§ Coming to expenditure, the Committee will not be surprised to hear that expenditure above the line will also increase. The Consolidated Fund Services are expected to require £728 million, a reduction of £58 million on last year's out-turn, largely resulting from the fall in short-term interest rates and from additional receipts of interest on below-the line advances. Supply expenditure is estimated at £4,495 million, £178 million more than last year's out-turn. Thirty-four million pounds of this increase is in defence expenditure and £144 million in civil expenditure. This latter figure mainly reflects continuing increased expenditure on the social services, both those directly administered by the central Government and also those such as education which are mainly run by local authorities.
§ I estimate total expenditure above the line this year at £5,223 million, which is £120 million more than last year's actual out-turn. So on the basis of existing rates of taxation, we have total revenue estimated at £5,620 million against expenditure of £5,223 million, giving a surplus above the line of £397 million, or £20 million more than the actual surplus last year.