§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Prime Minister what is the percentage increase or decrease in expenditure in real terms of each of the 17 individual programmes contained in part 2 of the public expenditure White Paper Cmnd. 8175 (a) since May 1979 and (b) in the last year for which figures are available and the total percentage increase in real terms for all the programmes listed therein.
§ The Prime MinisterThe percentage increases or decreases in the estimates of expenditure between the financial years 1979–80 and 1980–81—the last completed year—based on the programme totals shown in Cmnd. 8175 are given below. They are taken from table 1.7. As shown in that table, the planning total includes expenditure on programmes, market and overseas borrowing by the nationalised industries, special sales of assets, and the balance remaining in the contingency reserve for 1980–81 when the White Paper was prepared.
Programme Per Cent. 1. Defence +4.9 2. Overseas aid and other overseas services -20.3 3. Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Forestry +13.9 4. Industry, Energy, Trade and Employment +33.1 5. Government lending to Nationalised Industries +10.4 6. Transport -4.8 7. Housing -13.6 8. Other Environmental Services -4.5 9. Law, Order and Protective Services +5.0 10. Education and Science, Arts and Libraries -3.5 11. Health and Personal Social Services +0.7 12. Social Security +3.5 13. Other Public Services +1.1 14. Common Services +0.3 15. Scotland –2.9 16. Wales –2.9 17. Northern Ireland +1.4 Planning Total +1.9