§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what changes have been made since May 1997 to the classification of items of Government-authorised expenditure for the purposes of producing(a) the control total, (b) the public sector borrowing requirement and (c) the reserve. [26520]
§ Mr. DarlingRecent classification changes affecting the published aggregate Control Total are described in paragraph 4B.14 of the "Financial Statement and Budget Report", July 1997 (HC85) and paragraph S2.23 of "The Economy and the Public Finances: Supplementary Material", November 1997 (HM Treasury). No change has been made to the definition of the Control Total since then. None of these classification changes affects the PSBR. Expenditure provision in the Reserve is made on the same definitional basis as the rest of the Control Total.