§ Mrs. Ewingasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how far the fact that the Government have not issued an up-to-date return of revenue and expenditure in England and Wales and Scotland is due to the cost of this work: and what was the cost to public funds of producing the Command Paper No. 9051 in January, 1954, based on the Catto Committee Report.
§ Mr. Diamond:I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Berwick and East Lothian (Mr. Mackintosh) on 20th November. The full cost of producing Command Paper No. 9051 is not known.—[Vol. 754, c. 283.]
177W
§ Mrs. Ewingasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in view of the fact that the total expenditure of public money in 1966– 67 was £28 million in Scotland and £ 6 million in Wales as compared with £580 million in England, what plans he has to increase the expenditure in Scotland arid Wales, respectively, to ensure proportionate equality as between the three countries.
§ Mr. Diamond:The figures quoted in the Question refer not to total public expenditure, but only to the expenditure of the Ministries of Technology and Aviation in 1966– 67. As shown in the reply given to the hon. Member for Dumfries on 10th November, public expenditure per head of population in Scotland is higher, for most of the services for which a separate calculation can be made, than in the rest of Great Britain. The achievement of proportionate equality urged by the hon. Lady would therefore require a substantial reduction in many items of public expenditure in Scotland.—[Vol. 753, c.207–8.]