Current and Capital Expenditure

HC Deb 23 June 1998 vol 314 c451W

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what criteria he will use to distinguish between current and capital expenditure. [46850]

Mr. Darling

[holding answer 22 June 1998]For the purpose of assessing the surplus on the current budget, the Government use national accounts definitions of current and capital expenditure except, as set out in paragraph B53 of the March 1998 "Financial Statement and Budget Report" (FSBR), that depreciation is treated as current expenditure.

When the new European System of Accounts (ESA95) is brought into effect later this year, national accounts will treat depreciation as current expenditure and so these expenditure measures will align.