§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), 4 April,Official Report, columns 9–10, he will express the figures given of taxable income as a per capita and per taxpayer figure, and if in each case he will also express the county figures in rank order in an index form taking the national average to be 100.
§ Mr. Norman Lamont[holding answer 17 April 1989]: I regret that the sample size of the survey of personal incomes is not large enough to provide reliable comparisons amongst individual counties of income per head. The table therefore shows a regional analysis.
Total Income1 liable to tax 1986–87 Per taxpayer2 per head of population at mid-1986 Region £ UK = 100 £ UK = 100 North 11,000 95 3,800 92 Yorkshire and Humberside 11,300 98 3,700 91 North West 11,200 97 3,800 93 East Midlands 11,000 95 3,800 92 West Midlands 10,900 94 3,900 94 East Anglia 11,400 98 3,900 94 South East 12,600 109 4,800 116 South West 11,200 97 4,000 99 Wales 10,400 90 3,200 78 Scotland 10,800 94 3,600 88 Northern Ireland 10,700 93 2,900 71 United Kingdom 11,500 100 4,100 100 1 Income liable to tax before deductions and personal allowances. The previous reply was in terms of taxable income—that is income liable to tax after deductions and allowances. 2 Counting only those taxpayers whose incomes are large enough for them to be liable to tax.