§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list at 1996–97 prices the cumulative public sector balance between revenue and expenditure for Scotland from 1979–80 to 1994–95 after deducting a GDP share of the United Kingdom general government borrowing requirement, a GDP share of privatisation proceeds and allocating 90 per cent. of oil revenues to Scottish revenue.[1382]
§ Mr. Waldegrave[holding answer 31 October 1996]The table shows the calculations requested. The method proposed for calculating Scotland's budget balance, by simply assuming that the shares of Scotland in total expenditures and revenues are in proportion to Scotland's share of GDP, is misconceived, since it takes no account of available information of government expenditure and revenue in Scotland. Approximate estimates of these are published in the "Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland" annual report. These show much higher borrowing figures for Scotland in recent years than given by the requested calculations.