HC Deb 20 March 1969 vol 780 cc137-8W
46. Mr. Hooson

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will take steps to prepare accurate figures of the contribution made by the inhabitants of Wales and the industries in Wales to the United Kingdom Exchequer by way of direct taxation, and indirect taxation, respectively.

Mr. Harold Lever

Work is in hand on ways of improving statistics for territorial areas of the United Kingdom. One of the difficulties is that the point of collection of taxes does not always correspond with the place of residence of the ultimate taxpayer. For many taxes I see no prospect of providing a reliable breakdown between industry and persons for individual regions.

47. Mr. Hooson

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will set out as a percentage, in each case, Wales's share of identifiable Central Government expenditure on fisheries, forestry, agricultural support, regional employment premiums, promotion of local employment, investment grants, education (other than university), universities, housing, environmental services, roads, rate equalisation grants, and other subsidies to local authorities.

Mr. Diamond

With permission, I will circulate these figures in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following are the figures:

IDENTIFIABLE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE
1967–68 (a) (b)
Service (c) Great Britain Wales Wales as proportion of Great Britain
£ million £ million per cent.
Fisheries 4.6 0.1 2.2
Forestry 34.3 8.7 25.4
Agricultural support 128.0 10.0 (d) 7.8 (d)
Regional employment premiums 34.7 5.1 14.7
Promotion of local employment 35.0 6.0 17.1
Investment grants 315.0 24.2 7.7
Education (excluding universities) 82.4 2.0 2.4
Universities 243.4 14.0 5.8
Housing 135.4 6.5 4.8
Environmental services 37.1 2.3 6.2
Roads (including lighting) 288.1 16.2 5.6
Rate support grants 1,354.8 91.6 6.8
Other grants to local authorities 312.2 17.0 5.4
(a) Provisional outturn.
(b) Includes transfers to other spending authorities within the public sector other than Consolidated Fund loans to local authorities (not separately identified).
(c) Most of the Central Government assistance to services provided by local authorities is included under Rate support grants and is not allocated to the individual functional headings.
(d) Estimate.