
1973–74	2,000
1974–75	2,850
1975–76	3,700