asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a table showing annual indices 1949 to 1978 of growth in expenditure on each of the expenditure programmes listed in the public expenditure White Paper.

The programmes used in the annual public expenditure White Papers were restructured in December 1973 and figures for the earlier years requested could not be complied without disproportionate time and cost. An alternative analysis of expenditure is shown in the annual publication "National Income and Expenditure" giving figures of expenditure which in most cases can be broadly attributed to a public expenditure programme. In the latest edition of this publication, table 9.4 gives figures relating to general Government expenditure between 1967 and 1977.