Category: Chief Secretary (1987-1989)

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Manufactured Goods on 6th April 1989.

Mr. Norman Hogg To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is his latest estimate of the balance of trade payments with respect to manufactured goods for the current financial year.

Mr. Henderson To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the balance of trade payments with respect to manufactured goods for the current financial year.

Mr. Hinchliffe To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the balance of trade payments with respect to manufactured goods for the current financial year.

Mr. Home Robertson To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the balance of trade payments with respect to manufactured goods for the current financial year.

Mr. Major Estimates for the balance of trade in manufactured goods for the whole of the financial year 1988–89 have yet to be published. The Financial Statement and Budget Report provides a forecast only for calendar year 1989.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Imports on 6th April 1989.

Mr. Martyn Jones To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the value of imports in the current financial year.

Mr. Illsley To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the value of imports in the current financial year.

Mr. Lambie To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the value of imports in the current financial year.

Mr. Major Estimates for the value of imports for the whole of the financial year 1988–89 have yet to be published. The Financial Statement and Budget Report does not provide a forecast of the value of imports.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Investment on 5th April 1989.

Mr. Boswell To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the rate of return required on new investment in the nationalised industries and the discount rate used for appraising investment in other parts of the public sector.

Mr. Major The Government have reviewed the level and use of discount rates in the public sector. These were last reviewed in 1978. Since then the rate of return in the private sector has risen to around 11 per cent.

In the light of this, the Government have decided to raise the required rate of return for nationalised industries and public sector trading organisations from 5 per cent. to 8 per cent. in real terms before tax. The new required rate of return of 8 per cent. will be an important factor in setting new financial targets, but there will be no impact on pricing during the life of existing financial targets.

As at present, the choice of the discount rate to appraise individual projects is a matter for individual nationalised industries or trading bodies to decide in consultation with sponsor Departments and the Treasury. The Government’s main concern will continue to be that the industries’ approach should be compatible with achieving the required rate of return on the programme as a whole. In appraising whether or not new capital investment projects should be undertaken, proper attention will need to be paid to risk. The effect of full allowance for risk will often be implicitly equivalent to requiring a higher internal rate of return on riskier projects.

The Government have decided that the discount rate to be used in the non-trading part of the public sector should be based on the cost of capital for low-risk purposes in the private sector. In current conditions this indicates a rate not less than 6 per cent. in real terms. Risk will be analysed separately and projects (and options) which are more risky will be required to demonstrate correspondingly lower costs or higher benefits.

These proposals will ensure that the appraisal of public projects will be no less demanding in the non-trading sector than in the trading sector, both public and private. In particular, they will provide a comparable basis for the consideration of private participation in public sector activities by taking account of the full economic cost of the public sector option.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Civil Service Staff on 5th April 1989.

Mr. Couchman To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the number of staff in post in central Government Departments at 1 January.

Mr. Major On 1 January 1989 there were 571,649½ staff in post in central Government Departments. Of these 500,981½ were non-industrials and 70,668 were industrials.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Public Sector Debt on 4th April 1989.

Mr. Tim Smith To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how he computed the figure for the percentage of public sector debt to have been repaid by 31 March 1990 referred to in the Official Report, 15 March, column 431.

Mr. Major [holding answer 23 March 1989]: The “Financial Statement and Budget Report” (paragraph 6.04) forecast that the stock of net public sector debt would be £157 billion at the end of 1988–89. On the assumption that the change in the stock of debt in 1989–90 will be the same as the PSDR forecast for that year, the stock of debt will be £143 billion at the end of the year. This is some 16 per cent. lower than the stock of debt at the beginning of 1987–88, estimated to have been £171 billion.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Finance Bill on 22nd March 1989.

Mr. Yeo To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Finance Bill will be published.

Mr. Major The Finance Bill will be published on Thursday 13 April.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Crown Premises on 22nd March 1989.

Mr. Yeo To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what contributions will be made in lieu of community charges in respect of Crown premises or persons resident in them.

Mr. Major There are two circumstances in which contributions will be made in lieu of community charges in respect of Crown premises or persons resident in them.

First, persons who are resident in Crown property which is designated by the Secretary of State will be exempt from the personal community charge and, in Scotland, the personal community water charge. A contribution in lieu of those charges will be made to the local authority by the relevant Government Department or Crown body, which will recover those charges from the residents concerned.

Second, any contribution in lieu of the standard community charge and, in Scotland, the standard community water charge which would otherwise be payable in respect of premises which are occupied by a Government Department or other Crown body will be made to the local authority by the Government Department or Crown body occupying those premises.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Scotland (Taxation) on 22nd March 1989.

Mr. Wheeler To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give his best estimate on the most recent information available as to the annual amount of direct and indirect taxation raised in Scotland; and what is the annual total of central Government and local government expenditure there for a similar period.

Mr. Major For the latest information on identifiable Scottish public expenditure I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Boothferry (Mr. Davis) on 25 October 1988 at columns 120–29.The latest available information on income tax in Scotland for 1986–87 amounts to £3,250 million. In the same year national insurance contributions are estimated to have amounted to £2,121 million, and local authority rates (excluding water rates) paid in Scotland totalled £1,653 million. Figures for remaining major elements of direct taxation and for indirect taxation are not collected on a regional basis.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Ryrie Rules on 21st March 1989.

Mr. Adley To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will now revise the Ryrie rules; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Major I refer my hon. Friend to the Treasury Paper “Private Finance in Public Expenditure” that I placed in the Library of the House in February 1988 and which explains how policy has developed since 1981.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Inward Investment on 21st March 1989.

Mr. Nicholas Bennett To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the amount of inward investment to the United Kingdom in 1988.

Mr. Major Inward investment in the United Kingdom is estimated to have been £11.2 billion during 1988.