§ Dr. CableTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to link index-linked government securities to the harmonised index of consumer prices; and what estimate he has made of the change in debt servicing obligations which would result. [141730]
§ Ruth Kelly[holding answer 3 December 2003]The Chancellor of the Exchequer said in his statement on Economic and Monetary Union on 9 June that, in the event that the government confirms it will move to an
Gross Value Added (GVA) by NUTS 1, 2 and 3 areas1 at current basic prices2Table A—GVA £ million 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 United Kingdom6 536,475 564,781 597,002 626,703 663,148 705,851 749,688 781,847 816,111 851,408 NorthWest 58,078 60,954 64,159 66,887 69,905 73,670 77,698 80,836 84,058 87,584 Merseyside — — — 10,781 11,308 11,985 12,733 13,215 13,692 14,221 East Merseyside7 — — — 2,328 2,477 2,526 2,759 — — — 1NUTS (Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics) is a hierarchical classification of areas that provides a breakdown of the EU's economic territory. 2Estimates for GVA at NUTS 1 level are consistent with those published on 20 August 2003. Data from 1997 onwards are provisional. 3Estimates for GVA at NUTS 2 level are consistent with those published on 31 October 2003. Data from 1997 onwards are provisional. 4Includes taxes less subsidies on production. 5Components may not sum to totals due to founding. 6Excluding GVA for Extra-regio, which comprises compensation of employees and gross operating surplus which cannot be assigned to regions. 7Data at Nuts 3 level are provisional and consistent with those published on 26 April 2001. Source
Office for National Statistics
Table B—Growth rates: percentage change on previous year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 United Kingdom1 4.4 5.3 5.7 5.0 5.8 6.4 6.2 4.3 4.4 4.3 North West 4.5 5.0 5.3 4.3 4.5 5.4 5.5 4.0 4.0 4.2 Merseyside — — — — 4.9 6.0 6.2 3.8 3.6 3.9 East Merseyside2 — — — — 6.4 2.0 9.2 — — — 1Excluding GVA for Extra-regio, which compensation of employees and gross operating surplus which cannot be assigned to regions. 2Data at Nuts 3 level are provisional and consistent with those published on 26 April 2001. Source
Office for National Statistics
140Winflation target based on the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) in the pre-Budget Report on 10 December 2003, there will be no change from the use of the general index of retail prices (RPI) for calculating the inflation uplift on index-linked gilts.