HC Deb 19 June 1989 vol 155 cc11-2
11. Mr. Alan W. Williams

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is the outturn figure for total expenditure within the Secretary of State's responsibility for 1988–89; what was the outturn figure for 1987–88; and what is the growth in the budget (i) in money terms and (ii) in real terms after adjustment for the gross domestic product deflator for 1988–89.

Mr. Peter Walker

The outturn for 1987–88 was £3,338 million. The estimated outturn for 1988–89 is £3,658 million. This represents a cash increase of 9..6 per cent. and a real increase of 2.2 per cent.

Mr. Williams

I am grateful to the Minister for those figures. He says that there has been a 2.2 per cent. increase in real terms. That bears out what Lord Crickhowell said on the eve of the Vale of Glamorgan by-election, which was that there has been no new policy, no new initiative and little change in the scale of public spending during the right hon. Gentleman's tenure of office. The people of Wales have rumbled that and the Secretary of State has lost both the Conservative seats that he has had to defend during his tenure of office.

Mr. Walker

As always, I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman because whether it is a case of statistics or Conservative posters he is always a great help to my party. An increase in real terms of 2.2 per cent. is in very sharp contrast to a decrease of 3 per cent. per year that took place in the last two years of the last Labour Government.

Mr. Alan Williams

Is it not correct to say that that 2.2 per cent. is virtually entirely accounted for by the increase in nurses' pay which applied over the whole country? Is it not a fact that over the rest of the budget for Wales there has at best been standstill and in some cases cuts?

Mr. Walker

I am grateful that the right hon. Gentleman of all people should mention nurses' pay. One of the reasons for the 3 per cent. reduction in each of the last two years of the Labour Government was the appalling treatment of nurses' pay by that Government. I hope that the right hon. Gentleman is ashamed of that. I am glad to say that, for example, the budget of the Welsh Development Agency, which has an important economic impact on Wales, has increased by 53 per cent. in the last two years.