§ Mr. Brothertonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the amount of "deadweight debt"—that is Government debt borrowed to pay for current expenditure—outstanding at the end of each year for the last 10 years.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesUnder the provisions of Section 19(1) of the National Loans Act 1968 the excess for the time being of the liabilities of the National Loans Fund over its assets is a liabiilty of the Consolidated Fund to the National Loans Fund, and details of this "deadweight debt" since the passage of the National Loans Act 1968 have been published each year in the Supplementary Statements to the Consolidated Fund and488W National Loans Fund Accounts. The figures, including estimated figures for 1966 and 1967 are as follows:
31st March National Debt outstanding £ million Assets of the National Loans Fund £ million Balance being liability of the Consolidated Fund under Section 19(1) of the National Loans Act 1968 £ million 1966 31,340 13,160* 18,180* 1967 31,986 14,611* 17,375* 1968 34,194 16,330 17,864 1969 33,984 16,509 17,475 1970 33,079 17,032 16,047 1971 33,442 19,010 14,432 1972 35,840 22,726 13,114 1973 36,885 22,624 14,261 1974 40,125 24,057 16,068 1975 45,925 26,491 19,434 * Estimated.