§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the gross domestic product per capita of each of the nine member States of the EEC and their constituent regions in 1960, 1970 and the latest year for which comparative statistics are available, expressing the result in terms of £ sterling at March 1974 exchange rates and the figure for
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, United Kingdom=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 UNITED KINGDOM … … … 100 100 605 774 North … … … … Not available 84 85 Not available 508 656 Yorkshire and Humberside … 96 94 583 729 East Midlands … … … 98 96 595 746 East Anglia … … … 96 96 579 743 South East … … … 114 116 692 894 South West … … … 93 94 564 723 West Midlands … … … 108 104 654 807 North West … … … 96 95 582 731 Wales … … … … 86 86 518 666 Scotland … … … … 89 91 538 705 Northern Ireland … … 63 69 378 531 2W
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, West Germany=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 WEST GERMANY … … … 100 100 100 883 1,344 1,822 Schleswig-Holstein … … 78 81 83 690 1,088 1,509 Hamburg … … … 163 168 178 1,439 2,256 3,250 Bremen … … … … 134 125 132 1,180 1,685 2,397 Hiedersachsen … … … 89 88 85 782 1,182 1,555 Hessen … … … … 99 103 106 877 1,385 1,935 Herdrhein-Westfalen … … 109 103 103 958 1,380 1,891 Rheinland-Pfalz … … 77 89 87 676 1,192 1,589 Baden-Württemberg … … 102 104 100 903 1,403 1,818 Bayern … … … … 89 94 93 782 1,257 1,702 Saarland … … … … 95 84 86 842 1,125 1,573 Berlin (West) … … … 104 106 108 918 1,428 1,969 each region as a percentage of the average figure for the corresponding member State as a whole.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe information that is available is given below. The earliest year for which gross domestic product—GDP—figures are available for all regions of the United Kingdom is 1966. To facilitate comparison, figures for 1966 are also given for other countries where available. The latest year for which regional figures are published on a comparable basis for EEC countries is 1970. No figures are available for Denmark and Ireland.
3WThe figures have been compiled as requested, but it should be noted that
- (a) estimates of regional GDP are not prepared on an exactly similar basis in the various countries;
- (b) exchange rates are known not to reflect accurately the internal purchasing power of countries' currencies and hence it may not be meaningful to use this method to make international comparisons of regional GDP;
- (c) the use of March 1974 exchange rates further distorts the comparisons as they are even less likely to reflect currencies' internal purchasing power during those years for which GDP figures are quoted.
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, France=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 FRANCE … … … … 100 100 Not available 438 738 Not available Région Parisienne … … 148 138 648 1,019 Bassin Parisien … … … 92 92 401 677 Nord … … … … 92 93 402 685 Est … … … … 95 93 415 690 Ouest … … … … 80 84 348 619 Sud-Ouest … … … 83 87 361 639 Centre-Est … … … 95 98 415 722 Méditerranée … … … 94 94 411 696
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, Italy=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 ITALY … … … … 100 100 100 258 445 636 Nord Ovest … … … 143 132 132 369 587 837 Lombardia … … … 148 140 137 383 621 873 Nordest … … … … 98 101 101 254 448 644 Emilia Romagna … … 117 121 120 301 538 764 Centro … … … … 92 99 98 238 441 625 Lazio … … … … 124 110 108 319 490 687 Campania … … … 69 70 68 178 311 431 Abruzzi-Molise … … … 61 65 69 158 291 437 Sud … … … … 50 64 64 129 284 405 Sicilia … … … … 62 67 70 161 297 444 Sardegna … … … 71 71 76 183 314 480
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, Netherlands=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 NETHERLANDS … … … 100 507 Noord … … … … 90 456 Oost … … … … 91 Not available 463 Not available West … … … … 108 546 Zuid … … … … 96 486
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, Belgium=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 BELGIUM … … … … 100 100 Not available 591 897 Not available Région Flamande/Vlaams Gewest … … … 89 92 523 829 Réegion Wallenne/Waals Gewest … … … 97 90 570 807 570 807 Région Bruxelloise/Brussels Gewest … … … 145 145 857 1,302
G.D.P./HEAD G.D.P./HEAD (Index, Luxembourg=100) (£) 1960 1966 1970 1960 1966 1970 LUXEMBOURG … … … 100 100 100 789 1,038 1,456
§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the annual cost, expressed in pounds sterling, of the EEC budgetary item, "Administrative, operational and miscellaneous expenditure" during each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettExpenditure on staff—including pay, allowances, pensions and insurance—and on buildings, equipment and current administrative expenditure etc.—including expenditure on4W statistical, etc surveys, publishing and information and the cost of meetings—in the Commission's section of the budget of the European Communities in the years 1971 to 1974 amounts to:
£ million 1971 41 1972 53 1973 71 1974 87 The figures for 1971 to 1973 represent expenditure spent and committed from the budgets of those years and that for 1974 the provision in the 1974 budget. The figures 5W have been converted from units of accounts on the basis of £1=2.4 units of account.
I regret that information on 1970 is not readily available.
§ Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, prior to introducing his legislation on capital transfer tax, he conducted comparative studies of the practice in EEC countries relating to taxation of agricultural, forestry and fishing interests.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettEEC countries differ significantly in the general scope of their taxes on capital, as in their treatment of particular assets. As regards the capital transfer tax, we believe that the reliefs from the tax which we are now proposing are both fair and sufficient.
§ Mr. Blakerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of the total deficit on the balance of payments was represented by the United Kingdom's contribution to the EEC budget in each of the years 1973 and 1974.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe United Kingdom's net contribution to the budget of the European Communities in 1973 represented 8.7 per cent. of the total deficit on the balance of payments current account, and in 1974 0.8 per cent. of the estimated total deficit on current account. The figure for the United Kingdom contribution in 1974 reflects some technical and other factors and does not provide a reliable guide for future years.
§ Mr. Blakerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of public expenditure is expected to be represented by the United Kingdom contribution to the EEC in the financial year 1974–75.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe net United Kingdom contribution to the budget of the European Communities in 1974–75 is estimated at £35 milion. This represents 0.1 per cent of the estimated total of public expenditure—at 1974 survey prices—for the same period, as estimated in Cmnd. 5879. The figure for the United Kingdom contribution in 1974–75 reflects some technical and other factors and does not provide a reliable guide for future years.