§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the level of(a) individual, (b) corporate and (c) public debt in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1989; and what he estimates is the proportion of this debt which accrued to the Treasury in the form of revenues.
§ Mr. Lilley[holding answer 5 February 1990]The table gives the net financial wealth of the personal and company sectors, and net public sector debt:
£ billion end–1979 end–1988 Personal sector 170.6 578.9 Company sector -87.7 -357.3 Public sector -102.1 -158.5 Notes:—Positive numbers indicate net wealth, negative numbers indicate net debt.
For public sector, figures refer to end of March 1980 and end of March 1989.
539WIt is not clear what relationship between sectoral debt and Government revenues the hon. Member has in mind in the second part of the question.