§ Before turning to certain improvements in social security, I must say a word about public expenditure in general. I have referred already to the need to get a better balance in the economy and to improve the distribution of resources over the rest of the decade. In order to ensure that the necessary resources are available for these objectives—for exports and investment and for the take-home pay of working people—we must limit the demands made on resources by the public services over the coming years.
§ Our plans for doing this were set out in the Public Expenditure White Paper. Over the medium term we aim to stabilise the volume of public expenditure at about the level reached in this financial 269 year. This has meant some painful decisions, but we have kept to our main priorities. Within the totals there will be some room for revisions of priorities, but in the main what we badly need now is a period of stability in our planning.
§ We have set ourselves against short-term cuts in spending in the current year since these would be disruptive and add to unemployment. But we are determined to ensure that our expenditure in the current year does not exceed the limits we have set. We are developing improved methods of monitoring expenditure and we are making extensive use of cash limits. Expenditure from Votes is now reported promptly after the end of each month in substantial detail. For cash-limited expenditure it will be compared with profiles of expected expenditure. This will provide early warning of any significant discrepancy. The arrangements for cash limits, and information about the specific cash limits for 1976–77, are set out in a White Paper which is being made available to the House today.
§ I have mentioned certain new measures of financial assistance forming part of our industrial strategy. Their cost will be met within the planned White Paper total for public expenditure. I now come to some measures of high social priority; provision for these, too, will be found within the White Paper totals for 1976–77 and subsequent years.
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cc269-70
- Pensions uprating 252 words c270
- Family Income Supplement 143 words