§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will now give his best estimate of the effect so far of the Civil Service pay dispute on the Government's income.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howe[pursuant to his reply, 6 April 1981, c. 185]: Figures for the month of March confirm that over three-quarters of the expected tax receipts have been paid into the Exchequer accounts. Between £¾ billion and £1 billion of tax receipts have been delayed and will be credited to the new financial year, but the effect on the borrowing requirement has been offset by other factors, mainly on supply services, unrelated to the Civil Service dispute. The provisional outturn for the central Government borrowing requirement for the year as a whole will be published on Thursday 9 April, but it now seems likely that the outturn will be less than £½ billion higher than the estimate of £12,760 million published in the Financial Statement and Budget Report. The net increase in the borrowing requirement presents no risk to overall economic management.