HC Deb 09 February 1977 vol 925 cc723-4W
Mr. Skeet

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what sectors of Government financing cost benefit analysis is applied; and whether it is the practice of the Government to apply this method of approach to State corporations in cases where the same principle is not usually applied to private companies.

Mr. Joel Barnett

Cost benefit analysis is applied in those sectors of Government financing where major social costs and benefits are not reflected by financial costs and prices. But although the valuations of cost benefit analysis can be useful over a wide range of problems, they rarely cover all the important elements of a particular situation. Thus, although cost benefit analysis is widely used in the public sector, it is only one input into decisions. It is, however, particularly

taking account of allowances, in the following equivalent gross income ranges, in the United States of America, France, West Germany and Japan: £2,500, £5,000, £7,500, £10,000, £15,000, £20,000 and £30,000.

Mr. Robert Sheldon

In the following table it has been assumed that the taxpayer is a married man with two de pendent children:

widely used in the appraisal of transport investments. The application of cost benefit analysis to the State corporations is as explained in paragraphs 14 and 15 of 1967 White Paper on the Nationalised Industries (Cmnd. 3437).