HC Deb 28 February 1978 vol 945 cc186-7W
Mr. Grocott

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will define the extent to which nationalised industries can be considered as a constituent of public expenditure; and if he will distinguish between (a) the conventions used in the annual public expenditure survey, and (b) the conventions used in the national income and expenditure survey Blue Book.

Mr. Joel Barnett,

pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 27th February 1978], gave the following information

In public expenditure surveys and White Papers, the public expenditure total inc ludes Government finance provided to the nationalised industries by way of grants and loans. In addition, Part 3 of the White Paper sets out the information and forecasts on which the estimates of their financing requirements are based. This is in accordance with proposals in a Treasury memorandum to the Expenditure Committee, published with its Thirteenth Report of Session 1975–76—see Evidence, pages 5 and 6.

In the National Income Expenditure Blue Book, nationalised industries are included with other public corporations in Section 6, and Government transactions with public corporations are shown in Sections 7, 8 and 9. The rationale of this presentation is explained in an article in the March 1977 issue of Economic Trends.

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