§ Mr. Alisonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what programmes were under-fulfilled, or what cuts made, to secure the result of an estimated total of public expenditure for 1968–69 of £15,822 million in Command Paper No. 4234, page 10, as against the earlier estimate, on approximately the same price basis, of £16,277 million as specified in Table 2, Command Paper No. 3936.
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§ Mr. DiamondThe differences between the programmes for 1968–69 as in Command Paper No. 4234 (provisional outturn) and Command Paper No. 3936 (estimated made in Command Paper No. 3515) are as follows:
£ million at 1969 Survey prices Defence Budget - 104 Other military defence - 179 Overseas aid - 29 Other overseas services - 7 Technological services - 15 Other assistance to employment and industry + 51 Research Councils, etc. — Agriculture, fisheries and forestry - 63 Roads and public lighting - 14 Transport - 12 Housing - 30 Local Environmental services - 32 Law and order + 2 Arts — Education + 35 Health and Welfare - 12 Social security + 33 Financial administration + 5 Common services + 2 Miscellaneous services + 4 Northern Ireland — Price adjustments, etc.* - 82 Total - 455 *Includes adjustment for imputed rent (excluded from the figures in Cmnd. 4234) and the increase in selective employment tax introduced in the April, 1969 Budget.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in respect of the table of percentage increases in public expenditure he published on 11th December 1969, he will specify in actual figures for each set of years, the factors of imputed rents which have been excluded.
§ Mr. DiamondThe actual figures of imputed rents which have been excluded from the calculation of the percentage increases in public expenditure published on 11th December 1969 are as follows:
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£ million at outturn prices 1959–60 … … … 142 1960–61 … … … 163 1961–62 … … … 188 1962–63 … … … 202 1963–64 … … … 218 1964–65 … … … 224 1965–66 … … … 249 1966–67 … … … 272 1967–68 … … … 288 1968–69 … … … 319 1969–70 … … … 328* * At 1969–70 Survey prices.
§ Mr. Alisonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing the actual year-to-year increases in public expenditure from 1959–60 to 1969–70, to which the percentage increases he published on 6th March 1969 relate; if he will publish a further such table, to which the revised percentage increases he published on 9th December, 1969 relate; and if he will explain how the differences between the two sets of figures arose.
§ Mr. DiamondThe actual year-to-year increases in public expenditure from 1959–60 to 1969–70, to which the percentage increases published on 11th December, 1969 relate are as follows:
£ million 1969 Survey prices 1959–60 to 1960–61 … 415 1960–61 to 1961–62 … 822 1961–62 to 1962–63 … 133 1962–63 to 1963–64 … 545 1963–64 to 1964–65 … 403 1964–65 to 1965–66 … 806 1965–66 to 1966–67 … 494 1966–67 to 1967–68 … 973 1967–68 to 1968–69 … 239 1968–69 to 1969–70 … 335 As stated by my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Ashfield (Mr. Marquand) on 24th January, 1968 there were certain difficulties in expressing outturn figures on a constant price basis. Although these difficulties have now been overcome they did affect the calculation of the percentage increases given in reply to the hon. Member on 6th March. For that reason I am unable to give the actual figures underlying those percentage increases.
The main reason for the differences between the percentage increases published on 6th March, 1969 and those published on 11th December, 1969 is a change in the underlying price basis of the national income statistics which is reflected in the weighting of the component parts of public expenditure. The large difference in the percentage increase in 1968–69 results from an upward revision to the earlier estimate of the outturn in 1967–68 and a downward revision to that in 1968–69 and later information on price movements.—[Vol. 193, c. 177–8; Vol. 757, c. 134–5; Vol. 779, c. 155.]