HC Deb 10 June 1998 vol 313 cc585-6W
Mr. Cousins

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when, and under what authority, the Office for National Statistics was given the duty of determining the allocation of expenditure to the PSBR. [44720]

Mrs. Liddell

In the mid-1960s, when estimates of borrowing started to be produced for the public sector as a whole, a joint technical group of officials from Treasury, the Central Statistical Office, the Bank of England and some other Government Departments was set up to consider issues of definition, classification and measurement. Such matters remain the responsibility of the technical committee. The Office for National Statistics determines what constitutes the public sector by reference to international standards for national accounts. The PSBR figures are produced jointly by the Office for National Statistics and the Treasury.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish the guidance on the basis of which the Office for National Statistics determines whether expenditure incurred by or on behalf of the Government and any of its agents or partners is to be part of the public sector borrowing requirement. [44721]

Mrs. Liddell

The principles used are set out in Treasury Working Paper 61 of December 1993. To summarise them, cash expenditure by any part of the public sector determines the PSBR, except when such expenditure is the repayment of debt incurred by Government. As explained in my reply to an earlier question (ref: 3658N), the definition of the PSBR is the joint responsibility of the Office for National Statistics and the Treasury. The Office for National Statistics determines what constitutes the public sector by reference to international standards for national accounts.

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