§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the average amount of floating debt in 1951, 1961, 1971, 1977 and 1981 together with the average rate of interest paid and the ratio of the floating debt to total debt and to the money supply.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneFigures of the Floating Debt and the total National Debt outstanding at 31 March each year and the annual amount of interest paid thereon are published for each financial year in the Consolidated Fund and National Loans Fund accounts and supplementary statements to those accounts. Prior to 1 April 1968, when 301W the National Loans Act 1968 established the National Loans fund, the National Debt was a liability of the Consolidated Fund.
Details of the Floating Debt and the total National Debt and interest payments thereon for 31 March each year were given annually in the Finance Accounts of the United Kingdom. the money supply figures are published in the Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, the figures used in the table are those for banking January for 1951 and 1961 and banking March for 1971, 1977 and 1981.
(a) £ million
(b) £ million
(c) £ million
(d) (a) as a per cent. of (c) (a) as a per cent. of (d) 1951 5,457 25 26,017 *8,212 21.0 66.4 1961 4,955 190 28,252 *10,339 17.5 47.9 1971 3,847 188 33,442 †17,911 11.5 21.5 1977 12,332 1,154 67,166 †39,560 18.4 31.2 1981 8,357 1,251 113,036 †68,010 7.4 12.3 * M3 † £M3 (seasonally adjusted) (a) Floating Debt outstanding at end of financial year. (b) Interest paid on Floating Debt during financial year. (c) Total National Debt outstanding at end of financial year. (d) Money Supply as at banking January 1951 and 1961 and banking March for 1971, 1977 and 1981