§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the net balance of payments deficit on the non-oil account has been in each of the last five years; and on what data he bases his conclusion in the public expenditure White Paper Cmnd. 7746, that without the contribution of North Sea oil during this period there would have been scarcely any growth in output or productivity.
§ Mr. LawsonThe balance of trade in goods other than oil in the last five years has been as follows:
£ million 1974 -1,810 1975 -125 1976 +372 1977 +1,047 1978 +840 In the first three-quarters of 1979 non-oil trade was in deficit by about £2 billion.
Information on the growth of total output other than exploration and extraction of petroleum and natural gas is published in the national income and expenditure Blue Book 1979, edition P22. The figures show growth between 1973 and 1978 averaging ⅓ per cent, per annum. The total number of employees in employment was virtually unchanged between 1973 and 1978; so output per head also grew on average by ⅓ per cent, per annum between these years.