§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer why, in the light of his recent practice, he gave a full reply to the question concerning public expenditure in the four parts of the United Kingdom, Official Report, 26 November 1979, columns 507–20; whether the information could have been derived in whole or in part from published information; and what was the estimated total cost of compiling the figures.
§ Mr. BiffenThe territorial analysis of public expenditure was not available in other published sources at the end of November. In aggregate form the information for 1974–75 and 1978–79 was published inSocial Trends in December More detailed information for 1977–78 and 1978–80 will in due course be published in Regional Statistics. The earlier question provided the first opportunity to publish the full results of the annual territorial analysis of public expenditure. As this was already completed little extra expense was involved in supplying the information.