§ Mr. Bakerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will give an indication of the items which may become claims on the contingency reserve in the period to 1981–82, as he did in paragraph 527W 2 on page 115 of Command Paper No. 6393.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettWhen Command 6393 was published, there were a number of policies which had been announced by the Government but which had not been developed to the point where estimates of the cost could be included in the expenditure programmes. It was therefore possible to identify those items as potential claims on the contingency reserve. Normally, however, it is not possible to identify claims on the reserve in advance. It is intended as a general reserve, not specifically earmarked for particular programmes.