Category: Chief Secretary (1987-1989)

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on the Gross Domestic Product on 4th July 1988.

Sir Ian Gilmour To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in the light of the recent publication by his Department of the medium term financial strategy assumptions since 1980 relating to money gross domestic product, he will provide all the parallel assumptions relating to real gross domestic product, personal consumption, manufacturing and total private investment, the balance of payments and unemployment.

Mr. Major Medium term financial strategy assumptions since 1980 for the growth of real gross domestic product can he found in successive financial statement and budget reports, which also include short term forecasts for, inter alia, consumers’ expenditure, investment and the current account of the balance of payments. Unemployment assumptions based on the convention of a flat path over the medium term have been published in successive public expenditure White Papers.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Privatisation on 4th July 1988.

Mr. Gordon Brown To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for the end of each year from 1979 to the year before privatisation in each case (a) the major public corporations reclassified to the private sector since 1979, and (b) the contribution of each to the totals of public corporations’ (i) tangible assets (ii) financial assets and (iii) financial liabilities, as shown in table 11.6 of the United Kingdom National Accounts 1987 edition, breaking down the figures for financial assets and liabilities between (y) claims on or liabilities to central Government and (z) other claims or liabilities.

Mr. Major The information requested is supplied to the Central Statistical Office in commercial confidence by the companies concerned.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Tourism on 4th July 1988.

Mr. Cousins To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he can give of the net deficit on the tourism and travel account in 1988–89 on the first three months’ figures; and what has the outturn balance on the travel and tourism account in each financial year since 1980.

Mr. Major It is too early to say with any confidence what the balance on the travel account in the balance of payments will be in 1988–89.
The latest figures relate to the final quarter of 1987–88. These, together with quarterly information back to 1980, can he obtained from the Central Statistical Office’s databank which is available in the Library.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Empty Dwellings on 22nd June 1988.

Mr. Caborn To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will make a statement on the number of Government-owned empty houses and flats.

Mr. Madden To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish a list of all Government Departments which own empty houses and flats and the length of time they have been empty.

Mr. Fachett To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any proposals for the use of empty Government-owned houses and flats.

Mr. Major The Government are concerned to reduce the number of empty dwellings in its possession to the minimum necessary for operational requirements. Departments, therefore, are encouraged to sell the empty dwellings that are surplus to those requirements. According to annual returns made by departments to the Treasury, in 1987 there were 18,426 empty dwellings owned by Government Departments. The Departments owning these were the Ministry of Defence, Home Office, Northern Ireland Office and Northern Ireland departments, PSA, Scottish Office, Forestry Commission, Department of Transport, and the Welsh Office. Information on the length of vacancy of each dwelling would incur a disproportionate cost.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Economic Growth on 21st June 1988.

Mr. Rowe To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the growth in the United Kingdom economy in the next 12 months.

Mr. Major [holding answer 16 June 1988]: My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s latest forecast was published at Budget time. It showed growth of 3 per cent. in whole economy output in 1988, equivalent to 3.5 per cent. growth on a non-oil basis. However, as my right hon. Friend reported to the House on 16 June at column 554, it now looks as though growth in 1988 may prove slightly higher than this.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Government-Owned Companies on 20th June 1988.

Mr. Fry To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the trading concerns and companies which are still either fully or partly owned by Her Majesty’s Government.

Mr. Major Details of Her Majesty’s Government’s holdings of shares and other securities are shown annually in the “Consolidated Fund and National Loans Fund Accounts, Supplementary Statements”, a copy of which is held in the Library.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Economic Growth on 17th June 1988.

Mr. Rowe To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his latest estimate of the growth in the volume of trade, both inward and outward, between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe in the next 12 months.

Mr. Major [holding answer 16 June 1988]: No specific forecasts of these flows are available.

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Poverty on 16th June 1988.

Mr. Tony Banks To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the impact on the extent of poverty in the United Kingdom of public expenditure decisions taken by the Government since 1979.

Mr. Major A reduction in the share of national income devoted to public expenditure is an important element of the Government’s medium-term financial strategy, which has created conditions for steady economic growth and increasing employment, producing benefits for all sections of the community.