§ Mr. Ellis Smithasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he will tabulate the current expenditure for military purposes, current social service expenditure, current total expenditure, current total expenditure per head of population, current social service expenditure per head of population, and the gross national product; and if he will give, in tabular form, the proportions of the total current social service expenditure which are allocated to the main social services, and the percentage of total current expenditure that these proportions comprise, and the contributions made respectively to each of these social services by the Exchequer, by local authorities, and by National Insurance, for the years 1945–50 inclusive, 1951–56 inclusive, and for 1938, 1948, 1958, and for each subsequent year.
§ Sir E. BoyleThe information is given in the table below for the calendar years 1950 to 1960 inclusive. I regret that comparable figures for years earlier than 1950 are not available. Current expenditure has been taken as covering current expenditure on goods and services, subsidies and grants and debt interest. Expenditure has been allocated between the central Government, local authorities and the National Insurance Funds according to the authority actually making the final payment, no adjustment being made for grants from the central Government to the other authorities.
189W190W
— Unit 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 Total current expenditure of public authorities … £ million 3,900 4,339 4,941 5,160 5,332 5,511 5,915 6,139 6,566 6,953 7,422 Military defence … £ million 827 1,102 1,465 1,555 1,567 1,544 1,642 1,566 1,544 1,559 1,611 Social Services … £ million 1,502 1,597 1,774 1,906 1,968 2,145 2,350 2,530 2,847 3,080 3,266 Total expenditure per head of population … £ 78 86 98 102 105 108 116 119 127 134 142 Social services expenditure per head of population £ 30 32 35 38 39 42 46 49 55 59 62 Gross national product at factor cost … £ million 11,752 12,887 13,982 14,940 15,923 16,861 18,359 19,399 20,231 21,041 22,316 Current expenditure on main social services— Education and child care: Central Government … £ million 45 43 45 46 49 52 55 62 68 74 86 Local authorities … £ million 267 309 343 367 402 438 505 577 625 686 754 School meals, milk and welfare foods: Central Government … £ million 35 39 45 47 43 35 37 33 25 27 27 Local authorities … £ million 26 26 30 29 34 46 52 52 53 55 59 Health services: Central Government … £ million 414 427 436 450 464 499 549 592 627 677 734 Local authorities … £ million 44 49 53 55 57 62 68 73 78 85 90 National Insurance, pensions and assistance: Central Government … £ million 244 258 303 336 339 348 359 376 393 415 447 Local authorities … £ million 11 12 14 16 16 17 19 21 23 23 25 National Insurance Funds … £ million 416 434 505 560 564 648 706 744 955 1,038 1,044 Expenditure on social services as a percentage of total current expenditure: Education and child care … Per cent. 8.0 8.1 7.9 8.0 8.5 8.9 9.5 10.4 10.5 10.9 11.3 School meals, milk and welfare foods … Per cent. 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.2 Health services … Per cent. 11.7 11.0 9.9 9.8 9.8 10.1 10.4 10.8 10.7 11.0 11.1 National insurance, pensions and assistance … Per cent. 17.2 16.2 16.6 17.6 17.2 18.4 18.3 18.6 20.9 21.2 20.4 Total social services … Per cent. 38.5 36.8 35.9 36.9 36.9 38.9 39.7 41.2 43.4 44.3 44.0