§ 67. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the capital debt of each of the nation-
328Wment and stocks by general government and public enterprises, including public corporations. This definition excludes expenditure on capital grants, lending and purchases of company securities, etc. which is included in the United Kingdom definition. The figures for the United Kingdom in the table have been adjusted to this narrower basis for comparison with those of other countries. For West Germany, figures are not available on this basis and a definition of public expenditure, excluding capital expenditure by public enterprises, has been used.
Even when prepared on comparable definitions, international comparisons of public expenditure cannot be wholly satisfactory because they are affected by differences in institutional arrangements. The comparisons are also affected by the extent of state ownership of enterprises.
alised industries which was written off in the last five years was incurred in Scotland.
§ Mr. TaverneThe sums in question were written off the total liabilities of the industries concerned, including 329W moneys borrowed to finance deficits, and cannot be attributed to assets situated, or losses incurred, in particular areas.