§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total spend on social security each year since 1960 both in current price terms and at 1984 prices; and what were each of these totals as a percentage of total Government spend and of gross domestic product for each of these years.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe figures in the table are derived from the 1984 National Income and Expenditure "Blue Book" for the years 1973–1983; from the 1973 Blue Book for the years 1962–1972 and from the 1971 Blue book for the first two years. The first two columns relate to expenditure in the United Kingdom on social security benefits as defined for the respective Blue Books; the conversion to constant prices has been made using the retail price index.
United Kingdom Year Social Security benefit payments Cash At 1984 prices As proportion of all central Government expenditure As proportion of Gross Domestic Product at market prices £ million £ million per cent. per cent. 1960 1,412 10,115 20½ 5½ 1961 1,549 10,726 20½ 5½ 1962 1,656 11,005 21 5½ 1963 1,896 12,351 22½ 6 1964 1,993 12,571 22½ 6 1965 2,299 13,841 23½ 6½ 1966 2,459 14,246 23 6½ 1967 2,769 15,653 22½ 7 1968 3,194 17,246 23½ 7½ 1969 3,412 17,472 23½ 7½ 1970 3,737 17,989 23½ 7½ 1971 4,095 18,012 23 7 1972 4,870 20,006 24 7½ 1973 5,265 19–809 22½ 7 1974 6,497 21,063 22 7½ 1975 8,416 21,966 21 8 1976 10,588 23,710 2 8½ 1977 12,537 24,236 23½ 8½ 1978 15,084 26,933 25 9 1979 17,680 27,834 25 9 1980 21,174 28,258 24½ 9 1981 26,228 31,286 26 20½ 1982 30,628 33,641 27½ 11 1983 32,267 33m881 26½ 10½