HC Deb 12 March 1984 vol 56 cc53-5W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the reduction in percentage points in the block grant to local government from the

† Class 13 of the standard industrial classification 1980. Figures are on a constant price basis.

Source: Central Statistical Office.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report for each year since 1954 the percentage increase in (a) gross domestic production, (b) gross domestic production less production industries and (c) manufacturing, together with the corresponding figures for output per head and the rate of unemployment.

Mr. Peter Rees

The available information is given in the following table. With the exception of the information on GDP excluding production industries, which is available on request, the figures for output and output per person employed can be derived from series published in the 1984 annual supplement ofEconomic Trends and in later monthly Economic Trends and press notices. Figures of the unemployment rate from 1971 were published in Employment Gazette, December 1982, and updated information is available in later editions of this publication.

postwar peak; and what has been the approximate saving to the Exchequer resulting from this reduction in the block grant.

Mr. Peter Rees

In 1975–76 the percentage of relevant expenditure in England and Wales supported by aggregate Exchequer grant was 66½ per cent. In the 1984–85 settlement the percentage of relevant expenditure so supported in England will be 51£8 per cent., in Wales 69£2 per cent.

There have been no Exchequer savings because there has been no reduction in grant. AEG has increased in cash from £6.64 billion in 1975–76 to £12£86 billion available, before penalties, in 1984–85 in England and Wales.