HC Deb 04 May 1970 vol 801 cc33-4W
Mr. Arthur Lewis

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in HANSARD a table of figures giving the actual spending on housing, social security, education, health and welfare for each of the five years from January, 1965, to January, 1970; how these figures compare with the previous five years in actual amounts; and what is the comparison allowing for the depreciation of the purchasing value of the £ sterling on the basis that in January, 1969, the £ sterling was worth 20s. in spending power.

CHANGES IN THE TOTAL NUMBERS OF PERSONS REGISTERED AS UNEMPLOYED
April, 1964 to April, 1970 April, 1966 to April, 1970
Numbers Per cent. Numbers Per cent.
South East … … … +53,309 +62.6 +71,379 +106.5
East Anglia … … … 4,198 +39.9 +6,111 +71.0
South Western … … +17,356 +79.8 +18,015 +85.5
West Midlands … … +25,960 +114.9 +32,681 +206.0
East Midlands … … +20,005 +132.3 +21,608 +159.9
Yorkshire and Humberside … +32,038 +110.7 +38,765 +174.4
North Western … … +12,627 +18.3 +40,475 +98.5
Northern … … … +21,866 +46.5 +36,863 +115.1
Wales … … … … +14,612 +57.8 +12,346 +44.8
Scotland … … … +3,091 +3.6 +30,933 +52.9
Northern Ireland … … -1,006 -.7 +5,858 +19.6

Mr. Diamond:

For the figures at current prices, I would refer my hon. Friend to the data given in Table 50 of the Blue Book " National Income and Expenditure 1969 ", which covers the period 1958–68 inclusive. Figures in this detail for the year 1969 are not yet available. As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member for Rutland and Stamford (Mr. Kenneth Lewis) on 25th March, there are technical difficulties involved in converting into constant prices the expenditure on individual programmes for financial years before 1964–65; but progress has been made in overcoming those difficulties. The figures, together with those of later years, will be sent to my hon. Friend as soon as they are available.