asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has estimated the approximate size of the national debt for the years covered by the Public Expenditure White Paper; and if he will publish an estimate of the size of the nominal debt held outside the public sector in the terminal year as implied by the White Paper's economic projections, in constant prices or as a proportion of national output.

The preparation of the figures for debt interest in the years covered by the Public Expenditure White Paper requires among other things an assumption about the development of total public sector debt outstanding. But this is only one of the assumptions required, all of which are uncertain, and I do not see any advantage in giving status to the particular combination used by specifying it. The new Public Expenditure White Paper makes plain that

"As the world economy recovers the Government intend that public sector borrowing should be reduced steadily to a normal level in relation to national income."