§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report a detailed list of lunches, dinners, receptions, cocktail parties, etc. and other forms of enter 570W to the hon. Member on 10th April 1973 (column 266) and repeated in the table below. Estimates for 1975 are not yet available. Some information is available for 1974 on the basis of the definitions of the European System of National Accounts (ESA), which differ somewhat from those of the United Nations System of National Accounts (the SNA) followed by OECD and used for the previous answer. To illustrate the significance of the difference the following table shows for 1971 (the second year referred to in the previous answer) updated estimates on both bases. Estimates for 1974 on the SNA definitions will be available later this year.
tainment held during the past 12 months by his Department, the costs of same, who attended and similar details for the previous two years; what savings would be of these events were abolished; and whether, in view of the Government's policy of cuts in Government expenditure, he will end this expenditure forthwith.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe expenditure on entertainment by Treasury Ministers and officials charged to the Treasury Vote was £4,945 in 1974–75 and £6,580 in 1975–76. The estimate for the current financial year is £5,500, a decrease of £1,080 over the previous year's expenditure.
I regret that the detailed information requested cannot be provided except at disproportinate cost. The scale of the saving if no hospitality were offered is shown by the above figures. Entertainment on a modest scale serves a useful 571W purpose and I do not propose to end the practice.