§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the amount and proportion of general government expenditure which is(a) directly controlled by and (b) partly or indirectly controlled by institutions of local and/or regional government, in each country of the European Union, with averages for the European Union as a whole.
§ Mr. NelsonI have been asked to reply.
Information on the degree of control is not available. However, total local government as a percentage of general government expenditure is shown in the table for the year 1991, the latest published year. The information given is under the European system of accounts definitions which allows for comparison of European Union countries on the same basis.
National currency of country millions Countries Local government expenditure1 (A) General government expenditure1 (B) (A) shown as a percentage of (B) Belgium 426526 3674880 11.6 Denmark 255354 622986 41.0 Netherlands 83860 368800 22.7 Greece 4— 4— 4— Spain2 (1990) 4805.7 24156.2 19.9 France 594.3 3629.9 16.4 Ireland 4— 4— 4— Italy 185414 887240 20.9 Luxembourg 4— 4— 4— Germany3 150880 1273490 11.9 Portugal 4— 4— 4— United Kingdom 67429 288796 23.3 Arithmetic average of above percentages 21 1 Defined as total within the distribution of income account and current transaction account. 2 Data for Local Government includes a figure of autonomous communities. 3 Lander are not included in Local Government, under ESA definitions. 4 No data available. Source: Eurostat National Accounts — Detailed Accounts by Sector 1980 to 1991 — tables 2 (Overview of sector accounts).