§ 13. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what special consultations he has had with spending departments with a view to reducing uneconomic capital expenditure in the public sector.
§ Mr. BrookeThere has been a thorough overhaul of the programmes for public service capital expenditure, with the result, as my right hon. and learned Friend announced on 27th February, that the aggregate increase in 1963–64 over the previous year will be held to 6 per cent., the same increase as is expected in 1962–63.
§ Mr. DigbyI thank my right hon. Friend for that reply. Is not a great deal of this expenditure going towards electrical generation, some of it by nuclear means, which we have been told recently cannot be economic before 1970? Is he satisfied that that is thoroughly justified in our present economic position?
§ Mr. BrookeI certainly can assure my hon. Friend that the capital investment of the nationalised industries will continue to be governed by the criteria set out in the public investment White Paper published last October.