§ 56. Mr. CRAVEN-ELLISasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total national income for the years 1923, 1925, 1929, 1931, and 1935; and what was the expenditure upon social services and the purchasing power of the £ sterling for the same years, taking the year 1913 at 20s.?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINI regret that no official estimates of the national income are available. For the expenditure on social services in past years I would refer my hon. Friend to the annual return of Public Social Services. Full particulars are not yet available for the year 1935–36, but the amounts of the principal grants from the Exchequer are to be found on page 8 of the Financial Statement, 1936–37 (House of Commons Paper No. 77 of 1936). I will not take upon myself the selection of a measure of the purchasing power of the pound, but my hon. Friend will find a continuous table of the cost of living, based on July, 1914, from 1920 to April, 1936, in the Ministry of Labour Gazette for April, 1936 (page 148).
§ Mr. THORNECan the right hon. Gentleman give any reason why he has not this information about the national income; is he aware that there are many statisticians who can give it; and is it not the case that it is something bordering on £4,000,000,000 at the present time?