§ Mr. Ridleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish a table showing planned public expenditure in 1976–77 and the outturn for that year, broken down into cash-limited and non cash-limited expenditure, central and local government, and current and capital expenditure both at current prices and survey prices.
§ Mr. Joel Barnett,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 7th November 1977; Vol. 938, c. 38], gave the following information:
Public expenditure in 1976–77 is now estimated to have been around £2¼ billion, at 1977 Survey prices, below the level indicated in Cmnd. 6721. Of this figure, about £1¾ billion was in central Government expenditure. Both cash-limited and other expenditure was affected. Most of the rest was in local authorities' expenditure. Provisional figures for cash limited expenditure in 1976-77, at current prices, were published in Cmnd. 6902 in August. These showed under-spending of £660 million on central Government cash blocks and £450 million on local authority blocks, some of which relate to the authorising of starts rather than expenditure itself. Not all cash-limited expenditure is directly included in public expenditure. Up-to-date and more detailed estimates will be included in the next public expenditure White Paper.