§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the projects, departments, agencies and partners of Government whose expenditure is recorded in the public accounts solely on the basis of contingent liabilities. [44722]
§ Mr. Darling[holding answer 10 June 1998]: Amounts outstanding for individual actual and contingent liabilities as at 31 March 1997 (the latest figures available) were published in Table B15 of the Supplementary Statements to the Consolidated Fund and National Loans Fund Accounts for 1996–97 (House of Commons Paper No. 378 of 1996–97). This statement excludes (a) cases involving £100,000 or less; (b) cases arising in the normal course of departments' business; and (c) a small number of other cases, of which details have been supplied to the National Audit Office, where there are considerations of national security, or commercial confidentiality, or where public knowledge of a guarantee could prompt claims from third parties.
The annual Supplementary Statement is published by the Treasury under section 21(3) of the National Loans Act 1968. The amount to be reported is the amount outstanding at the end of each financial year and details of the amounts outstanding as at 31 March 1998 will be laid before the House in mid to late December 1998. The statement is based on returns submitted by government departments; it would not be cost-effective for details to be collected more frequently.
Contingent liabilities do not appear in the current cash-based appropriation accounts of individual departments. Government bodies which produce accruals-based accounts, such as executive agencies, trading funds and some non-departmental public bodies, follow generally accepted accounting practice, including Statement of Standard Accounting Practice (SSAP) 18 Accounting for Contingencies which requires the disclosure by way of note of material contingent losses. Following the introduction of resource accounting, government departments will also account in this way.