HC Deb 14 March 1989 vol 149 cc145-7W
Mr. Conway

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what components comprise the calculation of the national debt.

Mr. Lilley

The national debt is conventionally defined as the nominal liabilities of the National Loans Fund. These consist mainly of short, medium and long-dated Government securities, national savings products and Treasury bills. As such, they take no account of the public sector's holdings of short-term assets (for example foreign exchange reserves held in the exchange equalisation account). At 31 March 1988 the national debt stood at £197.5 billion, of which market holdings were £177.9 billion.

Full details of the national debt are published annually in the consolidated fund and national loans fund accounts: supplementary statements, and placed in the Library.

However, net public sector debt is nowadays a more appropriate measure of public sector indebtedness than the traditional measure of "national debt" as it covers the whole of the public sector rather than just central Government and it also takes account of the public sector's short-term assets. At 31 March 1988 net public sector debt stood at £171.3 billion. Full details of the components of net public sector debt are published in the November 1988 Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin.

Mr. Conway

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the national debt at today's value in(a) 1973–74, (b) 1978–89 and (c) 1987–88.

Mr. Lilley

In 1987–88 prices, the national debt at the end of each year was as follows:

£ billion
1973–74 177.5
1978–79 178.3
1987–88 197.3

However the national debt is conventionally defined as the liabilities of the national loans fund. As such it is not the most useful or comprehensive measure of the total state of public sector indebtedness. It comprises debt held by official bodies within central Government, it does not cover the whole of central Government debt and it excludes entirely the debt of other parts of the public sector. In addition, it takes no account of the public sector's short-term assets including foreign exchange reserves. A better measure is public sector net debt, though figures for this are only available from end 1974–75. In 1987–88 prices, the public sector net debt at the end of each year was as follows:

£ billion
1974–75 218.9
1978–79 180.3
1987–88 171.3

Mr. Conway

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much of the national debt was repaid between(a) 1974–75 and 1978–79 and (b) 1978–79 and 1987–88.

Mr. Lilley

The national debt is conventionally defined as the liabilities of the national loans fund. As such it is not the most useful or comprehensive measure of the total state of public sector indebtedness. It includes debt held by official bodies within central Government, it does not cover the whole of central Government debt and it excludes entirely the debt of other parts of the public sector. In addition, it takes no account of the public sector's short-term assets. A better measure is public sector net debt, whose flow analogue is the PSBR-PSDR.

In 1987–88 prices the cumulative PSBR was as follows:

  1. (a) 1974–75 to 1978–79 £118.9 billion (or £22.4 billion a year on average).
  2. (b) 1979–80 to 1987–88 £88.4 billion (or £9.8 billion a year on average).