§ Mr. McMahonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is the present level of the general grant-in-aid to Northern Ireland; and what were the allocations for each of the past 10 years.
§ Mr. John PattenThe total subvention to Northern Ireland including payments to the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund for the financial year 1982–83 is estimated at £1,210 million. This figure includes, in addition to specific grant-in-aid to the Northern Ireland Consolidated Fund, other sums such as agricultural subsidies paid by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, parity payments from the Great Britain national insurance fund to the Northern Ireland national insurance fund, and expenditure on law and order and protective services borne on United Kingdom Votes.
The amount of subvention paid for each of the past 10 years was as follows:
£ million 1972–73 181 1973–74 312 1974–75 389 1975–76 565 1976–77 620 1977–78 *688 1978–79 848 1979–80 944 1980–81 1,090 1981–82 1,055 * Excludes a once-for-all payment of £250 million to write off debt of the Northern Ireland Electricity Service.