§ Mr. Taverneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give figures for the increase in bank advances, seasonally adjusted, for the London clearing banks and the Scottish banks, and for other forms of restricted lending, if available, for the three months ended 17th June, 1970, and for the three months ended 16th September, 1970, respectively.
210Wof staffs, expenses of members, and the total cost of each council;
(2) what is the number of complaints handled in the last available year by each consultative council in the gas industry.
§ Mr. RidleyThere are 12 Gas Consultative Councils covering the area boards in the United Kingdom as set out below.
Each council consists of a chairman whose salary is £2,100 per annum (paid as a part-time member of his area board) and between 20 and 30 members.
§ Mr. BarberMonthly figures of advances by the London clearing banks and the Scottish banks and quarterly figures for the accepting houses and other banks are published inFinancial Statistics and in the Bank of England's Quarterly Bulletin. Separate figures of restricted lending are not published, but, broadly speaking, restricted lending by all banks would appear to have risen by some 2 per cent. in the three months ending mid-June and by some 3 per cent. in the three months ending mid-September. These figures have to be seen in the context of the figures for the money supply as a whole, which rose by £646 million in the quarter ending in June and by £240 million in the September quarter.