§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the identifiable public expenditure per head of population in England and the Midlands Region of England, respectively; and what were the figures of the past five years.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettFigures of identifiable public expenditure are available only for the four countries of the United Kingdom. I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr. Woof) on 24th November 1977—[Vol. 939, c. 852]—which gives identifiable public expenditure per head in England from 1972–73 to 1976–77. Figures for 1977–78 are not yet available.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report the figures of public expenditure programmes in cost terms, for 787W the years 1976, 1977 and 1978, respectively.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettI refer my hon. Friend to Volume II of the White Paper on the Government's expenditure plans (Cmnd. 7049-II). Table 5.5 shows figures of public expenditure programmes in cost terms on a financial year basis. Similar information is not available on a calendar year basis.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish for the fiscal years 1975, 1976 and 1977 separate prices indices of current and capital public expenditure and a further prices index for both current and capital public expenditure taken together, and also the actual projected relative price effect for each of those years and the relevant price index or indices for the economy as a whole.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe table below shows price indices for 1975–76 to 1977–78 for public expenditure, and the price index for GDP at market prices, which is an indicator of the movement in prices for the economy as a whole.
1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 Public expenditure current 100 114.3 127.5 Capital 100 112.6 125.8 Total 100 113.9 127.0 price index for GDP at market prices 100 113.0 128.4 For the relative price effect, I would refer my hon. Friend to table 5.5 of Cmnd. 7049-II.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are the main items of Government expenditure per head of the population in cost terms; and how much such amounts have changed since 1970.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettFor public expenditure programmes, the information required is set out in the table below. Comparable figures for "net Government lending to the nationalised industries" are not available.
788W
Expenditure per head of population in cost terms (in £, at 1977/78 prices) Percentage change since 1977/78 1970/71 Defence 120 +10 Overseas aid and other overseas services 30 +85 Agriculture, fisheries, food and forestry 15 -5
Trade, industry and employment 30 -40 Roads and transport 50 +10 Housing 85 +50 Other environmental services 50 +20 Law, order and protective services 35 +30 Education and libraries, science and arts 155 +25 Health and personal social services 140 +40 Social security 235 +40 Other public services 15 +10 Common services 15 +30 Northern Ireland 35 +45 Comparisons of 1977–78 with 1970–71 are affected by classification changes. Details of these are given in the White Papers on the Government's expenditure plans. The most significant was the exclusion of nationalised industries' capital investment from public expenditure.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the main measures which have either increased or reduced public spending since 1st January 1977, showing in respect of each the estimated cost or estimated saving during the current financial year and in a full financial year.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettDetails of changes in planned public expenditure from January 1977 up to Cmnd. 7049, showing the estimated effects in all years up to 1980–81, were published in that Command Paper. Details of the main changes to individual programmes announced since the publication of Cmnd. 7049 were published in HC. 92-ii of Session 1977–78. Announcements have since been made relating to assistance to the shipping industry [Hansard, 8th May, Written Answer, c. 328] vaccine damage payments [Hansard, 9th May, c. 973–5], increase in common agricultural policy support prices [Hansard, 12th May, c. 1605–7] and poultry meat inspection [Hansard, 30th June, Written Answer, c. 701–3], together estimated to cost £20 million to £25 million in the current year. Effects in future years will be reviewed in due course.
§ Mr. Parkasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report figures showing for each EEC country, the United States of America, Sweden, Canada and Japan, the 789W proportion of national income represented by direct public expenditure and total public expenditure, respectively, in each year since 1974.
General government expenditure as a proportion of national income at market prices per cent Expenditure on goods and services Total general government expenditure(1) 1974 1975 1974 1975 United Kingdom(2) … … 28.1 30.0 48.9 51.2 Belgium … … 19.7 22.1 42.9 48.7 Denmark … … 30.3 32.8 49.1 53.3 France … … 19.0 20.5 43.6 48.0 West Germany … … 27.0 28.6 47.1 52.0 Ireland … … 21.6(3) n.a. 42.5(3) n.a. Italy … … 19.0 18.8 43.6 48.1 Luxembourg … … 21.6 26.0 44.9 56.5 Netherlands … … 22.8 24.2 55.2 60.4 United States of America … … 23.1 24.6 37.5 42.6 Sweden … … 31.8 32.5 55.0 57.1 Canada … … 25.9 27.5 43.2 47.0 Japan … … 18.4 19.0 27.9 29.7 (1) Excluding capital transfers, lending and expenditure on the acquisition of company securities. (2) 29.3 per cent—goods and services, 51.2 per cent—total government expenditure, in 1976. (3) 1973.