§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for each Department for 1978–79, what was the proportion of public expenditure taken up by (a) wages, (b) salaries, (c) pensions and (d) national insurance contributions; and what were the comparable figures for 1968–69.
§ Mr. LawsonThe following table provides, for major Government Departments, expenditure on wages and salaries and employers' national insurance contributions and, separately, civil superannuation in 1978–79 as a percentage of total public expenditure in that year excluding debt interest and as defined in Command 7746. Wages and salaries etc. have been defined as including those of local authorities, Armed Forces and the National Health Service and attributed to the relevant sponsor Department.
Department Expenditure on wages and salaries etc. as a percentage of total public expenditure % Ministry of Defence 4.7 Department of Education and Science 7.1 Scottish Education Department 0.9 Department of the Environment 2.7 Department of Health and Social Security 6.3 Home Office 2.3 Scottish Home and Health Department 0.9 Inland Revenue 0.5 Department of Transport 0.5 Welsh Office 1.0 Other departments 2.9 Total wages and salaries and national insurance contributions 29.8 Civil superannuation 0.6 Grand total 30.4 I regret that it is not possible to provide a similar breakdown for 1968–69. Expenditure on wages and salaries, employers' national insurance contributions and civil 824W superannuation in that year was 29.2 per cent. of total public expenditure excluding debt interest and as defined in Command 5519. The figures may not be strictly comparable due to changes in definition between the two White Papers.