Public Expenditure (Hansard, 31 January 1990)

§ 3. Sir Nicholas Fairbairn
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the level of public expenditure per head in Scotland of programmes for which he is responsible.

§ Mr. Rifkind
Scottish Office expenditure for the current year will be £1,771 for every man, woman and child. This will rise to £2,047 in 1992.

§ Sir Nicholas Fairbairn
Will my right hon. and learned Friend lose no opportunity to remind the people who live in Scotland, of whatever race, that they benefit to a greater extent than anyone else in the United Kingdom in all programmes of expenditure and that if they were to consider anything as foolish as a Socialist Government, a convention, an assembly or independence, they would be deprived of the level of living that we uniquely enjoy in western Europe.

§ Mr. Rifkind
I very much agree with the sentiments behind my hon. and learned Friend's question. However, he is not entirely correct, because the level of expenditure in Northern Ireland is higher than that in Scotland. My hon. and learned Friend is certainly correct that public expenditure in Scotland is considerably higher per capita than that in England and Wales, which is a benefit which Scotland derives from the present constitutional arrangements.

Mr. Robert Hughes
Does the Secretary of State recall that I wrote to him a couple of weeks ago to complain bitterly that while England and Wales has a substantial programme of cochlear implants, which are vital for deaf people, no announcement has been made in Scotland and we have no such programme of spending? When will the right hon. and learned Gentleman reply positively and make that money available to the health boards in Scotland so that deaf people in Scotland can benefit substantially?

§ Mr. Rifkind
I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman has not scrutinised his newspapers carefully because we made a comparable announcement that similar provisions are to be introduced in Scotland and we are working on the details at present.

§ Mr. Bill Walker
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that such expenditure programmes could not possibly be sustained in the event of any fraudulent proposals being brought forward for a Scottish Assembly in Edinburgh? Does he further agree that we could not enjoy the same number of Members of Parliament and that we certainly could not expect English Members of Parliament to support such programmes?

§ Mr. Rifkind
If a Scottish assembly were responsible for the matters that are currently the responsibility of the Scottish Office, and if it were required to raise funds for those matters from within Scotland, the present level of spending on education, health, housing and other measures could be maintained only by a dramatic increase in income tax which the people of Scotland, alone in the United Kingdom, would be required to pay.

Mr. John D. Taylor
Can the Secretary of State say whether a system of devolution in Scotland is likely to bring about increased public expenditure per capita?

§ Mr. Rifkind
It would depend on the spending policies of such a Scottish assembly as might be created. The point that I have just been making is that even if a Scottish assembly did not wish to increase expenditure, but simply to maintain the present level of expenditure from the taxes raised in Scotland, it would have to level additional income tax that would not be paid by people elsewhere in Britain. That is why such proposals would be very much against the interests of the Scottish economy, employment in Scotland and the general welfare of the people of Scotland.

§ Mr. Thurnham
Will my right hon. and learned Friend bear in mind the need to involve the private sector as much as possible in public expenditure programmes? Scottish civil engineers have a high reputation abroad, but need to have experience at home if they are to make the most of the worldwide opportunities.

§ Mr. Rifkind
That is the case, and that is why I am delighted that the recent surveys by the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland have suggested that the Scottish economy will do even better than that of the rest of the United Kingdom over the next few years. They pointed particularly to manufacturing industry and exports. It is encouraging that only yesterday a prediction of increased exports from Scotland was made by Scotland's business men. I am sure that the whole House will be delighted to welcome that.