§ 20. Mr. George Rodgersasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is now prepared to extend the facility of "inflation-proofed" national saving.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe Government have no plans to extend the indexed savings schemes which were introduced as a modest experiment in mid-1975.
§ Mr. RodgersDoes my right hon. Friend agree that during a period when wages and salaries are being diminished in real terms it would be a demonstration of confidence in the anti-inflation policy if he introduced and extended such a scheme?
§ Mr. BarnettThere is a problem with indexed savings schemes in relation to the whole interest structure. We must see how these modest schemes are working before we consider anything further.
§ Mr. McCrindleHas the right hon. Gentleman anything to suggest to the private savings media about how they can possibly compete against inflation-proofed national savings? Would it not be better for the Government to concentrate on reducing inflation rather than extending the inflation-proofed savings scheme?
§ Mr. BarnettI think that the hon. Gentleman knows that we are concentrating on reducing the rate of inflation, and he will no doubt be as pleased as we are at the substantial reduction that we have achieved. Private savings have increased considerably. As I indicated, one of the reasons why we did not have a much bigger indexed savings scheme 1569 was precisely that we do not want to hurt the rest of the savings movement.