§ Mr. Hooleyasked the Minister of Overseas Development if she will list in theOfficial Reportthe gross disbursement of official development assistance by the United Kingdom in each financial year from 1964–65 to 1977–78, inclusive, and an estimate for 1978–79, all at current prices and total Government expenditure in each of those years, showing aid as a percentage of the total.
§ Mrs. Hart:The following is the information in current prices:
EXPENDITURE ON OVERSEAS AID AS A PERCENTAGE OF UNITED KINGDOM PUBLIC EXPENDITURE £ million Official Development Assistance (Gross)*(a) Total Public Expenditure † (b) (a) as percentage of (b) 1964–65 … 190.5 11,356 1.68 1965–66 … 204.4 12,584 1.62 1966–67 … 215.2 13,891 1.55 1967–68 … 212.8 16,166 1.32 1968–69 … 207.3 16,772 1.24 1969–70 … 218.1 17,612 1.24 1970–71 … 225.6 19,527 1.16 1971–72 … 284.3 21,966 1.29 1972–73 … 301.0 25,231 1.19 1973–74 … 302.8 29,309 1.03 1974–75 … 355.6 39,320 0.90 1975–76 … 449.7 49,498 0.91 1976–77 … 522.4 54,804 0.95 1977–78‡ … 595.1 58,241 1.02 *Official Development Assistance is an international classification normally expressed in calendar years and is not directly comparable with total public expenditure. †Total public expenditure is on the basis of annual Public Expenditure White Papers. ‡Provisional. Estimated net expenditure on overseas aid for 1978–79 is £716.3 million in 1978 prices or £689 million in 1977 prices. The latter figure would represent 1.13 per cent. of estimated total public expenditure for the year of £60,850 million, in 1977 prices.