§ 7.12 p.m.
§ LORD HAWKE asked His Majesty's Government what is the target for small savings for 1946–47, and up to date what has been the figure of net savings achieved, excluding accrued interest? The noble Lord said: My Lords, your Lordships' appetite is never very great for figures, particularly at ten minutes past seven, and I do not propose to produce any. One of the foundations of the greatness of our country was thrift, and I believe that every political Party is united in that we must endeavour to inculcate thrift among the only people who have the wherewithal to exercise thrift in these days. My purpose in putting down this question was twofold: First of all, to discuss what had been the achievements of the National Savings Campaign in the financial year just about to close; secondly, to make a suggestion with regard to the next financial year. Unfortunately, I cannot see the figures which the noble Lord is going to give before commenting on them, but the Press has come to the rescue.
§ In the course of the last day or two I have seen figures purporting to represent the figures of the Savings Campaign up to date. From these it seems clear that the target given to the Savings Campaign has now been achieved, but I submit that such a victory is a purely Pyrrhic victory, because the target took no account of withdrawals or encashments, and these withdrawals have been extremely heavy. There is no record of what the figure of encashment might have been expected by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but I have little hesitation in suggesting that the figure which has resulted is a bigger one than he expected, and that the National Savings Movement achievement is, as I have said, a purely 799 Pyrrhic victory. For the financial year just about to commence I do earnestly suggest to His Majesty's Government that some method should be found of setting a realistic target, and one which takes into account the incomings as well as the outgoings. I fully appreciate the administrative difficulties. If you are to have competition between one village and the next it is extremely difficult to take account of withdrawals. I absolutely appreciate all those points, but I do submit that the British public are being fooled if it is led to believe that the Savings Campaign has reached its target when, in fact, half of what has been put in has been taken out again. I beg to ask the question standing in my name.
§ LORD AMMONMy Lords, I hope the noble Lord will be pleased with my answer, so far as the amount that has been saved is concerned. I think that perhaps he might even be agreeably surprised that the amount of encashment and withdrawals are not as much as he expected. At the National Savings rally in the Albert Hall on April 2, 1946, the National Savings Movement undertook, in response to the Chancellor's challenge, to raise £520,000,000 in small savings in the financial year 1946–47. For this purpose, small savings consist of purchases of National Savings Certificates and Defence Bonds, and increases in the balances of depositors in the Post Office and Trustee Savings Banks. On March 13 Sir Harold Mackintosh, the Chairman of the National Savings Committee, reported to the Chancellor that the target of £520,000,000 had been reached, and that the Movement expected to raise a total of £550,000,000 by the end of the financial year.
Particulars of both purchases and withdrawals of small savings, with separate figures of accrued interest, have been published quarterly by the National Savings Committee in the course of the year. The Committee's statement of gross and net savings, for the nine months to December 31, was issued early in January; a copy of this statement, which involves tables of figures, is being sent to the noble Lord and will appear in the OFFICIAL REPORT later. The figures for the complete year will be published by the Committee at the end of March.