§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, pursuant to his answer of 7 May, Official Report, column 137, concerning the appropriations under the European Economic Community budget, he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the principal items of non-agricultural expenditure for 1985 and 1986.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information is as follows:
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mecu 1985 1986* 1986† Agricultural Structures 688 769 +100
1985 1986* 1986† Common Fisheries and Marine Policy 112 186 Regional Development and Transport sectors 1,698 2,278 +150 Social Sector 1,626 1,886 +500 Energy, Industry, Research and Market sectors 707 748 — Co-operation with Developing and non Member Countries 1,044 1,100 — Repayments and Reserves 1,272 3,108 +145 Administration 1,332 1,599 — Total 8,478‡ 11,674 895 Source: Official Journal of the European Communities - general budgets for 1985 and 1986.
* 1986 main budget. Excludes the elements added by the European Parliament to the Council's second reading budget.
† 1986 draft supplementary budget. Details contained in Commission press release of 30 April.
‡ Because of rounding, this figure does not equal exactly the sum of the items.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the operation of the financial guidelines for the EC budget on the same basis as the answer of 14 May 1985, Official Report, columns 84–85, to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby.
§ Mr. BrookeThe financial guidelines for EC agricultural spending in 1986 was subsequently reduced to 20,619 million ecu for the Community of Ten. There has been no further change. The EC Commission has proposed a supplementary budget in excess of the guideline, on the ground that expenditure requirements have been increased by exogenous factors, such as the fall in the value of the US dollar against the ecu. These matters will be for consideration by the Council of Budget Ministers.
§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) the forecast contribution to the European Economic Community budget this year, including supplementaries, as a percentage of the contribution in 1979 in terms of sterling, (b) the corresponding increase in expenditure by the United Kingdom Government and (c) the increase in the retail prices index.
§ Mr. Brooke[pursuant to his reply, 19 May 1986]: The Government's latest forecast of the United Kingdom's net payments to the Community budget is that published in the public expenditure White Paper (Cmnd. 9702). This does not take account of this year's supplementary budget. The comparison between the White Paper forecast for 1986–87 and the outturn for 1979–80, together with the change in the public expenditure planning total for the same period, is as follows. Details of the retail price index for 1986 are not available; however, the growth in the index between 1979 and 1985 is also shown.
1979–80 1986–87 Percentage increase decrease £ million £ million Net payments to EC budget 884 796 -10.0 Public expenditure planning total* 77,600 139,100 +79.3 Source: Relevant Public Expenditure White Papers.
* Rounded to the nearest £100 million.
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Growth in retail price index (1975=100) 1979 1985 Percentage increase 165.8 276.8 +66.9 Source: "Economic Trends", March 1986.