§ 22. Mr. Shepherdasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make an estimate of the total expenditure by local authorities up to the year 1970.
§ Mr. MaudlingEstimates of total public expenditure (including local authority expenditure) for a period of years ahead are made in order to provide a perspective for Government decisions. The need for this was brought out in the report of the Plowden Committee on the Control of Public Expenditure (Cmnd. 1432), which also accepted that it would be difficult for the Government to publish the results. The Government nevertheless recognise the public interest in these long-term surveys of expenditure and, as my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary said in reply to a Question from my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. W. Clark), on 15th February, we shall review the question of publication in relation to this summer's revision of the forecasts.