Civil and Defence Estimates

HC Deb 22 March 1974 vol 870 cc201-2W

Mr. Hardy

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Estimates for 1974–75.

Mr. Joel Barnett

The Civil and Defence Estimates for 1974–75 will be published on Budget Day, 26th March. The House will appreciate that, save in one or two instances, these are Estimates which were prepared under and approved by the last administration and it has not been feasible, given the parliamentary timetable and the physical task of printing this bulky set of documents, for the present Government to examine them in any detail. The extent to which the Government may or may not wish to modify these Estimates on any substantial scale will be apparent from the content of my right hon. Friend's Budget Statement and from the "Financial Statement and Budget Report" which will be published simultaneously.