§ Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list in rank order the top five creditors to whom the United Kingdom Government are indebted. [60912]
§ Ms HewittThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Maria Fyfe, dated 27 November 1998:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on the UK national debt.The ONS does not compile any information relating to the top five countries nor companies nor individuals to whom the UK is indebted. The ONS last published broad splits of "Debt of the public sector: nominal amounts outstanding" in table S I of Financial Statistics in April 1998. Table S I provides splits of public sector debt held outside the public sector in terms of sterling and foreign currency both by the private sector and the rest of the world.The information is collected, largely by the Bank of England, by type of instrument. These instruments are the means by which central government raises money and include a wide range of instrument issues such as British Government Securities (Gilts) and National Savings. No published records are available as to the individual ownership of these. The National Debt currently stands at around £400 billion. The largest component is in the form of British Government Securities (total liability about £280 billion) of which about a half are held by UK life assurance and pension funds, and about £55 billion are held abroad. National savings are held by UK households and account for more than £60 billion. The ONS published detailed instrument information, on an international basis, in the Maastricht First Release, on 28 August 1998.The Bank of England provides the ONS with the vast majority of information on the National Debt. The Bank of England Statistical Abstract contains information on the holdings of sterling national debt by sector on tables 13.3 and 13.4. The largest holdings are by the insurance and pension funds sectors. Copies of the above publications are available from the House of Commons Library.