§ Mr. Marquandasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will give figures showing at 1967 survey prices total public expenditure as defined in the National Plan Command Paper No. 2764, chapter 18, paragraph 1, and excluding investment grants and the effects of selective employment tax and regional employment premiums, in each of the years from 1959–60 to 1967–68, and the annual rate of increase from each year to the next.
§ Mr. DiamondThe conceptual difficulties of expressing statistics of public expenditure (including transfer payments) 135W for past years in terms of constant prices are such that I do not feel able to publish the absolute figures. However, the approximate successive annual percentage increases at constant prices are as follows:
Per cent. 1960–61 … … 4 1961–62 … … 7½ 1962–63 … … 1 1963–64 … … 5½ 1964–65 … … 5 1965–66 … … 7 1966–67 … … 1½ 1967–68 … … 7½ (Estimate to Estimate)