§ Mr. Grocottasked the Secretary of State for Scotland which aspect of those nationalised industries for which he is the sponsoring Minister is constrained by cash limits; what is the amount of cash limit imposed in each case; what is the performance of the industries against these limits; what proportion was used to cover up operating losses; and what proportion was used to finance investment.
§ Mr. Gregor MacKenzieThe system of cash limits applying to nationalised industries is described in the White Paper "Cash Limits on Public Expenditure" (Cmnd. 6440) and the figures for the Scottish electricity boards and the Scottish Transport Group in 1977–78 are as follows, with the forecast out-turn in brackets:
£ million SSEB … … Nil (-25.6) NSHEB … … 80 (56.2) STG … … 12 (10.7) It will be seen from these figures that all the Scottish nationalised industries are
1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1st April 1977 to date £ million £ million £ million £ million £ million £ million £ million Compensation for advanced investment NSHEB - — .068 .120 .098 .030 .005 SSEB — — .044 1.452 .258 .012 .001 Contribution towards provision of essential supplies SSEB — — .832 .032 — — — Compensation for price restraint NSHEB — — 5.681 2.725 2.274 — — SSEB — — 4.698 10 075 20.360 — — Compensation for Smelter deficits NSHEB — — — — — 39.020 11.112