HL Deb 21 March 1994 vol 553 cc19-20WA
Lord Stoddart of Swindon

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will instruct all departments dealing with European Community financial matters to give amounts in pounds sterling, with, where necessary, the ecu equivalent given in brackets.

Lord Strathclyde

It would be misleading to give primacy to pounds sterling. The Community budget and proposals with budgetary implications are denominated in ecus. The cost of a given programme is constant in ecus, but not in pounds sterling, because the pound/ecu exchange rate varies. The Government's long-standing practice is therefore to state the amount in ecus, with the sterling equivalent in brackets; and to say what conversion rate has been used.