HC Deb 06 December 2001 vol 376 cc522-3W
Mr. Laws

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer which assumptions underlying his forecasts for public borrowing have been designed to be deliberately cautious, due to high levels of uncertainty; and if he will make a statement. [20217]

Mr. Andrew Smith

Box B1 on page 169 of the pre-Budget report sets out the cautious assumptions, audited by the National Audit Office, underlying the public finances projections

Mr. Laws

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his latest estimate is of public sector net borrowing for the fiscal year 2001–02 to date; what the position was at the same stage of the fiscal year 2000–01, excluding the proceeds of the sale of mobile (Spectrum) phone licences; and if he will make a statement. [20215]

Mr. Andrew Smith

The latest monthly data for public sector net borrowing in 2000–01 and 2001–02 are available in the joint HM Treasury/Office for National Statistics public sector finances first release, issued on 20 November. As explained in the background notes in the release, the receipts by Government for allowing use of the spectrum by mobile phone companies are treated as rent in the UK national accounts and spread evenly over the whole of the license period

Mr. Laws

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assumptions and calculations he has made in order to derive the lower estimates for financial company profits which are used to calculate the new public borrowing estimates in Table B7, page 173, of the pre-Budget report; and if he will make a statement. [20312]

Mr. Andrew Smith

The pre-Budget report describes the path of financial company profits assumed in the public finances projections in paragraph B44

Mr. Laws

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates of the growth of total managed expenditure for 2004 to 2007 underlie the forecasts for public borrowing as set out in Table B2, page 165, of the pre-Budget report; and if he will make a statement. [20216]

Mr. Andrew Smith

Forecasts for Total Managed Expenditure for 2004–05 to 2006–07 are determined by the assumptions for current expenditure in DEL and AME and for public sector net investment set out in paragraph B20 on page 168 of the pre-Budget report