HC Deb 12 July 1976 vol 915 cc107-13W
Mr. Knox

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the percentage of gross national product taken by central Government in each year since 1960 in the United Kingdom; and, from information available from international sources, if he will give the comparable figures for each of the other EEC countries, Canada and the United States of America;

(2) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the percentage of the gross national product devoted to public expenditure in each year since 1960 in the United Kingdom; and, from information available from international sources, if he will give comparable figures for each of the other EEC countries, Canada and the United States of America.

Mr. Denzil Davies

, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 5th July 1976; Vol.

EXPENDITURE BY CENTRAL AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT AS A PERCENTAGE OF GNP AT MARKET PRICES
UNITED KINGDOM
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 11.7 24.1 20.5 34.2
1963 … … … … 11.4 23.7 20.3 34.3
1964 … … … … 11.6 23.7 21.1 34.9
1965 … … … … 11.4 23.2 20.9 34.8
1966 … … … … 11.5 23.8 21.5 35.6
1967 … … … … 12.0 25.4 22.8 38.0
1968 … … … … 11.9 25.9 22.7 38.7
1969 … … … … 11.4 25.4 22.2 38.0
1970 … … … … 11.7 25.6 22.5 38.1
1971 … … … … 11.8 25.9 22.7 37.7
1972 … … … … 11.9 27.0 23.2 39.3
1973 … … … … 11.7 27.3 23.5 39.8
WEST GERMANY
1962 … … … … 5.8 12.4 18.9 33.7
1963 … … … … 6.3 12.8 19.9 34.8
1964 … … … … 5.6 12.4 19.5 34.5
1965 … … … … 5.6 12.9 19.7 35.2
1966 … … … … 5.3 12.6 20.0 35.7
1967 … … … … 5.7 13.4 20.2 37.4
1968 … … … … 4.9 12.7 19.5 36.7
1969 … … … … 5.0 12.2 19.7 36.1
1970 … … … … 4.8 11.6 20.3 36.1
1971 … … … … 5.1 11.8 21.3 37.1
1972 … … … … 4.9 12.3 21.3 37.9
1973 … … … … 4.8 12.2 21.6 38.4

914, c. 417–8], gave the following information:

Other countries, in general, do not use in their national accounts the concepts of the public sector, and of total public expenditure, which are employed in the United Kingdom. International comparisons of public expenditure can be made only on the basis of figures for "general government", which comprises central and local government plus social security funds but excludes public corporations. The available figures for the total expenditure of "general government" relate to the total of expenditure on goods and services, on debt interest and on transfers other than capital grants; they exclude expenditure on the acquisition of financial assets—net lending. Since expenditure other than on goods and services only contributes indirectly to GNP, percentages are given for goods and services as well as for the total.

The readily available figures are contained in "National Accounts of OECD countries 1962–73" from which the figures in the table below have been obtained; more recent figures are not available on a consistent basis of definition. The differences between countries are partly due to differences in institutional arrangements.

FRANCE
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 10.8 19.9 15.7 35.0
1963 … … … … 10.8 19.7 15.9 35.6
1964 … … … … 10.6 19.0 15.9 35.6
1965 … … … … 10.5 19.1 15.9 36.1
1966 … … … … 10.4 18.7 15.7 35.9
1967 … … … … 10.4 20.0 15.8 36.6
1968 … … … … 10.8 20.0 16.0 37.6
1969 … … … … 10.3 19.1 15.5 36.4
1970 … … … … 11.6 20.4 16.4 37.4
1971 … … … … 11.7 19.9 16.4 37.2
1972 … … … … 11.5 20.1 16.3 37.1
1973 … … … … 11.1 19.2 15.9 37.1
ITALY
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 9.7 16.5 15.2 29.6
1963 … … … … 10.0 16.3 15.9 30.6
1964 … … … … 10.2 16.7 16.5 31.3
1965 … … … … 10.7 18.4 16.8 33.7
1966 … … … … 10.5 18.7 16.7 34.0
1967 … … … … 9.9 17.0 15.8 33.3
1968 … … … … 10.2 18.7 16.2 34.9
1969 … … … … 9.9 18.9 15.8 34.6
1970 … … … … 9.1 18.1 15.2 33.9
1971 … … … … 10.8 21.0 16.9 38.1
1972 … … … … 10.9 21.2 17.5 40.1
1973 … … … … 10.8 23.2 17.3 40.5
NETHERLANDS
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … ֵ ֵ 18.8 ֵ
1963 … … … … ֵ ֵ 19.6 ֵ
1964 … … … … ֵ ֵ 19.6 ֵ
1965 … … … … ֵ ֵ 21.0 ֵ
1966 … … … … ֵ ֵ 20.4 ֵ
1967 … … … … 10.3 23.8 20.9 40.8
1968 … … … … 9.6 24.6 21.0 42.2
1969 … … … … 9.2 24.1 20.7 42.7
1970 … … … … 9.5 25.2 21.0 44.3
1971 … … … … 9.8 26.5 21.6 46.5
1972 … … … … 9.2 26.7 20.9 46.9
1973 … … … … 9.0 27.6 20.5 47.7
BELGIUM
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 9.8 19.3 15.0 30.8
1963 … … … … 10.5 19.6 16.0 31.8
1964 … … … … 10.0 18.9 15.9 31.1
1965 … … … … 10.2 19.5 15.7 32.5
1966 … … … … 10.4 20.0 16.3 33.6
1967 … … … … 10.7 20.7 17.0 34.7
1968 … … … … 10.8 21.4 17.4 36.5
1969 … … … … 10.8 21.3 17.2 36.3
1970 … … … … 10.6 21.3 17.2 36.6
1971 … … … … 11.2 21.8 18.5 38.2
1972 … … … … 11.6 22.5 18.9 39.2
1973 … … … … 11.6 22.9 18.4 39.6

