§ Lord James Douglas-Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report
IDENTIFIABLE PUBLIC EXPENDITURE* (a) Total identifiable public expenditure per head 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78* £ £ £ £ £ England … … … 405 542 687 750 817 Scotland … … … 494 657 855 942 1,037 Wales … … … 440 576 782 875 984 Great Britain … … … 416 555 708 775 847 Indices: England as 100 England … … … 100 100 100 100 100 Scotland … … … 122 121 124 126 127 Wales … … … 109 106 114 117 120 Great Britain … … … 103 102 103 103 104 (b) Total identifiable public expenditure per head, excluding capital grants and net lending to nationalised industries.
Indices: England as 100 1976–77 1977–78* 1976–77 1977–78 £ £ £ £ England … 752 812 England … 100 100 Scotland … 935 1,020 Scotland … 124 126 Wales … 836 899 Wales … 111 111 Great Britain … 774 837 Great Britain … 103 103 * The estimates given here of identifiable public expenditure may differ from those given in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdare on 5 February 1976, as they include the effect of subsequent changes in classification. The figures are consistent with those given in the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesend (Mr. Ovenden) on 17 January 1979[Vol. 960, cc. 781–93]; that answer also gave a full explanation of the term "identifiable expenditure". I regret that estimates on a comparable basis are not available for the years prior to 1973–74. * Provisional. Regional Industrial Policy Expenditure, 1977–78: Great Britain, Scotland and Wales. In the 1977–78 financial year total expenditure on regional preferential assistance to industry amounted to £508 million in the assisted areas of Great Britain. The table below shows how much of this expenditure was incurred on assistance for projects in Scotland and Wales.
£ million Regional development grant Selective financial assistance Local employment acts Regional employment premium Other schemes Total Percentage of total Scotland … … 105.0 12.1 0.1 1.5 27.0 145.7 29 Wales … … 70.4 4.4 0.5 0.7 15.5 91.5 18 Great Britain … … 393.4 44.7 20.5 3.0 45.9 507.5 100 In mid-1976 Scotland and Wales accounted for 22 per cent. and 11 per cent. respectively of employees (employed and unemployed) in the assisted areas but in 1977–78 received 29 per cent. and 18 per cent. respectively of total expenditure. 156W
Relative Earnings in Scotland and Wales Average gross weekly earnings of full-time manual men (aged 21 and over) Manufacturing and certain other industries Percentage of United Kingdom 1975 1976 1977 1978 Scotland … … … 101.9 101.4 100.9 100.6 Wales … … … 97.7 101.1 99.6 100.1 Source: Department of Employment October inquiry into earnings and hours of manual workers. information available to the latest possible date bringing up to date the series of tables and related information given in reply to the hon. Member for Aberdare (Mr. Evans), Official Report, 5 February 1976, c. 709–17.
§ Mr. Joel Barnett, pursuant to the reply given by the Minister of State [Official Report, 19 February 1979; Vol. 963, c. 34], gave the following reply:
The following is the information:
157W
Average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees All industries and services Percentage of Great Britain … … … … 1976 1977 1978 Men(21 and over)— Scotland … … … … 99.7 99.6 99.3 Wales … … … … 97.2 97.3 96.6 Women (18 and over)— Scotland … … … … 96.5 95.9 96.8 Wales … … … … 98.5 98.4 95.6 Source: Department of Employment new earnings surveys. These figures exclude those whose pay for the survey pay period was affected by absence.
UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, SCOTLAND AND WALES Annual averages 1976 1977 1978 Scotland Percentage unemployed … … … 7.0 8.3 8.3 United Kingdom relative … … … 121 134 134 Wales Percentage unemployed … … … 7.4 8.1 8.5 United Kingdom relative … … … 128 131 137 United Kingdom Percentage unemployed … … … 5.8 6.2 6.2 United Kingdom relative … … … 100 100 100 EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS OF REGIONAL POLICY IN SCOTLAND AND WALES The estimates by Messrs. Moore and Rhodes of employment generated by regional policy have been updated in an article by Moore, Rhodes and Tyler entitled "The Impact of Regional Policy in the Seventies", in the CES Review, No. 1, 1977. Data on inter-regional movement of manufacturing industry collected by the Department of Industry is given in the table below.
NUMBER OF OPENINGS OF MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS INTER-REGIONAL MOVES TO THE DEVELOPMENT AREAS 1945–75 1945–51 1952–59 1960–65 1966–75 Scotland … … 149 70 137 273 Wales … … 277 73 96 338 All development areas … … 702 270 479 1,032 Notes: 1. Inter-regional moves include moves with overseas origins. 2. All development areas: Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Merseyside and South-West development area. 3. The figures for all Development Areas 1966–75 will understate the position in comparison with the 19456–65 period because they exclude moves to those parts of Wales not designated as development area. It is estimated that this represents only about 20 to 25 moves per annum. 4. It should be noted that coverage for the most recent years is incomplete because of the time-lag attached to the availability of the main sources of information. 5. Whilst the number of openings has grown substantially in the most recent time period the jobs created by these openings at maturity (defined as 10 years after birth) has been in continuous decline i.e.: 19456–51, 450; 19526–59, 360; 19606–65, 275; 19666–75, 105. Source: Department of Industry, Record of openings and closures. Employment associated with North Sea oil From a survey carried out by the Scottish Economic Planning Department in mid-1978 it is provisionally estimated that the overall impact of the oil related industry on employment in Scotland was in the range 56,000–66,000 persons. Balance of trade: United Kingdom, Scotland and Wales The latest official estimates of GDP for Scotland and Wales for the years 1969–76 are shown in the table below.
£ million 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 Scotland … 3,401 3,756 4,236 4,748 5,527 6,379 8,237 9,763 Wales … 1,670 1,850 2,110 2,405 2,760 3,133 4,106 4,820 There are no official estimates of gross domestic expenditure for Scotland or for 158W Wales to update the previous figures shown in the reply to my hon. Friend the
159WMember for Aberdare in the Official Report for 5 February 1976, columns 709.717. It is not therefore possible to update the estimates shown there for the Scottish and Welsh balances of trade.