§ 31. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what instructions he has sent to spending Departments, in the present financial year, as to the extent to which a reduction in expenditure in Votes corresponding to their Supplementary Estimates must be made.
§ Sir E. BoyleMy right hon. Friend's instructions to Departments regarding Supplementary Estimates require that every effort should be made to keep inescapable increases to a minimum and to secure off-setting economies.
§ 32. Mr. Wingfield Digbyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the 2½ per cent. limit to annual increases in Government estimates which he announced last July is inclusive or exclusive of Supplementary Estimates.
§ Sir E. BoyleMy right hon. Friend's statement last July was exclusive of Supplementary Estimates. I remind the House that, as then made clear, the comparison between the Estimates of the two years would have to be in real terms. In other words, allowances has to be made for differences in the level of pay and prices used in drawing up the Estimates.