LUXEMBOURG
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 8.4 17.4 17.0 33.2
1963 … … … … 9.5 17.9 17.3 33.4
1964 … … … … 7.7 17.6 15.8 32.9
1965 … … … … 7.6 16.9 15.0 33.8
1966 … … … … 8.3 18.7 15.7 35.5
1967 … … … … 8.3 19.5 16.2 38.0
1968 … … … … 10.4* 22.3* 15.6* 42.4*
1969 … … … … 8.9* 19.4* 14.0* 38.5*
1970 … … … … 8.6* 18.3* 13.1* 36.1*
1971 … … … … 9.6* 19.8* 14.9* 39.8*
1972 … … … … 10.0* 20.9* 15.4* 41.3*
1973 … … … … 10.1* 20.1* 16.7* 41.4*
IRISH REPUBLIC
Central Government General Government
Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 8.1 21.5 15.2 27.9
1963 … … … … 8.6 22.1 15.7 28.6
1964 … … … … 8.9 22.9 16.8 30.0
1965 … … … … 9.0 23.9 17.2 31.1
1966 … … … … 8.6 24.3 16.9 31.7
1967 … … … … 8.4 25.2 16.9 32.5
1968 … … … … 8.3 25.3 16.8 32.8
1969 … … … … 8.4 26.2 17.2 34.0
1970 … … … … 9.0 28.0 18.0 35.9
1971 … … … … 9.3 28.6 18.5 36.8
1972 … … … … 9.8 28.9 19.5 37.3
1973 … … … … 10.2 31.2 20.1 39.5
DENMARK
Central Government General Government
… … … … Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … ֵ ֵ 17.8 27.9
1963 … … … … ֵ ֵ 17.9 28.5
1964 … … … … ֵ ֵ 18.3 28.4
1965 … … … … ֵ ֵ 19.3 29.9
1966 … … … … ֵ ֵ 20.2 31.7
1967 … … … … ֵ ֵ 21.6 34.2
1968 … … … … ֵ ֵ 22.5 36.3
1969 … … … … ֵ ֵ 22.4 37.2
1970 … … … … ֵ ֵ 25.3 40.1
1971 … … … … ֵ ֵ 27.2 42.6
1972 … … … … ֵ ֵ 26.9 42.2
1973 … … … … ֵ ֵ 26.6 41.1
CANADA
Central Government General Government
… … … … Goods and services Total expenditure Goods and services Total expenditure
1962 … … … … 6.9 17.4 19.9 30.8
1963 … … … … 6.2 16.4 19.5 30.5
1964 … … … … 5.9 16.0 19.1 29.6
1965 … … … … 5.7 15.4 19.6 29.9
1966 … … … … 6.0 15.7 20.4 30.9
1967 … … … … 6.1 16.5 21.4 32.9
1968 … … … … 6.1 16.8 21.7 33.8
1969 … … … … 5.9 16.9 21.8 34.2
1970 … … … … 5.9 17.8 23.2 36.2
1971 … … … … 5.9 18.6 23.8 37.7
1972 … … … … 5.9 19.4 23.7 38.5
1973 … … … … 5.7 18.8 23.0 37.6

UNITED STATES
Central Government General Government
Goods and services* Total expenditure* Goods and services* Total expenditure*
1962 … … … … 11.5 16.4 21.9 29.9
1963 … … … … 11.0 16.0 21.7 29.6
1964 … … … … 10.6 15.7 21.4 29.2
1965 … … … … 9.9 14.9 21.0 28.7
1966 … … … … 10.5 15.8 22.0 29.6
1967 … … … … 11.5 16.8 23.8 31.8
1968 … … … … 11.1 17.2 22.4 31.9
1969 … … … … 10.5 16.4 22.2 31.6
1970 … … … … 10.0 16.4 23.0 33.3
1971 … … … … 9.4 16.1 22.4 33.4
1972 … … … … 9.2 16.4 22.2 33.2
1973 … … … … 8.6 15.4 21.5 32.6
ֵ Not available.
* Excludes net purchase of land.

Source: "National Accounts of OECD Countries, 1962–73", Tables 1, 7 and 8. For definition of total expenditure, see text above.