§ Mr. Cookasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for the years 1970–71 to 1982–83 the public expenditure gross domestic product ratio on both the pre-1977 and the post-1977 definition of public expenditure, reconciling these by showing the difference in percentage points attributable to (a) different treatment of nationalised industries, (b) different treatment of debt interest and (c) other changes;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year from 1945 to the latest year available, on as consistent a basis as possible (a) public expenditure analysed by functional programmes, (b) public expenditure analysed by economic category, distinguishing (i) capital and current, (ii) transfer payments and expenditure on goods and services and (iii) the expenditure on wages and salaries, associated employment costs, expenditure on other goods and services, and debt servicing;
(3) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each year from 1945 to the latest year available, on as consistent a basis as possible (a) public expenditure at current prices, (b) public expenditure as a proportion of gross domestic product, (c) public expenditure at constant prices, (d) the percentage of public expenditure attributable to central Government, (e) the percentage of public expenditure attributable to local government and (f) the percentage of public expenditure attributable to public corporations, indicating the points in the time series where changes in definition make the data not directly comparable.
§ Mr. Brittan[pursuant to his reply, 10 June 1982, c. 161.]: The following is the information:
543W
(1) Ratio of Public Expenditure to EDP at Market Prices Pre-1977 Definition* Per cent. 1963 ‡37.8 1964 ‡37.8 1965 ‡39.0 1966 ‡39.4 1967 ‡42.7 1968 ‡43.1 1969 41.7 1970 41.8 1971 41.3 1972 42.0 1973 43.5 1974 49.9 1975 50.8 1976 49.6 1977 45.8
Per cent. 1978 45.5 1979 45.4 1980 47.3
Current Definition† Per cent. 1974–75 46.2 1975–76 46.2 1976–77 44.5 1977–78 40.3 1978–79 41.2 1979–80 41.0 1980–81 43.6 * Available for calendar years only. Figures for 1981 not yet available. † The definition of public expenditure used in public expenditure white papers has changed several times since 1977. This column is based on the definition used for chart 1.4 in Cmnd 8494 I; except for the most recent period data are available for financial years only. Preliminary estimates of outturn for 1981–82 will be available at the end of July. † Requested in question (3). A reconciliation is not readily available because different accounting years are used. However, a special exercise has been done to calculate the current definition for 1980; it can be reconciled with the pre-1977 definition as follows:—
Ratio of Public Expenditure to GDP at Market Prices Per cent. Pre 1977 definition 47.3 (a) Nationalised industries and some other public corporations: less captial expenditure 2.5 plus capital grants and net borrowing 0.9 (b) Debt interest: less gross payments 5.3 plus net payments 1.9 (c) Capital Consumption 0.8 Current definition 43.1 (2) Information is available in Cmnd. 8494—from 1976–77 only and in respect of current definitions of public expenditure—as follows
- a. Table 1.9
- b. Tables 1.10 and 4.5
Information is available in the CSO's National Income and Expenditure (in terms of national accounting definitions and for calendar years) as follows. In the latest issue the figures generally go back to 1970 but figures for some earlier years are available on application to the CSO.
- a. Table 9.4 (total expenditure of general government)
- b. Tables 9.4, 9.6 (current expenditure on goods and services by general government) and 6.3
(3) The most consistent figures over a long period are the CSO national accounts data—also employed for the pre-1977 definition of public expenditure. Item (b) is provided on sheet A. Item (c) is no longer used for public expenditure plans and therefore not calculated; however the general Government contribution to GDP (total expenditure on goods and services) is calculated at 1975 prices by the CSO and can be found in table 9.3 of National Income and Expenditure. Items (a), (d), (e) and (f) are given below, but with gross debt interest payments separated from the latter three items. Figures are not available before 1963 and 1981 figures are not yet available.
544WOver the period organisations and enterprises have moved in and out of the public sector and between sub-sectors of the public sector. For example, on 1 April 1974 responsibilities for local health services and sewerage, land drainage and certain other water services were transferred from the local authorities to the NHS and regional water authorities.
Percentage shares public expenditure on pre-1977 definition (£m) Central government Local government Public corporations Gross debt interest (a) (d) (e) (f) 1963 11,480 55.8 24.0 9.0 11.2 1964 12,517 54.2 25.5 9.5 10.8 1965 13,885 54.3 25.6 9.5 10.5 1966 14,991 53.8 25.8 10.0 10.4 1967 17,142 54.3 25.7 10.0 10.0 1968 18,761 55.4 25.1 9.3 10.2 1969 19,440 55.8 25.6 8.1 10.5 1970 21,382 55.6 26.2 8.2 10.0 1971 23,693 56.2 26.3 8.2 9.3 1972 26,639 57.3 26.9 6.8 9.0 1973 31,763 55.4 28.4 6.8 9.4 1974 41,485 56.3 26.6 7.3 9.7 1975 53,326 55.9 27.5 7.8 8.9 1976 61,801 56.6 25.3 8.3 9.8 1977 65,877 57.3 24.2 7.7 10.7 1978 75,003 58.5 23.4 7.5 10.6 1979 87,245 58.3 23.5 7.0 11.2 1980 106,339 58.7 23.2 6.8 11.3