§ Sir A. Bossomasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer which of the Government Departments have been the greatest spenders on the average over the last five years; and how much of the totals was expended on building and civil engineering.
§ Mr. SimonOver the last five years the Departments with the largest expenditure have been the three Service Departments, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and the Post Office.
During this period, building and civil engineering accounted for some 7 per cent. of the gross expenditure of the Service Departments, and about 4½ per cent. of the gross expenditure of the Post Office. None of the other Departments listed above was directly responsible for carrying out major building and civil engineering programmes.
Most of the building and civil engineering work financed from the Ministry of Health's Votes (about 3 per cent. of the gross total) is carried out by hospital boards. There is also considerable building expenditure by local education authorities, but this cannot be simply related to the vote total of the Ministry of Education.