HC Deb 20 April 1964 vol 693 cc146-8W
Sir R. Russell

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the total subsidies paid by the central Government to the nationalised industries in the years 1959 to 1963.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

No subsidies were paid to nationalised industries in this period, apart from the revenue deficit grants paid from 1st April, 1960, to the British Transport Commission and from 1st January, 1963, to the British Railways Board and British Waterways Board. These grants totalled £540 million in the period 1st April, 1960, to 31st March, 1964. This does not include the cancellation of debt to the Exchequer amounting to £487 million, representing accumulated losses of the British Transport Commission, and the placing of £705 million of the British Railways Board's commencing capital debt to suspense under the provisions of the Transport Act, 1962.