§ Mr. Ridleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the public sector borrowing requirement targets to which he committed himself in his letter of intent to the IMF make it impossible for unemployment to fall to 700,000 in 1979.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettAs my right hon. Friend has explained many times, the 487W object of the measures which he announced to the House on 15th December is to create the conditions in which it will be possible to achieve a sustainable growth in output, employment and living standards based on a strong expansion of net exports and productive investment. The rate at which our employment prospects improve will, in the event, depend on our success in beating inflation and improving our economic performance.
§ Mr. Peter Bottomleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will detail in the Official Report how much has been (a) allocated and (b) spent, on each of the Government's initiatives to create new jobs or to protect existing employment of those workers likely to face unemployment for each year since July 1974; and if he will estimate expenditure for the financial year 1976–77.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 3rd February 1977], gave the following information:
I refer the hon. Member to the tables of changes to expenditure programmes published in the White Papers on Public Expenditure (Cmnd. 5879, Cmnd. 6393 and Cmnd. 6721-I) for details of allocations. I regret that information on amounts spent on specific measures cannot be provided without a disproportionate expenditure of time and resources. Further details about expenditure in 1976–77 will be published in Volume II of the White Paper on the Government's expenditure plans.