§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the different methods of analysis of gross domestic fixed capital formation used by(a) the Treasury and (b) the Central Statistical Office in the national accounts. [25551]
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe breakdown of the whole economy gross domestic fixed capital formation used by the Treasury in the "Financial Statement and Budget Report"—FSBR—and the "Summer Economic Forecast" documents seeks to remove discontinuities arising from privatisation and other asset sales or sectoral transfers. The Government intend that year-on-year comparisons based on the FSBR should compare like with like, and so be more meaningful. Table 3.2 of the 1996–97 FSBR shows the Treasury breakdown into business investment, investment in private dwellings and land, and general Government investment. Business investment includes public corporations' investment, except national health trust hospitals, and so is unaffected by privatisations, while general Government investment is defined to exclude net purchases of land and existing buildings so as to remove the effect of asset sales, including sales of council houses. National health trust hospitals are grouped with general Government investment. In contrast, standard national accounts breakdowns of whole economy investment by industry or sector are affected by such transfer of ownership.