§ Mr. Home RobertsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if(a) funding for house building by local authorities from borrowing against their own housing revenue accounts, (b) funding of developments by public authorities for water and sewerage services if such authorities are constituted as mutually owned businesses and (c) funding of support for agriculture which is fully refunded by the European Union, are regarded as part of the public sector borrowing requirement in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) other individual members of the European Union; and if he will make a statement. [7694]
§ Mr. Darling[holding answer 10 July 1997]: The public sector borrowing requirement (PSBR) measures total borrowing by the public sector—by central 2W government, local authorities and public corporations—from the private sector and overseas. Any spending by a public sector body that is not covered by receipts will add to the PSBR. The PSBR is a UK measure and is not used by other EC member states, although they may measure their borrowing requirements in a similar fashion to the United Kingdom.