§ Mr. Cormackasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if any further objects have been accepted in lieu of estate duty or capital transfer tax.
§ Mr. Peter ReesYes, A sixteenth-century painting entitled " The Battle of Pavia " has been accepted in lieu of capital transfer tax. An announcement722W ing Government debt in (a) February 1974 and (b) March 1979.
§ Mr. BiffenStatistics of central Government debt, as defined in the national accounts, are compiled only for 31 March each year. The latest available are for 31 March 1978, which were published with figures for earlier years back to 1968 and with figures for other components of public sector debt inFinancial Statistics for February 1979, supplementary table C. Figures for 1979 will be included in the next issue of this table in Financial Statistics for February 1980.
The national debt, also calculated only for 31 March each year, was provisionally £86,974 million on 31 March 1979 as compared with £40,448 million on 31 March 1974. However, the national debt, which is defined as the total nominal liabilities of the national loans fund, includes official holdings of central Government debt and excludes some of the debt of central Government as defined in the national accounts.