§ Mr. Michael McNair-Wilsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he is satisfied with the existing arrangements for publishing regular information about the level of Government borrowing.
§ Mr. LawsonSince may 1976 monthly figures for the central Government borrowing requirement have been published in a Treasury press notice on the seventh working day following the month to which they relate. Most of the figures are repeated in "Financial Statistics" published some three weeks later. Quarterly figures for the public sector borrowing requirement are published by the CSO on the 12th working day following the quarter to which they relate.
I have been reviewing these arrangements to see what improvements are possible. In the light of that review, and the attention given to the present arrangements in the Report from the Select Committee on Procedure (Finance) in the last Session of the last Parliament, I propose to publish monthly figures for the PSBR, by means of a joint Treasury and CSO press notice, on the 12th working day of the month following that to which they relate. The PSBR is a more comprehensive measure of public borrowing than the CGBR and is not affected by shifts in the financing of the local authorities and public corporations between the market and the National Loans Fund.
The new arrangements will begin on 16 November with a press notice giving the PSBR outturn for October. The press notice will also contain figures for total central Government borrowing, as well as borrowing by local authorities, public corporations and, as suggested in the report of the Procedure Committee, borrowing by central Government on its own account. As from October the separate CGBR press notice will accordingly no longer be published, but the detailed figures will continue to be included in "Financial Statistics".