§ Lord Diamondasked Her Majesty's Government:
Approximately how much capital expenditure at constant prices was included in total public expenditure for each of the 10 year ending 1983–84.
§ The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Cockfield)There is no single definition of public sector capital spending. Figures on two readily available definitions, expressed in real terms, are provided below:
1. Gross domestic fixed capital formation at 1980 prices £ billion 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 by general government 10.9 10.2 9.4 9.1 7.6 6.7 6.5 5.5 4.1 3.9 by public corporations 6.2 7.1 7.8 8.0 7.3 6.9 6.8 6.7 6.2 6.3 Source: National Income and Expenditure, Table 10.2
2. Capital expenditure in public expenditure programmes(1), cost terms, base year 1982–83. £ billion 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 22.3 26.0 23.3 18.5 12.9 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 14.1 14.9 13.8 11.2 11.1 (1) As defined in Cmnd 8789, Table 4.2, and thereby excludes nationalised industry capital spending. Although suitable for some purposes, neither set of figures provides a comprehensive picture of the acquisition of new assets by the public sector or of purchases from the construction and capital goods industries. The Government's policy of selling council houses and the privatisation programme have decreased public sector capital spending figures in recent years (and increased the corresponding private 1080WA sector figures). Following international convention, the above figures exclude nearly all defence expenditure, much of which is of a capital nature, and has been a growing proportion of public expenditure in recent years.
The next Public Expenditure White Paper will include additional information on public sector capital spending, including figures for 1983–84 and 1984–85.