§ Lord BOYD-CARPENTERasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will amplify the reply given by the Baroness Birk on Tuesday, 23rd January, so as to include in the stated percentages of the gross national product spent by public authorities national and local in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany, Canada and Japan the amounts spent by way of transfer payments.
§ The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for SCOTLAND (Lord McCluskey)Expenditure in 1976 by public authorities nationally and locally, including current transfer payments as well as expenditure on goods and services, but excluding capital transfers, for which information is not available, is shown in the table below as a percentage of the gross national product for the countries requested:
General government expenditure1 as a percentage of gross national product at market prices:
United Kingdom … … 45.6 United States … … 34.6 France … … 43.7 Germany … … 44.6 Canada … … 40.5 Japan … … 27.6 1Excluding capital transfers, loans and expenditure on the acquisition of company securities.
Source: National Accounts of OECD countries 1976 Volume II.